March 10, 2007
Buffalo, N.Y. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team traveled to Western New York for the second time in less than a week and broke open a tight game with a nine consecutive goals in the second half to roll to an 18-8 win over the Canisius Golden Griffins at the Demske Sports Complex.
The Griffins ran into two of the top offensive players in the country as sophomore Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) scored six goals and added two assists for an eight-point game and junior Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) scored three times with three assists to pace Notre Dame’s attack. Senior Meghan Murphy (Centennial, Colo.) added four points on a goal and three assists while freshman Gina Scioscia (Summit, N.J.) had two goals and an assist for three points. Sophomore Kelly Gaudreau (Annapolis, Md.) saw her first action of the season and also scored twice in the win.
With her eight-point afternoon, Byers now has 21 goals and four assists for 25 points in five games and has reached 100 points in her career faster than anyone, doing it in 24 games as she has 75 goals and 28 assists for 103 points. The previous record for quickest to 100 was held by McKinney who reached 100 points in 33 games.
Aweyiho Thomas led Canisius with four goals and an assist in the game and four other players had single goals for the Golden Griffins.
The win gives the Irish two straight on the road and improves them to 4-1 on the season. Canisius, who was playing host to a ranked team for the first time in the program’s history with the visit from Notre Dame, falls to 2-3 for the year.
Notre Dame got off to a slow start and only led 8-6 at halftime as the Irish trailed three times in the opening stanza. Canisius opened with the first goal of the game as Brittany Farrugia scored just 2:14 into the game. Byers converted a McKinney feed just 20 seconds later for her first of the day and 16th of the year to tie the game at 1-1. The Irish would take the lead less than a minute later at 3:26 when Kaki Orr (Sr., Darien, Conn.) converted a free-position shot.
Erica Nasca and Thomas, with her first of the afternoon, answered back at 5:41 and 9:24 to give Canisius a second lead at 3-2. The two teams traded a pair of goals over the next eight minutes as Murphy tied the score at 3-3 at 10:55 and Ashley Gray put the Golden Griffins ahead 4-2 at 18:22.
The Irish would take the lead for good at 20:10 as Murphy set up Jane Stoeckert (So., Mendham, N.J.) to make it 4-4 and then assisted on Byers second goal of the afternoon at 20:36 for a 5-4 Notre Dame lead. McKinney made it 6-4 just over a minute later at 21:40.
Thomas scored her second of the game to make it 6-5, but Byers and Heather Ferguson (Jr., Newtown Square, Pa.) upped the lead to 8-5 with just under five minutes left in the half. Thomas closed the scoring with her third goal at 26:43 to send the game to the half with the Irish leading 8-6.
The Irish found their legs in the second half and would put the game away with nine straight goals over a 19-minute span.
McKinney scored her second of the game to make it 9-6 just 4:18 into the half and Marissa Brown answered at the 7:00 minute mark to keep it a two goal game, 9-7.
Byers would put the game away with three goals in a 2:28 span to make it 12-7. McKinney scored her third at 11:18 and Scioscia added two goals at 11:35 and 13:13. Lena Zentgraf (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.) scored on a free-position shot and Gaudreau picked up the first two goals of her collegiate career at 25:22 and 27:02 to close the nine-goal run with the Irish leading 18-7. Thomas closed her four-goal day with the final score of the game at 29:06 and the 18-8 final score.
The Irish out shot Canisius by a 35-24 margin. Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) made nine saves in goal while her counterpart for the Griffins, Rasheeda Brenton had 10 saves in the game.
Notre Dame will now head south to Wellington, Fla., on Wednesday, March 14 to face the Yale Bulldogs in the annual Spring Fling. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Village Park Fields.
IRISH NOTES:
** Notre Dame is now 2-0 in the all-time series with Canisius.
** Meghan Murphy’s four-point game equals a career high. She has scored four points in a game three other times in her Irish career.
** Caitlin McKinney and Jillian Byers are moving fast in the Irish record books. With 16 goals and seven assists already this season, McKinney now has 86 goals and 41 assists for 127 career points. That makes her fifth in goals, sixth in assists and sixth in points in 39 career games. With 75 goals and 28 assists for 103 points, Byers is eighth in goals, eighth in assists and eighth in points after just 24 career games.
Game Summary 1 2 - F# 6 Notre Dame (4-1) 8 10 - 18Canisius (2-3) 6 2 - 8
First-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist 2:14 CAN 0-1 Brittany Farrugia (2) 2:34 ND 1-1 Jillian Byers (16) Caitlin McKinney (5) 3:26 ND 2-1 * Kaki Orr (3) Free-position shot 5:41 CAN 2-2 Erica Nasca (2) Ashley Gray (2) 9:24 CAN 2-3 * Awehiyo Thomas (5) Free-position shot10:55 ND 3-3 Meghan Murphy (4) Jillian Byers (3)18:22 CAN 3-4 Ashley Gray (13)20:10 ND 4-4 Jane Stoeckert (3) Meghan Murphy (4)20:36 ND 5-4 Jillian Byers (17) Meghan Murphy (5)21:40 ND 6-4 Caitlin McKinney (14) Jillian Byers (4)23:26 CAN 6-5 Awehiyo Thomas (6)23:44 ND 7-5 Jillian Byers (18) Jane Stoeckert (2)25:21 ND 8-5 Heather Ferguson (3) Meghan Murphy (6)26:43 CAN 8-6 Aweyiho Thomas (7)
Second-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist 4:18 ND 9-6 Caitlin McKinney (15) 7:00 CAN 9-7 Marissa Brown (3) Aweyiho Thomas (3) 8:02 ND 10-7 Jillian Byers (19) Gina Scioscia (3) 8:30 ND 11-7 Jillian Byers (20) Lena Zentgraf (6)10:30 ND 12-7 Jillian Byers (21) Caitlin McKinney (6)11:18 ND 13-7 Caitlin McKinney (16)11:35 ND 14-7 Gina Scioscia (2)13:13 ND 15-7 Gina Scioscia (3)24:10 ND 16-7 * Lena Zentgraf (7) Free-position shot25:22 ND 17-7 Kelly Gaudreau (1) Caitlin McKinney (7)27:02 ND 18-7 Kelly Gaudreau (2) Alicia Billings (3)29:06 CAN 18-8 Aweyiho Thomas (8)
* Free-position goal
Goalkeepers
Notre Dame – Erin Goodman (60:00 min.; 8 goals, 9 saves)
Canisius – Rasheeda Brenton (60:00 min; 18 goals, 10 saves)
Shots: ND – 35; CAN – 24
Ground Balls: ND – 24; CAN – 19
Draw Controls: ND – 16; CAN – 12
Caused Turnovers: ND – 13; CAN – 11