March 30, 2012
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Trailing 12-11 with one minute remaining in overtime, the No. 6 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team scored two goals in 30 seconds to stun Rutgers, 13-12, and improve to 8-0 on the season and 2-0 in BIG EAST play.
After Rutgers Kristin Kochor scored the tying goal with 15 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, Brittany Davis gave the Scarlet Knights the lead with a score at the 2:49 mark of overtime.
Despite playing in their first overtime game of the season, the Irish didn’t panic on defense with only two minutes to go. Freshman Barbara Sullivan forced a huge turnover and picked up the ensuing ground ball to give Notre Dame an opportunity to tie the score. The Irish sprinted down the field and senior Tewaaraton Award candidate Maggie Tamasitis dished to junior Jenny Granger who planted the equalizer in the back of the net with 59 seconds remaining.
After a draw control by senior Kate Newall gave the Irish the ball once last time, Tamasitis delivered the game-winner to sophomore Margaret Smith with just 22 seconds left in the game. One final draw control by B. Sullivan allowed the Irish to run out the clock and claim the thrilling victory.
Sophomore Lindsay Powell tallied four goals to pace the Irish. She has now scored at least two goals in all eight games, including three or more in seven contests. Tamasitis scored and dished for Notre Dame, finding the back of the net twice, while handing out three assists. Junior Jaimie Morrison also chipped in with a pair of goals to give the Irish three multi-goal scorers on the day.
Junior goalie Ellie Hilling went the distance for the Irish, stopping six shots to pick up her eighth win on the year.
The Irish were especially dominant on draw controls on the day, holding a 18-11 advantage including the key ones in overtime. Smith had six draw controls, while Newall collected five.
The game opened slowly much to the liking of the Scarlet Knights, as they controlled the pace to try and contain the high-scoring Irish. It worked for awhile, as neither team found the back of the net in the first 10 minutes. Rutgers held a 3-1 lead with 12:49 remaining in the first half when Notre Dame went to work, scoring six consecutive goals to take a 7-3 lead with 24:00 minutes left in the game.
Rutgers steadily crept back into the contest cutting it to a goal on two occasions to eventually setup Kochor’s equalizer.
NOTES
The Irish improve to 8-0, which is the best start to a season since 2004 and the second-best start in program history. The ’04 team opened 10-0 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament.
Tamasitis improved her consecutive games with a point streak to 45 with her five-point performance. She has scored five or more points in six of the eight games this season.
With 30 helpers so far this year, Tamasitis sits sixth on the Notre Dame single-season list. The Boyertown, Pa., product has now etched her name on the top-10 list three times in her career and sits 16 away from tying her school record of 46, which she set last season, with eight regular season games to go.
Morrison has six multi-goal games this year and 18 goals total.
Powell’s hat trick gives her 27 goals for the year, which is tops on the team.
–ND–