April 12, 2013
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Loyola women’s lacrosse player Hannah Schmitt found the back of the net 1:21 into the second overtime to give the Greyhounds a 14-13 victory over No. 5/6 Notre Dame in BIG EAST action Friday night at Arlotta Stadium.
In a game that saw eight ties, nine lead changes and plenty of big individual plays, Schmitt made the biggest play of the day to give the Greyhounds (6-6, 3-1 BIG EAST) a much needed BIG EAST win. After a Notre Dame turnover just 1:02 into overtime, Sydney Thomas made a pass to Schmitt, who darted 30-plus yards up the field for the game clincher.
Notre Dame (10-1, 4-1 BIG EAST) returns to action Sunday when they welcome in No. 8/8 Georgetown to Arlotta for a 2 p.m. game. Fans can follow the contest through the links on UND.com for live stats and Fighting Irish Digital Media’s free broadcast.
The loss was the first of the season for Notre Dame after starting off 10-0. The 10-0 start matched the best start in school history that was established by the 2004 club. The 4-0 start in BIG EAST play was also tied for tops in school history with the 2002 squad. Notre Dame has also lost five in a row to Loyola after winning the first five in the series. The five losses have all come since 2011.
Notre Dame had four players record two or more goals. Senior standouts Jaimie Morrison (3G, 3A) and Jenny Granger (2G, 3A) led the way for much of the day for the Irish. Sophomore Caitlin Gargan had a hat trick just 16 minutes into the game, while junior All-American Margaret Smith turned in another all-around effort, tallying two goals, three ground balls, six draw controls and three caused turnovers. Defensive stalwart Barbara Sullivan had two ground balls, a game-high seven draw controls and two caused turnovers to go along with her second career goal that came with eight seconds left in the first half.
Loyola was led by Marlee Paton’s five goals and two assists, while Schmitt recorded three goals and a pair of helpers. Paton also had a team-high six draw controls. In goal Molly Wolf collected her sixth win of the season after stopping seven shots in 67:21 of action.
Despite dominating the draw control 20-10, Notre Dame was hurt by 21 turnovers, including nine unforced giveaways. By winning the turnover battle, Loyola collected six more ground balls than the Irish (26-20).
The Greyhounds took an 8-6 lead into the halftime break after a wild first half saw the Irish jump out to a 5-3 advantage before the Greyhounds stormed back with four consecutive goals to claim a 7-5 lead. With just seconds remaining in the half, insanity ensued as B. Sullivan scooped up a loose ball and ran from almost midfield to bury the ball in the back of the net to move the score to 7-6 with just eight seconds remaining until intermission. However, Taryn VanThof controlled a quick draw control and made a quick pass to Joanna Dalton, who blazed up the field to score as time expired to give the Greyhounds a two-goal advantage heading into the locker room.
In the second half Notre Dame chipped away at the Loyola advantage and took its first lead since midway through the first half when Smith blasted a shot past Wolf off a feed from Morrison. Looking to force overtime, Schmitt found the equalizer with 4:12 left in regulation.
Overtime No. 1 saw the team’s trade goals, with Smith scoring unassisted with 1:17 left to make the score 13-12. However, in similar fashion to the end of the first half, Loyola controlled the draw control and raced up the field to tie the game up just eight seconds later as Paton scored her fifth goal of the game to force the second overtime and make way for Schmitt’s heroics.
POST GAME QUOTES
Head Coach Christine Halfpenny
Re: Paton and Schmitt …
“Marlee had the ability to win that final draw control in the first overtime and go one-on-one down to the goal. Realistically I think it was more in the transition that she gave us trouble. Obviously Hannah made plays when she had to make plays. That’s the best way to put it. Really they had some equalizing goals, including the game-winner, in transition and off our mistakes.”
Re: Keys to beating Loyola if play again this season …
“Limit our turnovers and finish on our shots.”
Re: Getting prepared for Georgetown Sunday …
“Our team is already ready for Georgetown. As a matter of fact I couldn’t be more proud of our team and how resilient they are. Right when the final buzzer went off the first thing out of their mouths was `you have got to love Friday, Sunday games because you have no time to think about this one, you have to move on to the next one’. We feel very prepared for Georgetown and the biggest thing we have to take away from this game is to limit our turnovers. Our turnovers led to their ground balls and gave them 11 extra possessions. At the end of the day I think that’s how they continued to come back and ultimately have one more goal than we did at the end of the game.”
–ND–