April 24, 2010
Piscataway, N.J. – Junior midfielder Shaylyn Blaney and senior attack standout Gina Scioscia lead a furious second-half rally as Notre Dame bounced back from a 7-1 halftime deficit to tie the game in regulation only to lose at Rutgers, 12-11, in overtime Saturday afternoon. The overtime game was the third of the season for the Irish.
Brooke Cantwell’s goal with 2:02 left in the overtime period proved to be the lone tally in extra time as the Scarlet Knights snapped a five-game Irish winning streak with the victory at Yurcak Field in a physical get together that featured 67 fouls (Notre Dame – 31, Rutger – 36) and eight yellow cards (three to the Irish and five to the Scarlet Knights).
Blaney (four goals) and Scioscia (three goals and one assist) combined for seven second-half markers and got help from Ansley Stewart, Megan Sullivan and Betsy Mastropieri as Notre Dame out scored Rutgers, 10-4, in the second half. Kailene Abt had the lone Irish goal in the first half.
Cantwell led five Rutgers players with multiple goals as she had three for the Scarlet Knights. Mary Cryan, Marlena Welsh, Brittany Davis and Kristen Anderson each added two goals while Stephanie Anderson had a single goal in the win.
The loss drops 12th-ranked Notre Dame to 10-5 overall and 5-2 in BIG EAST play with one conference game – at Connecticut – left to play. Rutgers improves to 10-4 on the year and 3-3 in the BIG EAST.
In 10 of the their 15 games this season, the Irish have gone to overtime three times, played in seven one-goal games and had all 10 decided by two goals or less. Notre Dame is 2-1 in overtime, 5-2 in one-goal games and 7-3 in games decided by tow or less.
Notre Dame out shot the Scarlet Knights, 39-25, in the game. Freshman Ellie Hilling made 10 saves in the Irish goal while Lily Kalata made 17 saves for Rutgers.
The Scarlet Knights got off to a fast start in the game, running off the first six goals of the game for a 6-0 lead with 7:19 left in the opening half.
Cryan set the tone for Rutgers, scoring the first two goals just 26 seconds apart at 26:42 and 26:16. Stephanie Anderson’s free-position goal made it 3-0 at 22:04 and when Cryan set up Cantwell’s first goal of the game at 10:14, the Scarlet Knights led, 4-0.
A timeout by the Irish settled things down until Welsh and Cantwell scored on free-position shots 35 seconds apart at 7:54 and 7:19 to make it 6-0.
Notre Dame finally broke through on the scoreboard with 6:03 left in the half when Abt scored the first of five free-position goals for the Irish to cut the lead to 6-1. The goal gave Abt her 100th career point (79g, 21a) in this her junior season. She joins Blaney as the second Irish player to go over 100 points in her career during the 2010 season.
That would be the only goal that Notre Dame would get as Davis closed the half with a free-position shot with 1:35 left for the 7-1 lead with Rutgers getting four goals via the eight-meter shot and the Irish one.
Notre Dame started its comeback with four goals in a 1:36 span early in the second half. Free-position goals by Scioscia (25:40) and Stewart (25:01) cut the lead to 7-3.
Scioscia became the playmaker, getting her 99th career assist as she set up Blaney’s first goal of the game at 24:09 and then the senior captain capped the run with her second goal of the day at 23:14 and the Irish were back in it at 7-5.
Welsh and Kristen Anderson put a dent in the comeback bid with goals at 22:27 and 21:12 to restore the Rutgers’ lead to four goals at 9-5.
From that point, Notre Dame took over the game offensively, scoring six of the final eight goals on the way to an 11-11 mark after 60 minutes.
Sophomore Maggie Tamasitis set up Sullivan at 18:18 and after Kristen Anderson scored Rutgers final free-position goal of the game, Sullivan fed Mastropieri for her only goal of the game at 15:18 to make it 10-7.
Blaney and Davis traded unassisted goals to make it 11-8 in favor of the Scarlet Knights with 13:23 left in the game. The score would stay that way until 6:34 was left in the game when Scioscia closed her four-point game with her third goal to make it 11-9. From there, Blaney took things in her own hands.
Her first bid came with 3:27 left when she was fouled on a drive to the goal and scored on the free-position chance. She then got the tying goal with 1:45 left as her second drive to the goal resulted in a free-position goal, giving her nine goals in two games this week.
In the final moments of the game, Blaney had a pair of shots stopped by Kalata with 40 seconds and three seconds left to preserve the tie.
The overtime saw each team get two shots on goal. Kalata stopped both shots by Notre Dame’s Stewart while Hilling turned away Welsh on a scoring chance before Cantwell closed with her winning shot.
Rutgers finished the game going five-for-six on free-position shots while the Irish were 5-for-11 for the afternoon.
Notre Dame closes out the regular season at noon on Saturday, May 1 when the Irish travel to Connecticut to face the Huskies at the Sherman Family Sports Complex.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 OT OT - F#12 Notre Dame (10-5/5-2) 1 10 0 0 - 11Rutgers (10-4/3-3) 7 4 0 1 - 12
ScoringFirst Half:Time Team Score Goal Assist26:42 RU 0-1 Mary Cryan Meghan Flanagan26:16 RU 0-2 Mary Cryan (2) Marlena Welsh22:04 RU 0-3 Stephanie Anderson Free-position shot10:14 RU 0-4 Brooke Cantwell Mary Cryan 7:54 RU 0-5 Marlena Welsh Free-position shot 7:19 RU 0-6 Brooke Cantwell (2) Free-position shot 6:03 ND 1-6 Kailene Abt Free-position shot 1:35 RU 1-7 Brittany Davis Free-position shot
Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist25:40 ND 2-7 Gina Scioscia Free-position shot25:01 ND 3-7 Ansley Stewart Free-position shot24:09 ND 4-7 Shaylyn Blaney Gina Scioscia23:14 ND 5-7 Gina Scioscia (2)22:27 RU 5-8 Marlena Welsh (2)15:30 RU 5-9 Kristen Anderson18:18 ND 6-9 Megan Sullivan Maggie Tamasitis15:30 RU 6-10 Kristen Anderson (2) Free-position shot15:18 ND 7-10 Betsy Mastropieri Megan Sullivan14:30 ND 8-10 Shaylyn Blaney (2)13:23 RU 8-11 Brittany Davis (2) 6:34 ND 9-11 Gina Scioscia (3) 3:27 ND 10-11 Shaylyn Blaney (3) Free-position shot 1:45 ND 11-11 Shaylyn Blaney (4) Free-position shot
OvertimeTime Team Score Goal Assist 2:02 RU 11-12 Brooke Cantwell (3)
Goalkeepers:Notre Dame: Ellie Hilling (66:00 min; 12 goals against; 10 saves)Rutgers: Lily Kalata (66:00 min; 11 goals against; 17 saves)
Total Shots: Notre Dame: 39, Rutgers: 25Ground Balls: Notre Dame: 20, Rutgers: 19Draw Controls: Notre Dame: 12, Rutgers: 14Caused Turnovers: Notre Dame: 15, Rutgers: 14