April 5, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – The 12th-ranked Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team ran into an offensive buzz saw on Friday afternoon at the Loftus Sports Center as the Irish were defeated by the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils, 20-10.
Sporting a four-game winning streak and a 9-2 record, the Irish jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first eight minutes of the game before Duke’s offense got in high gear.
Caroline Cryer (5 goals, 1 assist), Carolyn Davis (5 goals, 1 assist) and Kristen Waagbo (4 goals, 2 assists) paced the Blue Devil attack with six points each. Leigh Jester scored a pair of goals while Michelle Menser, Lindsay Gilbride, Rachel Sanford and Megan Del Monte scored single goals in the win.
The Irish, who trailed 11-4 at halftime, were led offensively by Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) who scored four goals for the third consecutive game. Kaki Orr (Sr., Darien, Conn.) added two goals and an assist while Caitlin McKinney (Jr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) had a goal and two assists for three-point games. Lena Zentgraf (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.), Jane Stoeckert (So., Mendham, N.J.) and Mary Carpenter (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.) closed out Notre Dame’s scoring.
The loss drops Notre Dame to 9-3 on the season while Duke improves to 10-1. The 10-goal margin of defeat was the worst for the Irish since a 16-4 loss to the Blue Devils on April 13, 2001, a span of 101 games. The Irish last gave up 20 goals in a season last year when they dropped a 21-12 decision at Northwestern.
For the first eight minutes things went Notre Dame’s way. After Cryer scored 46 seconds into the game, the Irish answered back with three goals. McKinney set up Zentgraf three minutes into the game to make it 1-1. Zentgraf then returned the favor finding Carpenter alone in front of goalkeeper Kim Imbesi and the junior midfielder put the Irish in front, 2-1, just 6:28 into the game. Orr made it 3-1 at 7:38 and Notre Dame had a 3-1 lead.
Orr’s goal seemed to ignite the Duke offense as the Blue Devils scored the next nine goals to build a 10-3 lead with three minutes left in the half.
Waagbo scored two of her four goals in the run while Davis had three and Cryer, Del Monte, Sanford and Jester rounded out the nine-goal run in a span of 18:09.
Stoeckert finally halted the Duke goal-scoring barrage with 1:14 left in the half to make it 10-4 before Cryer closed out the half with her third goal in the first 30 minutes with just 36 seconds left on the clock.
The halftime break didn’t slow down Duke as the Blue Devils scored the first three goals of the second half (Cryer, Waagbo and Menser) to build a 14-4 lead in the first 4:53 of the second stanza.
Byers ended that run at 22:34 and would score Notre Dame’s next three goals, exchanging goals with Jester and Gilbride to get the lead under 10 goals at 16-7 with 14:06 left. McKinney (13:11) and Byers with her fourth at 12:03 made it 16-9 and seemed to change the momentum, but just momentarily.
Cryer answered with her fourth and fifth goals of the game while Davis and Waagbo capped their afternoons with their fifth and fourth goals respectively to rebuild the lead to 20-9.
Orr scored the final goal of the game with just 2:07 left on the clock for the final score of 20-10.
Duke out shot Notre Dame in the game by a 33-23 margin. Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) made six saves in the Notre Dame goal. The Blue Devils had seven saves in the game with Imbesi making five in 51:22 of playing time. Regan Bosch played the final 8:38 and made two saves while giving up one goal.
Notre Dame returns to action on Saturday, April 7 when the Irish play host to the California Golden Bears in a 1:00 p.m. game that will be played at the Loftus Sports Center due to expected inclement weather over the weekend.
IRISH NOTES:
** Notre Dame and Duke have played 10 times in the all-time series with the Blue Devils now holding a 9-1 edge in the games played.
**With four goals in each of her last three games, Jillian Byers has now scored three or more goals in nine of Notre Dame’s 12 games this season. She leads the Irish in scoring with 42 goals and seven assists for 49 points.
** The Irish have given up 20 or more goals in a game six times in the program’s 11-year history. The most goals they’ve ever given up in a game is 21, twice in 1997 (Davidson and St. Joseph’s) and once last year (at Northwestern). The largest margin of defeat for Notre Dame is 14 goals in a 19-5 loss to Duke on March 29, 1998.
Game Summary 1 2 - F#4 Duke (10-1) 11 9 - 20#12 Notre Dame (9-3) 4 6 - 10
First-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist29:14 Duke 0-1 Caroline Cryer27:00 ND 1-1 Lena Zentgraf Caitlin McKinney23:22 ND 2-1 Mary Carpenter Lena Zentgraf22:22 ND 3-1 Kaki Orr21:10 Duke 3-2 Kristen Waagbo17:26 Duke 3-3 Megan Del Monte Lindsay Gilbride16:33 Duke 3-4 * Rachel Sanford Free-position shot15:13 Duke 3-5 Carolyn Davis14:07 Duke 3-6 Kristen Waagbo (2)11:45 Duke 3-7 Caroline Cryer (2) Kristen Waagbo10:03 Duke 3-8 Carolyn Davis (2) Kristen Waagbo (2) 8:00 Duke 3-9 Carolyn Davis (3) 3:01 Duke 3-10 * Leigh Jester Free-position shot 1:14 ND 4-10 Jane Stoeckert Caitlin McKinney (2) 0:36 Duke 4-11 Caroline Cryer (3) Leigh Jester
Second-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist29:49 Duke 4-12 Kristen Waagbo (3) Lindsay Gilbride25:29 Duke 4-13 Michelle Menser25:07 Duke 4-14 Carolyn Davis (4) Caroline Cryer22:34 ND 5-14 Jillian Byers Kaki Orr22:26 Duke 5-15 Leigh Jester17:21 ND 6-15 Jillian Byers (2) Heather Ferguson16:22 Duke 6-16 * Lindsay Gilbride Free-position shot14:06 ND 7-16 Jillian Byers (3)13:11 ND 8-16 Caitlin McKinney12:03 ND 9-16 * Jillian Byers (4) Free-position shot 9:08 Duke 9-17 Caroline Cryer (4) Carolyn Davis 7:37 Duke 9-18 Caroline Cryer (5) Jessica Adam 5:15 Duke 9-19 Carolyn Davis (5) 3:30 Duke 9-20 Kristen Waagbo (4) 2:07 ND 10-20 Kaki Orr (2)
* Free-position goal
GoalkeepersDuke - Kim Imbesi (51:22 min; 9 goals, 5 saves) Regan Bosch (8:38 min' 1 goal, 2 saves)Notre Dame - Erin Goodman (60:00 min; 20 goals, 6 saves)
Shots: DU - 34; ND - 23Ground Balls: DU - 10; ND - 13Draw Controls: DU - 20; ND - 12Caused Turnovers: DU - 5; ND - 5