April 2, 2005
Notre Dame, Ind. – The University of Connecticut Huskies rallied from a 6-4 first-half deficit by scoring seven unanswered goal late in the first half and early in the second to build an 11-6 lead on the way to a 13-10 BIG EAST win under the lights at Moose Krause Stadium Friday night.
Tracy Mullaney (five goals) and Shannon Burke (four goals) paced the Connecticut attack while goalkeepers Jennifer Wong (10 saves) and Kristen Haldeman (three saves) combined for 13 saves on the way to the Huskies first-ever win at Notre Dame.
Crysti Foote (Jr., Suffern, N.Y.) led Notre Dame’s attack with four goals on the night. Caitlin McKinney (Fr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) and Kaki Orr (So., Darien, Conn.) added a goal and an assist for a pair of points in the game. Four other Irish players had one goal each.
The loss drops Notre Dame to 2-6 overall and 0-2 in BIG EAST play while the Huskies improve to 6-2 on the year and 1-1 in BIG EAST action.
The Irish got off to a fast start in the game scoring twice in the first 2:07 of the game. Foote got her first of the evening just 18 seconds into the game and Jackie Bowers (Sr., Springfield, Pa.) converted a Lindsay Shaffer (Sr., Seneca Falls, N.Y.) pass at 2:07 to make it 2-0.
The Huskies answered with three goals as Mullaney and Burke got their first goals of the night on free-position shots and Jacqui Hamilton made it 3-2 with an unassisted tally just 11:42 into the game for a 3-2 UConn lead.
The Irish answered with three goals of their own to take a 5-3 lead. Foote tied the game at 3-3 with a free-position goal of her own at 16:34 and Orr put Notre Dame ahead at 16:34. Foote capped the Notre Dame run with her third of the half off an Orr setup at 17:57.
Kristen Link scored on the Huskies third free-position shot of the first half only to see Lena Zentgraf (Jr., Charlottesville, Va.) put the Irish ahead 6-4 at 21:52.
From there, Connecticut took over running off seven straight goals. Mullaney scored a pair of unassisted goals at 22:29 and 24:28 to tie the game at 6-6. The Huskies would then take the lead by scoring twice in the final 45 seconds of the first half. Laura Trzasko (29:15) and Burke (29:44) gave the Huskies a lead they would never surrender at 8-6 going into the half.
Burke picked up her third goal of the game just 2:07 into the second half followed by goals at 3:05 from Tanya Kotowicz and Mullaney at 4:26 to make it 11-6 in favor of the Huskies.
McKinney halted the Connecticut run at 4:57 before Mullaney (her fifth) and Burke (her fourth) gave the Huskies a 13-7 lead with just under 18 minutes left in the game.
Brittany Fox (Jr., Annapolis, Md.), Foote (a free-position shot) and Mary Carpenter (Fr., Rochester, N.Y.) closed the scoring for the Irish.
Notre Dame outshot Connecticut, 32-20, in the game. Carol Dixon (Sr., Pennsauken, N.J.) played 53:04 minutes, giving up 11 goals while making six saves. Katie Linhares (So., Greenwich, Conn.) saw her first action of the season, playing 6:56 minutes, giving up two goals with no saves.
Notre Dame continues its’ five-game home stand on Sunday, April 3. The Irish play host to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights at Moose Krause Stadium in a 12:00 noon BIG EAST contest.
Game Summary: 1 2 - FConnecticut (6-2/1-1) 8 5 - 13Notre Dame (2-6/0-2) 6 4 - 10
SCORINGCONNECTICUT:GOALS: Tracy Mullaney (5), Shannon Burke (4), Jacqui Hamilton, Laura Trzasko, Kristen Link, Tanya Kotowicz.ASSISTS: Dana Stewart
NOTRE DAME:GOALS: Crysti Foote (4), Caitlin McKinney, Kaki Orr, Mary Carpenter, Jackie Bowers, Brittany Fox, Lena Zentgraf.ASSISTS: Caitlin McKinney, Kaki Orr, Lindsay Shaffer.
First Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistND 0:18 1-0 Crysti FooteND 2:07 2-0 Jackie Bowers Lindsay ShafferUCONN 3:36 * 2-1 Tracy Mullaney Free-position shotUCONN 4:58 * 2-2 Shannon Burke Free-position shotUCONN 11:42 2-3 Jacqui HamiltonND 15:30 * 3-3 Crysti Foote (2) Free-position shotND 16:34 4-3 Kaki OrrND 17:57 5-3 Crysti Foote (3) Kaki OrrUCONN 19:04 5-4 Kristen LinkND 21:52 6-4 Lena ZentgrafUCONN 22:29 6-5 Tracy Mullaney (2)UCONN 24:28 6-6 Tracy Mullaney (3)UCONN 29:15 6-7 Laura TrzaskoUCONN 29:44 6-8 Shannon Burke (2)
Second Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistUCONN 2:07 6-9 Shannon Burke (3)UCONN 3:05 6-10 Tanya KotowiczUCONN 4:26 6-11 Tracy Mullaney (4)ND 4:57 7-11 Caitlin McKinneyUCONN 7:43 7-12 Tracy Mullaney (5)UCONN 11:53 * 7-13 Shannon Burke (4) Free-position shotND 17:10 8-13 Brittany FoxND 20:24 * 9-13 Crysti Foote (4) Free-position shotND 28:23 10-13 Mary Carpenter Caitlin McKinney
* denotes free position goal
GoalkeepersUCONN: Jennifer Wong (47:10 min; 8 goals against, 10 saves) Kristen Haldeman (12:50 min; 2 goals against, 3 saves)ND: Carol Dixon (53:04 min; 11 goals against; 6 saves) Katie Linhares (6:56 min; 2 goals against; 0 saves)
Shots On Goal: UCONN - 19 ; ND - 23
Ground balls: UCONN - 21; ND - 20
Draw Controls: UCONN - 9; ND - 16
Caused Turnovers: UCONN - 8; ND - 10