March 13, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. – After spending most of the last two weeks on the road, the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team was happy to return home to the Loftus Center on Thursday afternoon as they Irish rolled to a 16-8 win over the Delaware Blue Hens.
Caitlin McKinney (four goals), Jillian Byers (three goals) and Heather Ferguson (three goals) combined for 10 of Notre Dame’s 16 goals on the afternoon with Byers adding two assists for a five-point game and Ferguson one for a four-point day. Shannon Burke added two goals while Beth Koloup, Julie Foote, Kailene Abt and Jane Stoeckert had single goals in the win. Sophomore Gina Scioscia picked up five assists in the game for her second consecutive five-point game. Her five assists set a Notre Dame record for assists in a home game.
Casey McCrudden and Nicole Flego led Delaware offensively with two goals each while Emily Schaknowski, Courtney Aburn, Debbie Sloan and Julianna Jeffers scored one goal each for the Blue Hens.
The win was the second in a row for the 12th-ranked Irish who improved to 5-2 on the year. Delaware fell to 3-2 overall with the loss.
Notre Dame wasted little time in taking control of this game as the Irish jumped out to a 6-0 just over 16 minutes into the game. Ferguson staked them to a 1-0 lead with 26:26 left on a free-position shot and Scioscia set up Byers a little over two minutes later (24:21) with her first assist of the day for a 2-0 lead.
McKinney made it 4-0 with a pair of goals at 21:46 and 19:45 to extend her point-scoring streak to 46 games and Ferguson’s second goal of the day made it 5-0 at 14:59. Koloup ran the lead to 6-0 with her first career goal at 13:55 and the Irish led by six.
The Blue Hens finally broke through with 12:36 left in the first half when McCrudden got her first of the game off a nice set up by Stephanie McQuade. They would cut the lead to 6-2 just 31 seconds later when Jeffers beat Irish goalkeeper Erin Goodman at 12:05.
Notre Dame restored the lead to 8-2 as Burke recorded back-to-back goals, first off a free-position shot at 10:09 and then off a feed from Byers at 7:57. Delaware’s Courtney Aburn answered that one with a goal 13 seconds later at 7:44 and the score would remain 8-3 until the 2:34 mark.
Ferguson closed out her three-goal first half at 2:34 and McCrudden got her second goal of the game with 1:05 left in the stanza to make it 9-4. The Irish could have had a bigger lead if not for the play of Blue Hen goalkeeper Jessica Cerveny who had 10 of her 18 saves in the half.
Stoeckert scored Notre Dame’s first goal of the second half at 25:42 to make it 10-4 only to see Delaware cut the lead to 10-6 on goals by Flego and Sloan less than two minutes apart at 23:13 and 21:22.
That was all the wake-up call that the Irish would need as they ran off three straight goals in a 40 second span to make it 13-6. Scioscia set up McKinney at 20:52 and Byers followed with goals at 20:34 and 20:12 to put the game out of reach. Scioscia would continue her playmaking clinic as she set up Abt at 9:16 and then McKinney at 8:12 for a 15-6 lead.
Schaknowski and Flego snapped that five-goal run with a pair of Delaware goals and Foote closed the scoring with 43 seconds left for the final verdict of 16-8.
Notre Dame fired a season-high 42 shots on goal in the game. Cerveny finished with 18 saves in the contest. Delaware had 24 shots in the game with Goodman making nine saves in the Irish goal.
The Irish continue a three-game home stand this Sunday, March 16 when they open BIG EAST play against the Syracuse Orange. The game will be played at 1:00 p.m. at the Loftus Sports Center.
IRISH NOTES:
** Jillian Byers’ three-goal game against Delaware marked the first time this season that she has been held to less than four goals. In seven games this season, she has 33 goals.
** Senior Heather Ferguson had her second consecutive four-point game. This time she equaled her career high for goals with three and points with four. Versus California, she had a goal and three assists for her four-point game.
** Sophomore Gina Scioscia’s five-assist afternoon breaks the mark of four assists in a home game that was held by 12 different players including Caitlin McKinney and Jillian Byers. McKinney was the last to get four helpers on April 14, 2007 versus Georgetown. The Notre Dame record for assists in a game is six and was set by Kerry Callahan `99 who picked up six assists versus Gannon on March 17, 1999.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 - FDelaware (3-2) 4 4 - 8#12 Notre Dame (5-2) 9 7 - 16
First HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist26:26 ND 1-0 Heather Ferguson Free-position shot24:21 ND 2-0 Jillian Byers Gina Scioscia21:46 ND 3-0 Caitlin McKinney Jillian Byers19:45 ND 4-0 Caitlin McKinney14:59 ND 5-0 Heather Ferguson13:55 ND 6-0 Beth Koloup Gina Scioscia12:36 UD 6-1 Casey McCrudden Stephanie McQuade12:05 UD 6-2 Julianna Jeffers10:09 ND 7-2 Shannon Burke Free-position shot 7:57 ND 8-2 Shannon Burke Jillian Byers 7:44 UD 8-3 Courtney Aburn 2:34 ND 9-3 Heather Ferguson 1:05 UD 9-4 Casey McCrudden
Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist25:42 ND 10-4 Jane Stoeckert Heather Ferguson23:13 UD 10-5 Nicole Flego Emily Schaknowski21:22 UD 10-6 Debbie Sloan20:52 ND 11-6 Caitlin McKinney Gina Scioscia20:34 ND 12-6 Jillian Byers Free-position shot20:12 ND 13-6 Jillian Byers 9:16 ND 14-6 Kailene Abt Gina Scioscia 8:12 ND 15-6 Caitlin McKinney Gina Scioscia 5:20 UD 15-7 Emily Schaknowski Free-position shot 3:24 UD 15-8 Nicole Flego Emily Schaknowski 0:43 ND 16-8 Julie Foote Jane Stoeckert
Goalkeepers:Delaware: (Jessica Cerveny; 60:00 min; 16 goals, 18 saves)Notre Dame: (Erin Goodman; 60:00 min; 8 goals, 9 saves)
Total Shots: UD - 24; ND - 41Groundballs: UD - 12; ND - 21Draw Controls: UD - 16; ND - 10Caused Turnovers: UD - 4; ND - 13