March 1, 2007
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team brought a 2-0 record into Thursday night’s game with two-time defending national champion Northwestern at the Loftus Center, winning both games in the final seconds of overtime.
Thursday’s game would be settled a little earlier as the seventh-ranked Irish were handed an 18-10 loss by the high-scoring Wildcats to fall to 2-1 on the season and 2-1 against ranked team this season.
Kristin Kjellman paced the Northwestern attack with six goals and two assists for eight points while Hannah Nielsen added four goals and three assists and Hilary Bowen scored three while setting up three to improve the third-ranked Wildcats to 2-1 on the year. Northwestern also got two goals from Katrina Dowd and Aly Josephs and a single goal from Meredith Frank in the win.
The Irish, who saw their 10-game home winning streak come to an end in the loss, were led by Jillian Byers (So., Northport, N.Y.) with three goals and one assist. Lena Zentgraf (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.) added two goals and one assist while Caitlin McKinney (Jr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) added two goals. Kaki Orr (Sr., Darien, Conn.) and Gina Scioscia (Summit, N.J.) each had a goal and an assist. Jane Stoeckert (So., Mendham, N.J.) rounded out the Irish goal scorers.
Notre Dame was out shot by Northwestern, 34-21 in the game. Irish goaltender Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Park, N.Y.) had nine saves in the game while Morgan Lathrop had seven for the Wildcats.
Northwestern scored early and often to open the game. Josephs took the opening draw and went right down the field to score just 42 seconds into the game. Dowd scored her first of the night 14 seconds later to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead just 56 seconds into the game.
Byers answered back with an unassisted goal three minutes in to cut the lead to 2-1 before Northwestern ran off the next three goals on the way to a 5-1 lead just over eight minutes into the game.
Goals by Zentgraf and McKinney sandwiched around a Bowen goal cut the Wildcat lead to 6-3 but that was as close as the Irish would get. Nielsen’s second of the game with 10:33 left in the half started a four-goal in less than five-minute run for Northwestern, building the lead back to 10-3.
Zentgraf’s second goal of the half ended that run, making it 10-4 before Nielsen and Kjellman closed the half with a pair of goals 18 seconds apart in the final 40 seconds of the half for a 12-4 lead after 30 minutes.
The Irish scored first in the second half as Stoeckert picked up her first goal of the season just 1:51 into the half. Jsoeph’s picked up her second goal on a free-position shot and Kjellman her fourth to build the lead to 14-5.
Byers scored twice for the Irish at 22:40 and 14:35 around Kjellman’s fifth of the night to make it 15-7. Her second goal put the Irish on a three goal run as Orr picked up her second of the season and Scioscia got her first collegiate goal with 10:11 left to make it 15-9.
Three straight Northwestern goals made it 18-9 and McKinney closed the scoring with her second of the game and 10th of the season with just three seconds left for the final of 18-10.
Notre Dame’s meeting with Northwestern was the third straight for the Irish against ranked opponents. That number will go to four in a row when they continue their schedule on Sunday, March 4 when Notre Dame travels to Ithaca, N.Y., to face 16th-ranked Cornell in a 12:00 noon game.
The Irish will now play their next four games on the road with the next home game scheduled for Wednesday, March 21 versus Ohio State.
IRISH NOTES:
** Freshman Gina Scioscia recorded her first goal and first multiple-point game with a goal and an assist in the game with Northwestern. Midfielder Beth Koloup saw her first action of the season.
** Northwestern now leads the all-time series with Notre Dame, 5-2. The Wildcats have now won five straight in the series, dating back to the 2003 season.
Game Summary 1 2 - F# 3 Northwestern (2-1) 12 6 - 18# 7 Notre Dame (2-1) 4 6 - 10
First-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist29:18 NU 0-1 Aly Josephs (3)29:04 NU 0-2 Katrina Dowd (2) Kristen Kjellman (4)27:00 ND 1-2 Jillian Byers (10)25:54 NU 1-3 Hannah Nielsen (5) Hilary Bowen (2)22:38 NU 1-4 Meredith Frank (8)21:51 NU 1-5 Hannah Nielsen (6) Katrina Dowd (1)19:15 ND 2-5 Lena Zentgraf (2) Kaki Orr (2)13:49 NU 2-6 Hilary Bowen (6) Kristen Kjellman (5)11:05 ND 3-6 Caitlin McKinney (9) Lena Zentgraf (5)10:33 NU 3-7 Hannah Nielsen (7) Hilary Bowen (3) 9:55 NU 3-8 Katrina Dowd (3) Hannah Nielsen (6) 6:02 NU 3-9 Kristen Kjellman (6) Hilary Bowen (4) 5:44 NU 3-10 Kristen Kjellman (7) Hannah Nielsen (7) 0:53 ND 4-10 Lena Zentgraf (3) Gina Scioscia (1) 0:40 NU 4-11 Hannah Nielsen (8) Meredith Frank (3) 0:22 NU 4-12 Kristen Kjellman (8) Katrina Dowd (2)
Second-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist28:09 ND 5-12 Jane Stoeckert (1) Jillian Byers (1)27:14 NU 5-13 * Aly Josephs (4) Free-position shot25:46 NU 5-14 Kristin Kjellman (9)22:40 ND 6-14 Jillian Byers (11)17:12 NU 6-15 Kristen Kjellman (10) Hannah Nielsen (8)14:35 ND 7-15 Jillian Byers (12) Alicia Billings (2)14:22 ND 8-15 Kaki Orr (2)10:11 ND 9-15 Gina Scioscia (1) Meghan Murphy (2) 7:20 NU 9-16 * Kristen Kjellman (11) Free-position shot 3:00 NU 9-17 Hilary Bowen (7) 1:05 NU 9-18 * Hilary Bowen (8) Free-position shot 0:03 ND 10-18 Caitlin McKinney (10)
* Free-position goal
Goalkeepers
Northwestern – Morgan Lathrop (60:00 min; 10 goals, 7 saves)
Notre Dame – Erin Goodman (60:00 min.; 18 goals, 9 saves)
Shots: NU – 34; ND – 21
Ground Balls: NU – 18; ND – 13
Draw Controls: NU – 16; ND – 14
Caused Turnovers: NU – 5; ND – 11