April 23, 2006
Piscataway, N.J. – Notre Dame’s terrific trio of Crysti Foote (Sr., Suffern, N.Y.), Jillian Byers (Fr., Northport, N.Y.) and Caitlin McKinney (So., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) scored 10 goals and added seven assists to lead the seventh-ranked Fighting Irish to a 13-8 BIG EAST road win at Rutgers on Sunday afternoon. The win snapped a two-game Irish losing streak that saw them drop a pair of games to top-ranked teams.
Foote, a candidate for the prestigious Tewaaraton Trophy as the nation’s top women’s lacrosse player, paced the Notre Dame attack with four goals and five assists in the game. The nine-point game was her third of the season with nine or more points and made her the first Irish player to record 200 or more points in her career.
Byers added five points on three goals and two assists and McKinney scored three goals in the game that saw the Irish trail 6-5 at halftime. Sophomore Heather Ferguson (Newtown Square, Pa.) added two goals and sophomore Mary Carpenter (So., Rochester, N.Y.) chipped in a single goal in the win. Katie Batiuk (2g, 3a) and Kathryn Lawrence paced the Rutgers attack with two goals each. Nina Frankoski, Michelle Poole, Mallory Tornetta and Kate Shomo had single goals for the Scarlet Knights.
The victory improves the Irish to 11-3 overall and 3-1 in BIG EAST play. Rutgers falls to 6-7 on the season and 1-4 in conference action. The win also capped Notre Dame’s five consecutive games on the road as the Irish went 3-2 away from home. They close the season with back-to-back home games versus Syracuse (April 29) and Vanderbilt (May 7).
The Irish got off to a quick start at Yurcak Field on a cold, rainy afternoon, scoring twice in the first two minutes of play. Foote gave the Irish a 1-0 lead just 43 seconds into the game and then set up Byers first goal of the game at 28:08. Byers’ goal was her 39th of the season, setting the Notre Dame freshman mark for goals in a season.
Batiuk answered back for Rutgers, tying the game with a pair of goals at 25:32 and 22:46 to make it 2-2. The Irish moved on top with three goals in a 1:50 span. Carpenter put the Irish ahead 3-2 with a free-position goal at 16:12. Ferguson converted a Foote pass at 15:58 and McKinney made it 5-2 at 14:22, scoring her 30th goal of the year off a Foote pass, her third assist of the half.
The three Irish goals woke up the Scarlet Knights as they ran off the last four goals of the half to take a 6-5 lead at halftime. Poole made it 5-3 at 6:51 followed by Lawrence scoring 32 seconds alter at 6:19 to cut the lead to 5-4. Tornetta got the game-tying goal 23 seconds later at 5:56 and Frankoski’s goal with 1:56 left in the half gave the Scarlet Knights their only lead of the day at 6-5.
Notre Dame quickly evened the score just 53 seconds into the half on Byers’ second goal of the day at 29:07. That goal, gave Byers her 40th of the season and she joins Foote (55) to give the Irish two 40-goal scorers for the first time in the program’s 10-year history.
Foote then put on her goal-scoring hat with back-to-back goals 16 seconds apart at 27:04 and 26:48 to give Notre Dame an 8-6 lead. Lawrence broke the three-goal Irish run with her second goal of the game at 23:13 to cut the lead to 8-7, but that was as close as Rutgers would get as Notre Dame ran off five straight goals.
Byers scored off a free-position shot at 22:16 for a 9-7 lead. McKinney scored twice (18:30 and 12:41) to move the lead to 11-7. Ferguson converted Foote’s career-best fifth assist at 8:54 and then Foote closed out the Irish scoring and her nine-point game with a goal at 7:56 for a 13-7 Notre Dame lead. Shomo got the final goal of the game at 6:14 for Rutgers for the final score of 13-8.
On the afternoon, the Irish out shot the Scarlet Knights by a 34-25 margin. Carol Dixon (Sr., Pennsauken, N.J.) had eight saves in the Notre Dame goal. Katherine Parker made nine saves in goal for Rutgers.
The Irish return to action on Saturday, April 29 when they close out the BIG EAST schedule versus the Syracuse Orange. Game time at Moose Krause Stadium is set for 12:00 noon.
IRISH NOTES:
** The trio of Crysti Foote (55), Jillian Byers (41) and Caitlin McKinney (32) gives the Irish three players with 30 or more goals in a season for the second time in the program’s history. In 1999, Lael O’Shaughnessy (50), Kerry Callahan (35) and Courtney Calabrese (31) were the first trio to score 30 or more goals in one season.
** Crysti Foote now has 55 goals and 29 assists for 84 points this season. She needs just four more assists to break the single-season mark for assists (held by Kerry Callahan with 32 in 1999). For her career, the All-America candidate now has 207 career points (142 goals and 65 assists). She needs four more assists to become Notre Dame’s all-time assist leader.
** Sophomore midfielder Mary Carpenter continued her strong play in the Notre Dame midfield this season. Besides a free-position goal, Carpenter had a career-high five draw controls, three ground balls and one caused turnover on the afternoon.
Game Summary 1 2 - F#7 Notre Dame (11-3/3-1) 5 8 - 13Rutgers (6-7/1-4) 6 2 - 8
First-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist29:17 ND 1-0 Crysti Foote (52)28:08 ND 2-0 Jillian Byers (39) Crysti Foote25:32 RU 2-1 Katie Batiuk (31)22:46 RU 2-2 Katie Batiuk (32)16:12 ND 3-2 * Mary Carpenter (11) Free-position shot15:58 ND 4-2 Heather Ferguson (14) Crysti Foote14:42 ND 5-2 Caitlin McKinney (30) Crysti Foote 6:51 RU 5-3 Michelle Poole (16) Katie Batiuk 6:19 RU 5-4 Kathryn Lawrence (18) 5:56 RU 5-5 Mallory Tornetta (4) Jackie Lerner 1:56 RU 5-6 Nina Frankoski (19) Katie Batiuk
Second-Half ScoringTime Team Score Goal Assist29:07 ND 6-6 Jillian Byers (40) Crysti Foote27:04 ND 7-6 Crysti Foote (53)26:48 ND 8-6 Crysti Foote (54) Jillian Byers23:13 RU 8-7 Kathryn Lawrence (19)22:16 ND 9-7 * Jillian Byers (41) Free-position shot18:30 ND 10-7 Caitlin McKinney (31)12:41 ND 11-7 Caitlin McKinney (32) Jillian Byers 8:54 ND 12-7 Heather Ferguson (15) Crysti Foote 7:56 ND 13-7 Crysti Foote (55) Meghan Murphy 6:14 RU 13-8 Kate Shomo (24) Katie Batiuk
* Free-position goal
Goalkeepers Notre Dame - Carol Dixon (60:00 min.; 8 goals, 8 saves)Rutgers - Katherine Parker (60:00 min.; 13 goals, 9 saves)
Shots: ND - 34; RU - 25Ground Balls: ND - 24; RU - 24Draw Controls: ND - 15; RU - 8Caused Turnovers: ND - 9; RU - 7