April 16, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team battled Connecticut, the wind and the rain on Saturday afternoon and with the help of a nine-goal second half the Irish handed the Huskies a 15-5 loss at Arlotta Stadium.
Senior Shaylyn Blaney paced the Irish with four goals and one assist for a five-point afternoon while fellow seniors Ansley Stewart and Kailene Abt added three goals each. Freshman Kaitlyn Brosco and sophomore Betsy Mastropieri added two with sophomore Jaimie Morrison scoring once in the win.
While Blaney was scoring off a exciting one-on-one dashes through the Connecticut defense, junior attack Maggie Tamasitis was working her magic behind the UConn goal as she equaled Notre Dame records for assists in a half (4) and assists in a game as she dished out a career-high six assists in the victory.
The six assists equal marks set by Gina Scioscia `10 in 2009 versus Rutgers and Kerry Callahan `99 against Gannon in 1999. The four assists in one half tied marks set by Jill Byers `09 in 2009 against Connecticut and Callahan versus Gannon.
The Huskies were led by their top scorer, M.E. Lapham, who had three goals in the game. Chelsea Hauswirth and Stefanie Burra had the other Connecticut goals.
The win improves the Irish to 6-7 overall and 3-2 in BIG EAST play while the loss drops the Huskies to 6-6 overall and 0-4 in BIG EAST play.
Notre Dame got off to a fast start in the game, taking a 3-0 lead with 20:17 left in the half. Blaney started her five-point afternoon by scoring at 27:47 to make it 1-0.
Just 30 seconds later at 27:17, Abt converted a feed from Tamasitis, beating Connecticut starting goalkeeper Brittney Testa over her stick to make it 2-0. The assist extended Tamasitis’ personal point streak to 31 games, the fourth longest in the program’s 15-year history.
Brosco made it 3-0 at 20:17 when she converted a feed from Tamasitis for her first of the afternoon.
The Huskies got on the scoreboard with Hauswirth scoring on a unique free-position goal at 17:46. Irish goalkeeper Ellie Hilling moved out of her crease to play a pass from the outside to Hauswirth inside the eight-meter line and collided with the Connecticut player. The officials called the foul on Hilling and awarded a free-position shot to Hauswirth who bounced it into an open goal as Hilling restarted behind her.
Stewart, who would score three times off set ups by Tamasitis, answered with her first at 15:34 to restore the three-goal lead at 4-1.
Lapham notched her first of the game at 10:24 to cut the lead to 4-2 and extend her own scoring streak to 35 games. Blaney and Stewart closed the half with their second goals of the contest to give the Irish a 6-2 lead at halftime.
It took the Irish almost seven minutes to score in the second half but when they did, Notre Dame scored five unanswered to open an 11-2 lead.
Blaney scored a pair for her four-goal game while Brosco, Mastropieri and Abt extended the Irish lead to nine goals. Following Mastropieri’s goal at 19:29, the Huskies made a change in goal, replacing Testa with Kelsey Zinck. Testa gave up 10 goals in the game while making three saves.
With the Irish leading 11-2, Connecticut cut the lead to 11-4 with goals by Burra and Lapham at 15:06 and 10:02 respectively. Burra’s was off a free-position shot and was one of three for the Huskies in the game.
Blaney then closed out her five-point game as she set up Morrison’s goal at 7:49 that made it 12-4. The assist was Blaney’s ninth of the season and tied her single-season best for helpers.
Abt and Stewart scored twice in a 12-second span between 3:22 and 3:10 with Tamasitis getting her fifth assist on Stewart’s third goal of the game.
Lapham notched her third goal of the contest with 1:58 left via a free-position shot and Mastropieri closed the scoring with 1:38 on the clock as she took advantage of Tamasitis’ sixth assist of the afternoon for the final score of 15-5.
Notre Dame out shot Connecticut by a 37-19 margin. Hilling finished with seven saves in the game. Testa had three saves in 40:31 for the Huskies and Zinck gave up five goals and had four saves in 19:29.
The Irish will take a break from BIG EAST play as they travel to Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday, April 20 to face Vanderbilt in a 1:00 p.m. (CT) game at the Vanderbilt Lacrosse Facility. Notre Dame returns home next Saturday, April 26 for the regular-season finale versus Georgetown at 1:00 p.m.
** IRISH NOTES **
** With her six assists, Maggie Tamasitis now has 76 for her career. That ties her for third on the all-time assist list with current Irish assistant coach Crysti Foote `06 who finished her playing career with 76. Tamasitis now has 32 goals and 57 assists for 89 points in her 31-game point streak.
** Shaylyn Blaney and Jackie Doherty dominated the defensive side of the score sheet for Notre Dame as they combined for nine ground balls, six draw controls and 11 caused turnovers. Blaney had five ground balls, three draw controls and five caused turnovers to go with her four goals and one assist. Doherty assisted on one goal while having four ground balls, three draw controls and a season-high six caused turnovers versus the Huskies.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 - FConnecticut (6-6/0-4) 2 3 - 5Notre Dame (6-7/3-2) 6 9 - 15
ScoringFirst Half:Time Team Score Goal Assist27:47 ND 1-0 Shaylyn Blaney27:17 ND 2-0 Kailene Abt Maggie Tamasitis20:17 ND 3-0 Kaitlyn Brosco Maggie Tamasitis (2)17:46 UC 3-1 Chelsea Hauswirth Free-position shot15:34 ND 4-1 Ansley Stewart Maggie Tamasitis (3)10:24 UC 4-2 M.E. Lapham 6:42 ND 5-2 Shaylyn Blaney (2) 5:12 ND 6-2 Ansley Stewart (2) Maggie Tamasitis (4)
Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist23:31 ND 7-2 Shaylyn Blaney (3)22:52 ND 8-2 Kaitlyn Brosco (2) Jackie Doherty22:40 ND 9-2 Shaylyn Blaney (4)19:29 ND 10-2 Betsy Mastropieri Kaitlyn Brosco17:32 ND 11-2 Kailene Abt (2)15:06 UC 11-3 Stefanie Burra Free-position shot10:02 UC 11-4 M.E. Lapham (2) 7:49 ND 12-4 Jaimie Morrison Shaylyn Blaney 3:22 ND 13-4 Kailene Abt (3) 3:10 ND 14-4 Ansley Stewart (3) Maggie Tamasitis (5) 1:58 UC 14-5 M.E. Lapham (3) Free-position shot 1:38 ND 15-5 Betsy Mastropieri (2) Maggie Tamasitis (6)
Goalkeepers:Connecticut: Brittney Testa (40:31 min; 10 goals against; 3 saves) Kelsey Zinck (19:29 min; 5 goals against; 4 saves)Notre Dame: Ellie Hilling (60:00 min; 5 goals against, 7 saves)
Total Shots: Connecticut: 19, Notre Dame: 37Ground Balls: Connecticut: 12, Notre Dame: 18Draw Controls: Connecticut: 8, Notre Dame: 14Caused Turnovers: Connecticut: 13: Notre Dame: 14