March 6, 2005
Ithaca, N.Y. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team opened its three-game Spring Break trip not the way head coach Tracy Coyne liked. The Irish ran into a first-half offensive charge by Cornell, falling behind 6-2 at the break and never recovered on the way to an 11-8 loss in Schoelkopf Field.
The Big Red fired 18 shots at Irish goalkeeper Carol Dixon (Sr., Pennsauken, N.J.) in the opening stanza and only some big saves by the senior goalkeeper kept Notre Dame in the game through the early going.
The loss, the second in a row for the Irish drops Notre Dame to 1-2 on the year. Cornell goes to 1-0 on the year with its’ season-opening victory.
Margaux Viola led the Big Red with three goals and two assists in the game with Courtney Farrell, Kristen Smith, Katherine Simmons and Lindsey Moore each scored twice in the Cornell win.
Sophomore midfielder Kaki Orr (Darien, Conn.) led the Irish with two goals in the game while six others scored one goal each as Cornell held the Notre Dame offense to just 16 shots on the afternoon.
Moore started the scoring for Cornell, sandwiching her two goals around Orr’s first goal of the game at 4:44 and 7:40. Farrell and Simmons built the lead to 4-1 at the 15:43 mark of the first half. Meghan Murphy (So., Centennial, Colo.) stopped that three-goal run by the Big Red at 19:21 with her sixth goal of the season to make it a 4-2 game.
Cornell closed the first-half scoring with goals by Smith (22:50) and Viola at 28:05 for the 6-2 halftime lead.
Viola made it a five-goal lead for the Big Red just 44 seconds into the second half before Mary McGrath (Jr., Bryn Mawr, Pa.) answered with her first goal of the season for Notre Dame at 2:54.
Farrell notched her second goal of the game for Cornell at 3:22 of the half to make it 8-3. Notre Dame answered with a pair of goals by Lena Zentgraf (Jr., Charlottesville, Va.) at 3:45 and by Caitlin McKinney (Fr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) at 7:27 to make it an 8-5 game, but that was as close as the Irish would get until the final score.
Viola completed her hat trick at 10:04 before Orr got her second of the game for the Irish on a free-position shot at 11:38. Simmons and Smith got their second goals of the game at 16:53 (free-position) and 17:39 to make it 11-6 for Cornell.
Lindsay Shaffer (Sr., Seneca Falls, N.Y.) and Jackie Bowers (Sr., Springfield, Pa.) closed the scoring for the Irish with goals at 24:27 and 28:47 for the final margin of 11-8.
For the game, Cornell shut down Notre Dame’s high-scoring attack standout Crysti Foote (Jr., Suffern, Pa.), who had eight goals in her first to games, holding her to just one assist on the afternoon.
Dixon finished the game with nine saves in the Notre Dame goal while Maggie Fava had four saves in the Cornell goal.
The Irish continue their Spring Break trip by traveling to Nashville, Tenn., to face the Vanderbilt Commodores on Wednesday, March 9 at 1:00 p.m. Next Sunday, Notre Dame closes the trip with a game at James Madison University (March 13) at 12:00 noon.
Game Summary: 1 2 - F
#20 Notre Dame (1-2) 2 6 - 8 Cornell (1-0) 6 5 - 11
SCORING
NOTRE DAME:GOALS: Kaki Orr (2), Meghan Murphy, Mary McGrath, Lena Zentgraf, Caitlin McKinney, Lindsay Shaffer, Jackie Bowers. ASSISTS: Lena Zentgraf, Crysti Foote, Mary McGrath.
CORNELL:GOALS: Margaux Viola (3), Lindsey Moore (2), Courtney Farrell (2), Kristen Smith (2), Katherine Simmons (2).ASSISTS: Marguax Viola (2), Courtney Farrell, Kristen Smith, Allison Schindler.
First Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistCU 4:44 0-1 Lindsey Moore Courtney FarrellND 7:11 1-1 Kaki Orr Lena ZentgrafCU 7:40 1-2 Lindsey Moore (2)CU 10:01 1-3 Courtney Farrell Margaux ViolaCU 15:43 1-4 Katherine Simmons Kristen SmithND 19:21 2-4 Meghan Murphy Mary McGrathCU 22:50 2-5 Kristen SmithCU 28:05 2-6 Margaux Viola
Second Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistCU 00:44 2-7 Margaux ViolaND 2:54 3-7 Mary McGrathCU 3:22 3-8 Courtney Farrell (2) Margaux Viola (2)ND 3:45 4-8 Lena Zentgraf Crysti FooteND 7:27 * 5-8 Caitlin McKinney Free-position shotCU 10:04 5-9 Margaux Viola (3) Allison SchindlerND 11:38 * 6-9 Kaki Orr (2) Free-position shotCU 16:53 * 6-10 Katherine Simmons (2) Free-position shotCU 17:59 6-11 Kristen Smith (2)ND 24:27 7-11 Lindsay ShafferND 28:47 8-11 Jackie Bowers
* denotes free position goal
GoalkeepersND: Carol Dixon (60:00 min; 11 goals against; 9 saves)CU: Maggie Fava (60:00 min; 8 goals against, 4 saves)
Shots On Goal: ND - 16; CU - 26
Ground balls: ND - 28; CU - 30
Draw Controls: ND - 10; CU - 11
Caused Turnovers: ND - 6; CU - 10