March 10, 2012
BOSTON, Mass. – With the backing of a career day by Maggie Tamasitis, the seventh-ranked University of Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team held on for a 14-11 victory over Boston University Saturday at Nickerson Field.
The Irish (4-0) controlled play early against Boston University (1-4), climbing out to an 8-0 lead in the contest and taking a 10-4 lead into the locker room. The Terriers mounted a ferocious second-half comeback, outscoring the Irish 7-4 but it was not enough as Notre Dame held on for a three-goal victory.
Tamasitis led the way for the Irish, finishing with five goals and four assists for a nine-point performance. With her four assists, Tamasitis broke Gina Scioscia’s program record for career assists, as the senior attacker now has 107 during her time at Notre Dame. Sophomore Lindsay Powell chipped in three goals, Jenny Granger added two and Margaret Smith, Jaimie Morrison, Caitlin Gargan and Kaitlyn Brosco notched single tallies to wrap up the Irish scoring.
Mallory Collins led the Terriers comeback, finishing the contest with five goals. Kristen Mogavero and Danielle Etrasco each netted two, while Molly Swain and Becca Church found the net once.
Junior Ellie Hilling improved her record to 4-0 on the season for the Irish, finishing the contest with five saves. Christina Sheridan took the loss for Boston University, dropping her record to 1-4 despite ending the game with eight saves.
Tamasitis contributed to the scoring on each of the first three goals of the match for the Irish, assisting on markers by Brosco and Granger to begin the contest before finding the back of the net herself at 25:43 of the first half to push the score to 3-0. Smith then scored unassisted before Tamasitis found the net twice more with a Powell goal sandwiched in-between to up the count to 7-0. Gargan concluded the opening run with an unassisted goal at 13:02.
After the Terriers got back-to-back goals from Collins and Mogavero, the Irish turned again to Tamasitis, who deposited a feed from Megan Sullivan past Sheridan for the ninth Irish tally. Boston University cut the margin to 9-4 with two goals from Collins, but Powell ended the stanza on a high note for the Irish, scoring her second of the game and giving Notre Dame a six-goal lead heading into the locker room.
After Morrison scored off a dish from Tamasitis to begin the second half, the Terriers brought the deficit to three with 22:50 left in the game after four unanswered goals from Mogavero, Swain, Church and Etrasco. Granger ended the spurt, gathering in another assist from Tamasitis and finding the back of the cage for what would turn out to be the game-winning goal.
Boston University continued to chip away at the margin, however, cutting the lead to 13-11 and controlling the ball with 3:56 left in the game. Hilling, who had not recorded a save to that point of the half, showed her experience in the cage at that moment, stopping a shot from the stick of Swain to uphold the score. Powell then completed her hat trick and iced the game with 1:04 remaining, scoring off a feed from Smith.
Notre Dame outshot the Terriers 32-19 on the day, while finishing with an 18-17 advantage in ground balls and a 16-11 margin in draw controls.
The Irish return to the field for the first of a two-match spring break trip on Tuesday, taking on Yale at 6:00 p.m. (ET) in Delray Beach, Fla.
**IRISH NOTES**
** With the win, Notre Dame improves to 4-0 for the first time since the 2006 season, a year in which they reached the NCAA Semifinals.
** Maggie Tamasitis extended her point-scoring streak to 41 consecutive games with her assist 1:30 seconds into Saturday’s contest. She also set personal best in both goals (5) and points (9) in a game on the afternoon, while tying her career best with three ground balls.
** Lindsay Powell recorded her fourth consecutive hat trick to begin the year with her tally at the 28:56 mark of the second half. Her four ground balls also set her career best in that category.
** Megan Sullivan notched one assist, matching her career high mark. She now has 10 career games with a helper.
** Margaret Smith matched her season high with four ground balls on the afternoon. She also brought in five draw controls and caused three turnovers.
** Jenny Granger found the back of the net twice for the third consecutive game on the season.
–ND–