April 5, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. – Senior Crysti Foote (Suffern, N.Y.) scored four goals and sophomores Mary Carpenter (Rochester, N.Y.) and Heather Ferguson (Newtown Square, Pa.) scored two each to lead 10th-ranked Notre Dame to a 13-6 road win over Ohio State on Wednesday afternoon at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
Foote’s four-goal game gives her 45 on the season and 132 for her career, moving her past former Irish All-American Danielle Shearer `03, who scored 130 goals in her career. The 45 goals in one season ranks the Notre Dame’s all-BIG EAST and All-American candidate third on the single-season list behind Lael O’Shaughnessy `01, who scored 50 in 1999 and Meredith Simon `04, who had 46 in 2004.
The Irish, who jumped out to a 4-0 lead and led 9-2 at halftime, also got goals from Caitlin McKinney (So., Lafayette Hill, Pa.), Alicia Billings (Fr., Potomac, Md.), Jane Stockert (Fr., Mendham, N.J.), Brittany Fox (Sr., Annapolis, Md.) and Meghan Murphy (Jr., Centennial, Colo.). Freshman Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) was held off the scoreboard for the first time all season but did assist on three Notre Dame goals. Kelwyn Laws paced the Buckeyes with two goals and an assist. Four others – KC Carter, Natale Miller Kelly Kremer and Jessica Patane each had single goals for Ohio State.
The win improves the Irish to 10-1 on the season, equaling their best start ever (2004) while Ohio State falls to 1-9 on the year. Notre Dame has now won three straight, including two on the road since its lone loss at Northwestern on March 19.
Foote got the Irish off to a fast start scoring twice in the first 6:17 as she sandwiched goals around Stoeckert’s only goal of the afternoon early in the opening half. McKinney made it 4-0 just 16 seconds after Foote’s second goal of the afternoon to put Notre Dame ahead 4-0 with 23:27 left in the half.
Patane stopped the Irish run at 20:46 with an unassisted goal, only to see Notre Dame score three straight for a 7-1 lead with 7:30 left in the half. Foote scored her third of the game at 18:28, followed by Carpenter’s first (7:55) and Ferguson’s first at the 22:30 mark.
Kelly Kremer cut the lead to 7-2 for the Buckeyes with 6:15 left in the half only to see Fox and Billings close out the half with goals at 24:48 and 25:17 for a 9-2 Notre Dame lead at halftime.
The teams traded eight goals in the second half. Carter scored 4:22 into the half on a free-position goal to cut the Irish lead to six goals (9-3). Notre Dame put the game away when Ferguson (24:29) and Carpenter (22:04) went back-to-back in a 2:25 span to give the Irish an 11-3 lead.
Natale Miller and Kelyn Laws scored the final three goals of the second for the Buckeyes while Foote closed out her four-goal game and Murphy closed the Irish scoring ledger with 13:49 left in the contest for the 13-6 final score.
Notre Dame out shot the Buckeyes, 31-21, on the afternoon. Senior Carol Dixon (Pennsauken, N.J.) made nine saves in the game, three in the first half and six in the second. Kristen Gilwee played the first 30 minutes for Ohio State, giving up nine goals with six saves. Kim Hastings played the final 30 minutes, surrendering four goals with four saves.
The Irish continue their five-game road swing on Sunday, April 9th when they travel to Durham, N.C. to face the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
IRISH NOTES:
** The 10-1 record for the Irish ties for the best in the program’s history. In 2004, Notre Dame won the first 10 games of the season, only to lose their 11th that year to Georgetown. Game 12 that season saw the Irish lose to Northwestern to fall to 10-2 on the season.
** Crysti Foote is not only challenging the single-season goal record, but also the point mark. Through 11 games, she now has 45 goals and 20 assists for 65 points. She ranks third with those 65 points behind Meredith Simon (74 points in 2004) and Lael O’Shaughnessy (69 points in 1999). Foote also has 188 career points and needs just nine to pass Danielle Shearer’s 196 career points, the best in the program’s history.
** Several Notre Dame players are having career years. Meghan Murphy (13g, 7a) passes her previous best of 12-6-18, set in 2004. Caitlin McKinney (25g, 16a) has improved on her 28-12-40 of 2005. Heather Ferguson (10g, 9a) has doubled her 4-5-9 mark of last season. Kaki Orr (13g, 5a) has surpassed her mark of 11-1-12 set a year ago and Mary Carpenter (9g, 6a) had 6-3-9 as a freshman last season.
Game Summary
1 2 - F#10 Notre Dame (10-1/2-0) 9 4 - 13Ohio State (1-9/0-1) 2 4 - 6
First-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist27:57 ND 1-0 Crysti Foote (42)24:47 ND 2-0 Jane Stoeckert (8) Jillian Byers23:43 ND 3-0 * Crysti Foote (43) Free-Position Shot23:27 ND 4-0 Caitlin McKinney (25) Jane Stoeckert20:46 OSU 4-1 Jessica Patane (13)18:28 ND 5-1 Crysti Foote (44) 7:55 ND 6-1 Mary Carpenter (8) 7:30 ND 7-1 Heather Ferguson (9) 6:15 OSU 7-2 Kelly Kremer (6) 5:12 ND 8-2 Brittany Fox (7) Meghan Murphy 4:43 ND 9-2 Alicia Billings (6) Brittany Fox
Second-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist25:38 OSU 9-3 * KC Carter (20) Free-Position Shot24:29 ND 10-3 Heather Ferguson (10)22:04 ND 11-3 Mary Carpenter (9) Jillian Byers18:18 OSU 11-4 Natale Miller (6) Kelyn Laws15:24 ND 12-4 Crysti Foote (45) Jillian Byers14:45 OSU 12-5 Kelyn Laws (5)13:49 ND 13-5 Meghan Murphy(13) Alicia Billings10:45 OSU 13-6 Kelyn Laws (6)
* Free-position goal
GoalkeepersNotre Dame - Carol Dixon (60:00 min.; 6 goals, 9 saves)Ohio State - Kristen Gilwee (30:00 min.; 9 goals, 6 saves) Kim Hastings (30:00 min.; 4 goals, 4 saves)
Shots: ND - 31; OSU - 21Ground Balls: ND - 24; OSU - 18Draw Controls: ND - 11; OSU - 10Caused Turnovers: ND - 5; OSU - 4