April 12, 2009
Syracuse, N.Y. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team put on a furious second-half rally on Saturday afternoon at the Carrier Dome only to fall one goal short in a 14-13 BIG EAST loss to the Syracuse Orange.
The Irish trailed 11-1 with 11:05 left in the first half and 12-3 at halftime before scoring outscoring Syracuse, 10-2, in the second half on the way to a tough, 14-13 road loss to the Orange.
Sophomore Shaylyn Blaney (Stony Brook, N.Y.), who scored four goals, including three in the second-half comeback, led the Notre Dame attack. Jillian Byers (Sr., Northport, N.Y.) added three goals and an assist, with Kaitlin Keena (So., Vienna, Va.) and Kailene Abt (So., Huntington, N.Y.) scoring twice. Ansley Stewart (So., Alexandria, Va.) and Gina Scioscia (Jr., Summit, N.J.) added single goals for the Irish with Stewart chipping in two assists for a three-point afternoon.
Katie Rowan led Syracuse with six points (4g, 2a) and was followed by Halley Quillinan and Christina Dove with three goals each. Bridget Looney scored twice for the Orange with Tee Ladouceur and Awehiyo Thomas getting single goals.
The loss was the first of the season on the road (4-1) for the eighth-ranked Irish, who fall to 11-3 overall and 4-2 in the BIG EAST. Syracuse, ranked ninth in the nation, improves to 10-3 on the year and 5-1 in conference action.
The Carrier Dome continued being a tough place for Notre Dame to play as the Irish fall to 0-7 all-time at the Dome and 0-6 versus the Orange. The other loss came in BIG EAST Tournament play to Georgetown in 2007 when Syracuse served as host.
Syracuse scored first in the game with Quillinan scoring on a free-position shot just 36 seconds into the game. The Irish answered right back a little over a minute later when Blaney converted a feed from Byers from behind the net for her first of the game at 28:12.
From there, the Orange went on the attack, running off 10 straight goals in a 15-minute span. Dove put Syracuse ahead with her first of the game at 26:05 and would add two more in the 10-goal run. She was followed by Looney with two, Rowan with a pair and single goals from Ladouceur, Thomas and Quillinan to make it an 11-1 scorer with 11:05 left in the first half.
The Irish would finally halt the run with 6:01 left in the opening stanza when Byers drove through the defense and whipped a low, shot past Syracuse goalkeeper Liz Hogan to make it 11-2. The senior captain would follow with her second goal of the game with 1:55 left in the half when freshman Maggie Tamasitis (Boyertown, Pa.) threaded the needle from behind the net to Byers cutting in front where she deposited a shot behind Hogan to make it 11-3.
Rowan would get her third goal of the half with just four seconds left in the half that would prove to be important as the afternoon wore on.
Syracuse peppered Irish netminder Erin Goodman (Sr., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) with 20 shots in the half to just 11 for Notre Dame.
After a 15-minute intermission, two different teams returned to the Carrier Dome surface as the second half belonged to the Irish.
Keena started the assault as she scored her first of the game, converting a feed from Stewart for her first assist in the rally at 28:44.
Abt followed with her first of the game as she raced down the left side before cutting in and firing a shot past Hogan at 26:34 to make it a 12-5 game.
Quillinan stopped the Irish attack momentarily at 25:45 with her third goal of the day before Blaney took over for Notre Dame.
The sophomore midfielder, who led all shooters with 10 shots on goal in the game, teamed with Keena at 24:47 for her second of the game and first of three in a six-goal Irish unanswered skein.
Scioscia cut the lead to 13-7 with a nifty move just 1:15 after Blaney’s goal for her first of the contest and was followed by a Blaney drive to the net 58 seconds later to make it 13-8.
Stewart cut the lead to four goals at 15:30 as she converted a feed from Scioscia to make it 13-9 and Abt’s second goal of the afternoon made it 13-10 with 13:30 left in the game.
Syracuse was able to slow the Notre Dame attack with Hogan making big saves on free-position shots by Blaney and Byers, before Blaney borke through with her fourth of the game with 7:21 left to cut the Orange lead to 13-11.
With less than two minutes left in the game and Syracuse stalling, the Irish tried to force a turnover but Rowan was able to score into an open net with 1:55 to up the Orange lead to 14-11 and looked like they had locked up the win.
The Irish still had one last run left. Byers scored unassisted with 1:08 left and Keena notched her second of the game with 53 seconds left to make it a 14-13 game.
Notre Dame would come up with the final draw and worked the ball to Blaney who drove down the right side and fired a shot that Hogan kicked out with 31 seconds left and from there Syracuse was able to kill the clock and hold on for the one-goal victory.
The Irish finished the game out shooting the Orange by a 30-27 margin. Syracuse was able to win the battle of the draw controls, winning 18 to 11 for Notre Dame. Goodman finished with seven saves for the Irish while Hogan had eight in the Syracuse goal.
Notre Dame closes out its four-game road swing on Wednesday, April 15 when the Irish travel to Nashville, Tenn., to face Vanderbilt in a 3:30 p.m. (CT) game.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 - F#8/#8 Notre Dame (11-3/4-2) 3 10 - 13#9/#8 Syracuse (10-3/5-1) 12 2 - 14
ScoringFirst Half:Time Team Score Goal Assist29:24 SU 0-1 Halley Quillinan Free-position shot28:12 ND 1-1 Shaylyn Blaney Jillian Byers26:05 SU 1-2 Christina Dove Katie Rowan25:04 SU 1-3 Bridget Looney Megan Mosenson23:53 SU 1-4 Tee Ladoucer Free-position shot21:33 SU 1-5 Awehiyo Thomas Halley Quillinan18:31 SU 1-6 Christina Dove (2) Jackie DePetris18:07 SU 1-7 Katie Rowan17:14 SU 1-8 Christina Dove (3)16:04 SU 1-9 Bridget Looney (2) Katie Rowan (2)14:43 SU 1-10 Katie Rowan (2) Tee Ladouceur11:04 SU 1-11 Halley Quillinan (2) Megan Mosenson (2) 6:01 ND 2-11 Jillian Byers 1:55 ND 3-11 Jillian Byers (2) Maggie Tamasitis 0:04 SU 3-12 Katie Rowan (3)
Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist28:44 ND 4-12 Kaitlin Keena Ansley Stewart26:34 ND 5-12 Kailene Abt25:45 SU 5-13 Halley Quillinan (3) Tee Ladoucer (2)24:27 ND 6-13 Shaylyn Blaney (2) Kaitlin Keena23:32 ND 7-13 Gina Scioscia22:34 ND 8-13 Shaylyn Blaney (3)15:03 ND 9-13 Ansley Stewart Gina Scioscia13:30 ND 10-13 Kailene Abt (2) 7:21 ND 11-13 Shaylyn Blaney (4) 1:55 SU 11-14 Katie Rowan (4) Halley Quillinan (2) 1:08 ND 12-14 Jillian Byers (3) 0:53 ND 13-14 Kaitlin Keena (2) Ansley Stewart
Goalkeepers:Notre Dame: Erin Goodman - 60:00 min; 14 goals against, 7 savesSyracuse: Liz Hogan - 60:00 min; 13 goals against, 8 saves
Total Shots: Notre Dame: 30; Syracuse: 27Ground Balls: Notre Dame: 15, Syracuse: 13Draw Controls: Notre Dame: 11, Syracuse: 18Caused Turnovers: Notre Dame: 5, Syracuse: 7