March 12, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame senior standout Crysti Foote (Suffern, N.Y.) scored three second-half goals to help rally the Fighting Irish from a 7-3 halftime deficit to a 12-11 win in regulation versus the James Madison Dukes. While Foote may have done her usual thing on offense – leading the Irish with five points on the afternoon – it was a brilliant defensive play in front of her own net with just over a minute left that preserved the win for the No. 14 Irish Sunday afternoon at the Loftus Sports Center.
The Irish also got three goals from freshman Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) and two from Meghan Murphy (Jr., Centennial, Colo.), Kaki Orr (Jr., Darien, Conn.) and Caitlin McKinney (So., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) in the win.
James Madison built their 7-3 first-half lead on four goals by junior midfielder Lynlea Cronin who added an assist for five points in the game. Junior Kelly Berger and sophomore Julie Stone each had three goals and junior Maria Bosica added the Duke’s 11th goal of the afternoon.
The victory closes out Notre Dame’s four-game home stand and gives the Irish a 6-0 start to the 2006 season. The loss was the first of the season for the No. 16 Dukes and drops them to 3-1 for the year.
Notre Dame’s offense, which had been averaging 18 goals-per-game in the first five games of the season got off to another fast start as Byers scored just 55 seconds into the game and again at 25:38 to give the Irish a 2-0 lead.
That would be the last anyone would see the Irish offense for about 12 minutes as Cronin and the Dukes’ offense ran off six straight goals for a 6-2 lead. Cronin scored three times in a 2:36 span to put James Madison in the lead at 3-2 with 21 minutes left in the first half. Stone got the first of her three goals at 16:32 and Berger made it 5-2 at 15:44 before Cronin closed out her four-goal half with 14:11 left in the first.
Foote picked up her second assist of the first half when she fed Murphy in front for her first goal of the game at 13:48 and Bosica would get the last goal of the half at 10:51 before the defenses stiffened at both ends of the field.
The Irish offense and defense would both come to life in the second half. Foote, who leads Notre Dame with 43 points (27g, 16a) in the first six games, got Notre Dame back in the game with two goals in the first 1:14 of the second. A free-position goal just 37 seconds into the half cut the lead to 7-4 and when she converted a Murphy pass in front at 28:46, James Madison’s lead was cut to 7-5. Byers added a free-position shot (one of five for the Irish in the game) at 25:06 and the lead was cut to one at 7-6.
Berger stopped the Irish run with her second goal of the game at 24:56 to make it 8-6 before the Irish would regain the lead.
This time it was McKinney’s turn to handle the scoring honors. The fleet-footed attack player cut the lead to 8-7 with her first of the day off a great assist from the side of the cage from Murphy at 23:29. She then got the game-tying goal at 19:57 on a free-position goal.
The Irish regained the lead for the first time since early in the game at 18:32 when Orr’s first free-position goal of the game made it 9-8 in favor of Notre Dame.
James Madison got the equalizer with 15:36 left in the half when Stone converted a Colleen O’Keefe set-up for her second goal of the game.
Again the Irish answered with three goals of their own to take a 12-9 lead. Foote got her third goal of the game at 14:47 to put Notre Dame ahead to stay at 10-9. Orr scored on her second free-position shot of the game at 6:41 and Murphy got the game winner when she cut in front of the net and took a pass from freshman Jane Stoeckert and beat James Madison goalkeeper Livvy King with a shot from the top of the circle with 2:38 left.
The Dukes weren’t done however. Stone scored at 1:56 to make it 12-10 and Berger’s third of the game at 1:31 cut the Irish lead to 12-11.
The Irish controlled the final draw but turned it over. James Madison countered and came down the right with Cronin driving on Carol Dixon (Sr., Pennsauken, N.J.) in the Notre Dame goal with 1:12 left on the clock. Just as Cronin was ready to shoot, Foote stepped out from behind the goal and intercepted the shot and clearing it down the field. Play continued in the final minute in the middle of the field, but neither team would get off another shot and the Irish prevailed, 12-11.
For the game, James Madison out shot the Irish by a 28-27 margin. King finished with eight saves for the Dukes while Dixon had eight saves in the Notre Dame goal.
The Irish now head south for their next “home game” on Thursday, March 16 when they open the BIG EAST schedule against the conference’s newest women’s lacrosse member, Loyola (Md.). The game will be played at Wellington, Fla., and will be televised live by College Sports Television (CSTV) at 7:00 p.m.
Game Summary: 1 2 - F#16 James Madison (3-1) 7 4 - 11#14 Notre Dame (6-0) 3 9 - 12SCORINGFirst Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistND 29:05 1-0 Jillian Byers (21)ND 25:38 2-0 Jillian Byers (22) Crysti FooteJMU 23:31 2-1 Lynlea Cronin (7) Kim GriffinJMU 21:57 * 2-2 Lynlea Cronin (8) Free-position shotJMU 20:55 2-3 Lynlea Cronin (9)JMU 16:32 2-4 Julie Stone (5) Kelly BergerJMU 15:44 2-5 Kelly Berger (10)JMU 14:11 2-6 Lynlea Cronin (10)ND 13:48 3-6 Meghan Murphy (7) Crysti FooteJMU 10:51 3-7 Maria Bosica (6)
Second Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistND 29:23 * 4-7 Crysti Foote (25) Free-position shotND 28:46 5-7 Crysti Foote (26) Meghan MurphyND 25:06 * 6-7 Jillian Byers (23) Free-position shotJMU 24:56 6-8 Kelly Berger (11)ND 23:29 7-8 Caitlin McKinney (14) Meghan MurphyND 19:57 * 8-8 Caitlin McKinney (15) Free-position shotND 18:32 * 9-8 Kaki Orr (5) Free-position shotJMU 15:36 9-9 Julie Stone (6) Colleen O'KeefeND 14:47 10-9 Crysti Foote (27)ND 6:41 * 11-9 Kaki Orr (6) Free-position shotND 2:38 12-9 Meghan Murphy (8) Jane StoeckertJMU 1:56 12-10 Julie Stone (7) Lynlea CroninJMU 1:31 12-11 Kelly Berger (12)
* denotes free position goal
GoalkeepersJMU: Livvy King (60:00 min; 12 goals, 8 saves)ND: Carol Dixon (60:00 min; 11 goals, 8 saves)
Shots On Goal: JMU - 28; ND - 27Ground balls: JMU - 17; ND - 13Draw Controls: JMU - 12; ND - 13Caused Turnovers: JMU - 5; ND - 7