Feb. 26, 2006
Stanford, Calif. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team closed out its two-game road trip to California with a stunning 12-11 sudden-death overtime win over the Stanford Cardinal. The Irish twice came back from five-goal deficits to pull out the come-from-behind victory.
Freshman attack Jill Byers (Northport, N.Y.) turned in her second five-goal game of the weekend, including the game winner 1:24 into the third overtime period on a shot from in close that beat Stanford goalkeeper Laura Shane. Byers also had the game-tying goal in regulation when she carried the ball from behind the net and stuffed a shot past Shane with 4:49 left in the game to make it 9-9 in regulation.
Sophomore Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) scored two goals and added three assists in the game and senior captain Crysti Foote (Suffern, N.Y.) scored three goals in the victory. Daphne Patterson (four goals) and Liz Piselli (three goals) paced the Stanford attack.
The victory improves No. 17 Notre Dame to 2-0 on the season while Stanford falls to 2-2 on the campaign.
Sunday’s game got off to a slow start as neither team could find the net for almost 20 minutes of the first half. The Cardinal finally broke through with 11:08 left in the half on a free-position goal by Anna Brown. The Cardinal would build the lead to 5-0 on four goals in a five-minute span to make it 5-0 with 1:44 left in the first half. Notre Dame broke through on Shane with 39 seconds left in the half on Foote’s first goal of the game.
The Irish offense began the second half, scoring twice in the first five minutes to cut the lead to 5-3 on a pair of goals by Byers. Stanford answered with tallies by Patterson and Elizabeth Fries to make it 7-3. Byers’ third goal at 19:30 of the half cut the Stanford lead to three goals, but the Cardinal seemingly put the game out of reach with goals by Sarah Bach (16:41) and Piselli (10:13) to build the lead back to five goals at 9-4.
McKinney rallied the Irish with two consecutive goals in a span of 2:33 at 8:52 and 6:29 and then set up Meghan Murphy’s (Jr., Centennial, Colo.) goal 12 seconds later at 6:17 to make it a one-goal deficit at 9-8. Byers would get the game-tying goal with 4:49 left and both teams traded scoring bids in the final minutes to preserve the tie.
Irish goalkeeper Carol Dixon (Sr., Pennsauken, N.J.), who equaled a career-high with 15 saves in the game, made two stops in the final minute-and-a half, one on a free-position shot in the final 30 seconds of the game.
In the first three-minute overtime, Piselli scored first, her third of the game, at 2:08 and Foote got the equalizer with 18 seconds left to make it 10-10.
Stanford scored first in the second overtime with Patterson getting her fourth of the game at 1:53 and Mary Carpenter (So., Rochester, N.Y.) converted a Byers feed with 12 seconds left for an 11-11 score and sent the game into sudden death.
Byers capped her six-point game at the 1:24 mark to give Notre Dame the big road win. In the game, the Irish out shot Stanford by a 37-34 margin. Shane had 21 saves for Stanford.
Notre Dame opens its home schedule on Thursday, March 2 at the Loftus Sports Center when the Irish play host to Ohio University in a 4:30 p.m. game.
IRISH NOTES:
** Jill Byers had an impressive first weekend for the Irish with 10 goals and three assists in the two games. She opened her career with a five-goal, two-assist game on Friday versus California.
** Crysti Foote’s three goals and one assist gave her 12 goals and three assists for the weekend, following her school-record, nine-goal and 11-point game in the win versus California.
** Byers, Foote and Caitlin McKinney combined for 27 goals and 12 assists in the opening weekend of the series. McKinney ahd five goals and six assists to start the year.
** Carol Dixon’s previous 15-save game came last season at Johns Hopkins on April 25, 2005. The wins over California and Stanford give Dixon a 17-17 career record in the Irish goal.
Game Summary: 1 2 1ot 2ot 3ot - FNotre Dame (2-0) 1 8 1 1 1 - 12Stanford (2-2) 5 4 1 1 0 - 11
SCORING
First-Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistSTAN 11:08 * 0-1 Anna Brown Free-position shotSTAN 6:42 0-2 Liz Piselli Anna BrownSTAN 6:12 0-3 Daphne PattersonSTAN 4:54 0-4 Megan BurkerSTAN 1:44 * 0-5 Daphne Patterson (2) Free-position shotND 0:39 1-5 Crysti Foote
Second-Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistND 27:17 2-5 Jill Byers Caitlin McKinneyND 23:35 3-5 Jill Byers (2) Caitlin McKinney (2)STAN 22:30 3-6 Daphne Patterson (3) Liz PiselliSTAN 20:40 3-7 Elizabeth FriesND 19:30 4-7 Jill Byers (3) Crysti FooteSTAN 16:41 4-8 Sarah Bach Megan BurkerSTAN 10:13 4-9 Liz Piselli (2)ND 8:52 5-9 Caitlin McKinneyND 6:29 6-9 Caitlin McKinney (2)ND 6:17 7-9 Meghan Murphy Caitlin McKinney (3)ND 5:55 8-9 Crysti Foote (2)ND 4:49 9-9 Jill Byers (4)
First OvertimeSTAN 2:08 9-10 Liz Piselli (3)ND 0:18 10-10 Crysti Foote (3)
Second OvertimeSTAN 1:53 10-11 Daphne Patterson (4)ND 0:12 11-11 Mary Carpenter Jill Byers
Third OvertimeND 1:24 12-11 Jill Byers (5)
* denotes free position goal
GoalkeepersND: Carol Dixon (67:34 min; 11 goals against; 15 saves)STAN: Laura Shane (67:34 min; 12 goals against; 21 saves)
Shots On Goal: ND - 37; STAN - 34Ground balls: ND - 12; STAN - 17Draw Controls: ND - 17; STAN - 10Caused Turnovers: ND - 4; STAN - 11