April 25, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. – For the second straight year, it was heartbreak for the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship as the Irish were eliminated by Georgetown for the second consecutive year. Molly Ford’s goal with 46 seconds remaining in triple overtime lifted the third-seeded Hoyas to a 15-14 come-from-behind victory over the second-seeded Irish.
Freshman Shaylyn Blaney’s career-high five goals wasn’t enough for the Irish in the second ever BIG EAST Championship which was being played this year at historic Notre Dame Stadium, the home of the Fighting Irish football team. In the inaugural BIG EAST Championship last year in Syracuse, N.Y., Notre Dame dropped a 12-10 decision to Georgetown in the semifinals.
With the victory, Georgetown (11-5) moves on to play Syracuse in a rematch of last year’s title game on Sun., April 27 at noon. Earlier in the evening, the top-seeded Orange cruised to a 22-7 victory over the fourth-seeded Rutgers in the first semifinal game. As they did a year ago, the Hoyas avenged their loss to the Irish during the regular season. Notre Dame defeated Georgetown 10-8 on April 12 to post their first-ever win against the Hoyas in Washington, D.C. Tonight’s loss drops the Irish to 11-6 on the season.
“There is a reason by Notre Dame and Georgetown are two top-10 teams,” Irish head coach Tracy Coyne said. “This was a great college lacrosse game. It will be a tough loss for everyone to accept, but we’ll move on. They’re aren’t any words right now that will give us consolation; it’s a tough situation we have to face.
Caitlin McKinney finished with three goals and Jane Stoeckert added two scores as the duo, along with Blaney, finished as the only multiple-goal scorers in the contest for Notre Dame. The Irish’s leading scorer Jillian Byers, who came into the game with 61 goals, was held in check for the evening and ended up with just one goal in the contest.
“It’s gut-wrenching because we poured our heart out there,” McKinney said. “We left everything out there and I am proud of my teammates.”
Ford and teammate Ashby Kaestner led the Hoyas with four goals each. Ford also dished off three assists in the game and finished with seven points, Jordy Kirr also finished with seven points as she netted three goals and dished off a four assists.
The two teams battled to a 13-13 in regulation. Georgetown took their first lead of the game with 4:21 left in the second half Kirr’s goal off an assist from Kaestner. McKinney sent the game into overtime with her free position goal with 1:17 left in regulation.
Each team scored once in the first three-minute non-sudden death overtime session, Gina Scioscia, who led the Irish with four assists, scored her only goal of the contest eight seconds into overtime to put Notre Dame up 14-13. Kirr responded with the equalizer 15 seconds later with her third goal of the contest.
Neither team scored in the second three-minute non-overtime session or in the first sudden overtime period.
Notre Dame had its chances on a couple of occasions in the sudden death overtime period but couldn’t capitalize on its chances. It’s best opportunity came when McKinney ran down the field following the draw, but had her shot stopped by goalie Caitlin Formby. The game-winning goal was set up by an Irish turnover after Georgetown had turned the ball over in the Notre Dame end with 1:03 to play.
Notre Dame dominated play early on in the first half as the Irish jumped out to a 10-6 halftime advantage. The 10 goals were a BIG EAST tournament record for most goals scored in the first half, while the 10 were the most given up by the Hoyas in the the first half of a game this season. Blaney keyed the first 30 minutes of play for the Irish as she scored four goals, including three of Notre Dame’s first six goals. The four first-half goals also matched Blaney’s personal best set on five occasions this season.
The Irish scored the contest’s first six goals 15:21 into the contest, three coming off of Blaney’s stick. McKinney, Stoeckert and Heather Ferguson also contributed a score each in the six-goal barrage.
Georgetown finally got on the board with 14:25 remaining on Kirr’s first goal of the evening. After Notre Dame went up 8-1 on goals by Stoeckert and Shannon Burke, the Hoyas outscored the Irish 5-1 in the final 9:28 of the first half.
The Hoyas opened up the second half by scoring the first two goals on scores by Kaestner and Ford. Following Blaney’s fifth and final goal of the night at 25:48, Georgetown scored the next four goals to tie the game with 18:11 remaining. Allie Hubschmann knotted the game at 11-11 with her career-high third goal of the game.
Byers scored her lone goal of the game with 11:21 to play to break the deadlock before back-to-back goals by Mary Beth Brophy and Kerr put the Hoyas up 13-12 with 4:21 remaining.
Game Summary# 7/10 Georgetown (11-5) 6-7-1-0-0-1 15#10/9 Notre Dame (11-6) 10-3-1-0-0-0 14
Time Team Score Goal Assist25:20 ND 1-0 Shaylyn Blaney -24:48 ND 2-0 Caitlin McKinney Jane Stoeckert23:57 ND 3-0 Shaylyn Blaney -22:44 ND 4-0 Jane Stoeckert Jillian Byers15:00 ND 5-0 Shaylyn Blaney -14:39 ND 6-0 Heather Ferguson Gina Scioscia14:25 GU 6-1 Jordy Kirr -13:11 ND 7-1 Jane Stoeckert Gina Scioscia9:28 ND 8-1 Shannon Burke Gina Scioscia8:04 GU 8-2 Molly Ford Jordy Kirr7:31 ND 9-2 Caitlin McKinney Gina Scioscia5:24 GU 9-3 Ashby Kaestner -4:44 ND 9-4 Allie Hubschman -2:04 ND 10-4 Shaylyn Blaney -1:48 GU 10-5 Ashby Kaestner Jordy Kirr0:54 GU 10-6 Ashby Kaestner -
SECOND HALF29:43 GU 10-7 Ashby Kaestner -26:26 GU 10-8 Molly Ford Jordy Kirr25:48 ND 11-8 Shaylyn Blaney -20:43 GU 11-9 Molly Ford Jordy Kirr19:57 GU 11-10 Allie Hubschmann Molly Ford18:51 GU 11-11 Allie Hubschmann Molly Ford11:21 ND 12-11 Jillian Byers -5:21 GU 12-12 Mary Beth Brophy -4:21 GU 12-13 Jordy Kirr Molly Ford1:17 ND 13-13 Caitlin McKinney -Overtime (non-sudden death)2:52 ND 14-13 Gina Scioscia Caitlin McKinney2:37 GU 14-14 Jordy Kirr -3rd Overtime (sudden death)0:46 ND 15-14 Molly Ford Asbhy Kaestner