March 5, 2006
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team won its’ fourth straight game to open the 2006 season, winning a 17-15 decision against No. 18 Cornell on Sunday afternoon at the Loftus Sports Center.
Senior captain Crysti Foote (Suffern, N.Y.) paced the Irish attack with five goals and three assists, all in the first half, while sophomore Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) had five points (three goals, two assists) and Mary Carpenter (So., Rochester, N.Y.) had the first three-goal of her career in the win. Jill Byers (Fr., Northport, N.Y.) and Heather Ferguson (So., Newtown Square, Pa.) had two goals each with Jane Stoeckert (Fr., Mendham, N.J.) and Alicia Billings (Fr., Potomac, Md.) adding single goals.
Courtney Farrell led Cornell offensively with five goals and Margaux Viola added three to be the Big Red’s top scorers on the afternoon.
The win improved Notre Dame to 4-0 on the year as the Irish surpassed their 2005 win total (3) in the first four games. Cornell fell to 1-1 with the loss.
The Irish jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first nine minutes of the game on goals by Byers, Billings, McKinney and Foote only to see Cornell take a time out and come back to tie the game. Farrell single-handedly tied the game for the Big Red, scoring three times in a 1:03 span.
Notre Dame answered with five of the next six goals. Foote snapped the 4-4 tie with her second goal of the afternoon only to see Viola get the first of her three goals on the afternoon. Ferguson made it 6-5 Notre Dame, scoring on a free-position shot at 13:52. McKinney and Foote with two goals built the lead to 9-5 before Viola got a free-position goal to make it 9-6. Foote closed out her five-goal afternoon at 6:51 of the first before Noelle Dowd and Farrell cut the Notre Dame lead to 10-8. Carpenter closed out the half with her first goals to make it 11-8 at the half.
The second half saw the Irish build the lead to 13-8 as Byers and Carpenter scored at 26:52 and 21:48 for a five-goal lead. Jessica Dwinell and Viola got scored a pair for Cornell to cut Notre Dame’s lead to 13-10.
Just when it looked like the Big Red had changed the momentum, Notre Dame ran off three straight goals. McKinney picked up her third of the game at 17:15. Carpenter’s third goal of the game at 15:12 restored the five-goal lead at 15-10 and Stoeckert capped the run at 12:24 for a 16-10 Irish lead.
Katherine Simmons cut the lead to 16-11 but Ferguson scored her second free-position goal at 10:09 for a 17-11 lead for the Irish.
The rest of the game belonged to Cornell as the Big Red ran off the final four goals of the game with Alison McKeown scored twice and Simmons and Lindsey Moore for the final score of 17-15.
In the game, the two teams traded 30 shots each. Carol Dixon (Sr., Pennsauken, N.J.) made eight saves for the Irish while Maggie Fava had six saves for Cornell.
Notre Dame continues its’ four-game homestand on Wed., March 8 when the Irish play host to the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks. Game time at the Loftus Center is set for 4:30 p.m.
IRISH NOTES:
** Crysti Foote’s eight-point (5g, 3a) first half ties a Notre Dame record for points in a half. Kerry Callahan `99 recorded eight points (5g, 3a) in the first half of a game on March 24, 1997 against Stanford.
** Foote now has a 14-game point streak that includes the final 10 games of 2005. In those 14 games, Foote has 47 goals and 22 assists for 69 points in those games.
** The Irish have scored 70 goals in their first four games this season. That’s an average of 17.50 per game. Notre Dame’s best goal-scoring season ever was 1997 when the Irish averaged 13.56 per game.
Game Summary: 1 2 - F#18 Cornell (1-1) 8 7 - 15#17 Notre Dame (4-0) 11 6 - 17
SCORINGFirst Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistND 29:32 1-0 Jill Byers (14)CU 28:55 1-1 Courtney Farrell (2)ND 27:59 2-1 Alicia Billings (2) Crysti FooteND 21:52 3-1 Caitlin McKinney (8) Crysti FooteND 21:25 4-1 Crysti Foote (17) Caitlin McKinneyCU 20:03 * 4-2 Courtney Farrell (3) Free-position shotCU 19:24 4-3 Courtney Farrell (4)CU 19:00 4-4 Courtney Farrell (5)ND 17:59 5-4 Crysti Foote (18)CU 16:09 5-5 Marguax Viola (5)ND 13:52 * 6-5 Heather Ferguson (3) Free-position shotND 13:11 7-5 Caitlin McKinney (9) Crysti FooteND 9:57 8-5 Crysti Foote (19) Mary CarpenterND 9:15 9-5 Crysti Foote (20)CU 8:04 * 9-6 Marguax Viola (6) Free-position shotND 6:51 10-6 Crysti Foote (21) Meaghan FitzpatrickCU 5:30 10-7 Noelle Dowd (4)CU 4:59 10-8 Courtney Farrell (6) Noelle DowdND 4:38 11-8 Mary Carpenter (3) Jill Byers
Second Half ScoringTeam Time Score Goal AssistND 26:52 * 12-8 Jill Byers (15) Free-position shotND 21:48 13-8 Mary Carpenter (4) Caitlin McKinneyCU 18:03 * 13-9 Jessica Dwinnell (1) Free-position shotCU 17:38 13-10 Marguax Viola (7)ND 17:15 14-10 Caitlin McKinney (10) Jane StoeckertND 15:12 15-10 Mary Carpenter (5) Meghan MurphyND 12:24 16-10 Jane Stoeckert (3)CU 11:30 16-11 Katherine Simmons (3) Marguax ViolaND 10:09 * 17-11 Heather Ferguson (4) Free-position shotCU 9:25 17-12 Courtney Farrell (7)CU 7:35 17-13 Katherine Simmons (4) Alison McKeownCU 1:03 17-14 Alison McKeown (4) Noel DowdCU 0:33 17-15 Lindsey Moore (3) Ann Riordan
* denotes free position goal
GoalkeepersCU: Maggie Fava (60:00 min; 17 goals against; 6 saves)ND: Carol Dixon (60:00 min; 15 goals against; 8 saves)
Shots On Goal: CU - 30; ND - 30Ground balls: OU - 22; ND - 26Draw Controls: OU - 16; ND - 17Caused Turnovers: OU - 11; ND - 20