May 10, 2002
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THE GAME: In a year of firsts for the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team, the Irish make their first trip to the NCAA Quarterfinals when they travel to Princeton, N.J., to meet the top-ranked Princeton Tigers on Sunday, May 12. The opening draw at the Class of 52 Stadium is set for 2:00 p.m. (EDT). Princeton is seeded second in the NCAA tournament but was ranked first in the May 6, Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) poll. The Tigers are 16-1 on the season and won the Ivy League title with a 7-0 record. Princeton advanced to the quarterfinals with a 25-3 win over Le Moyne on May 9. Notre Dame, ranked seventh in the IWLCA poll, is 13-4 on the year and finished second in the BIG EAST with a 5-1 mark. The Irish advanced to Sunday’s game by downing Ohio State, 11-7, in their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
IRISH VERSUS TIGERS: Notre Dame and Princeton have never faced each other in women’s lacrosse. The two teams have played five common opponents – Georgetown, Duke, Cornell, Delaware and Yale. Princeton was 4-1 versus those teams, losing only to Georgetown, 15-13 in overtime. The Irish were 2-3 versus the five teams with losses to Georgetown (17-8), Duke (10-9 in 3OT) and Cornell (10-9).
OHIO STATE RECAP: Sophomore Meredith Simon (Flemington, N.J.) scored three goals and added two assists and Natalie Loftus (Sr., Baltimore, Md.), Alissa Moser (Sr., North Wales, Pa.) and Kassen Delano (So., Alexandria, Va.) each scored twice to lead Notre Dame to an 11-7 win over Ohio State. The Irish trailed 5-3 at halftime and 7-4 with 23:12 left in the game before running off seven unanswered goals for the 11-7 win. Danielle Shearer (Jr., Hampstead, Md.) turned the tide on a free position goal with 19:53 left to make it 7-5. Loftus then scored twice to tie the game at 7-7. Simon scored two of her three goals to give the Irish their first lead of the game and Delano added the insurance goals for the win. The Irish outshot Ohio State 30-25 in the game. Goalkeeper Jen White (Jr., Annapolis, Md.) made eight saves in picking up her 13th win of the season.
THE COACHES:
Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne is in her sixth season with the Irish and is the only coach the program has ever known. Coyne owns a 49-35 (.583) record at Notre Dame and is 163-61 (.728) in her 15-year coaching career. The Pittsburgh, Pa., native led Denison (1988) and Roanoke (1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996) to the NCAA Division III tournament during stops at those schools. A 1983 graduate of Ohio University, Coyne has coached on the international level leading the Canadian women’s lacrosse national team to the medal round at the 2001 World Cup in England. Princeton head coach Chris Sailer is in her 16th season at Princeton and has a 196-68 (.742) career record. Her 1994 team won the NCAA title and three other squads finished second during her tenure. A three-time Division I Coach of the Year (1993, 1994, 2000), Sailer is a 1981 graduate of Harvard where she she captained the lacrosse and field hockey teams for the Crimson.
FOUR NAMED TO ALL-REGION TEAM:
Notre Dame placed four players on the IWLCA Mid-Atlantic Region team. Midfielder Danielle Shearer (Jr., Hampstead, Md.) and defender Kathryn Lam (Sr., Plainsboro, N.J.) were first team selections. Joining them on the second team were midfielder Natalie Loftus and defender Tina Fedarcyk (Sr., Millersville, Md.). For Lam, this is her third time named to the all-region team as she was a second team selection in 2001 and a first-teamer in 2000. Shearer, Loftus and Fedarcyk are all first-time selections. Only Lam and Lael O’Shaughnessy, the program’s all-time leading scorer who graduated in 2001, had ever been named to the team prior to this year.
RECORD SETTING SEASON:
The 2002 women’s lacrosse season will go down as the finest season in the program’s six-year history. Going into the NCAA quarterfinals at Princeton, the Irish have set program-bests for wins (13), for BIG EAST wins (5) and for the highest ranking (7th) that the program has ever achieved. The Irish have also set records for lowest goals against (7.28), save percentage (.548) and ground balls (495). Notre Dame also won its first game at home versus a ranked team when the Irish defeated 7th-ranked Syracuse, 12-7, on April 3. The Irish also won their first-ever NCAA tournament game when they defeated Ohio State on May 9 by an 11-7 score.
GARDEN STATE NATIVES:
The Irish have five New Jersey natives on the roster. Senior Kathryn Lam (Plainsboro, N.J.) is from the Princeton area. Others from New Jersey include senior Maureen Henwood (Marlton, N.J.), sophomore Meredith Simon (Flemington, N.J.) and sisters Angela (Jr.) and Carol (Fr.) Dixon from Pennsauken, N.J.
SIMON SAYS:
Sophomore Meredith Simon saved the best game of her career for the biggest game of her first two seasons at Notre Dame in the 11-7 win over Ohio State. Simon had a career-best five-point game (3g, 2a) in leading the Irish to their first-ever NCAA tournament win. The Flemington, N.J. native scored three second half goals including the game-winner with 10:56 left in the game. She has had seven three-point games, including four three-goal games, until the Ohio State contest.
NCAA TOURNAMENT PAIRINGS:
First round scores from the NCAA tournament on May 9:
1. Georgetown 20 Lafayette 9
Duke 10 Vanderbilt 5
4. Cornell 16 Syracuse 8
Maryland 13 Loyola 8
2. Princeton 25 Le Moyne 3
Notre Dame 11 Ohio State 7
3. North Carolina 22 UMBC 6
Virginia 20 Temple 8
Sunday’s Games:
1. Georgetown (15-1) vs. Duke (10-7)
4. Cornell (15-1) vs. Maryland (11-9)
2. Princeton (16-1) vs. Notre Dame (13-4)
3. North Carolina (16-2) vs. Virginia (15-3)
All games played at top-seeded team sites.
THE STRAW THAT STIRS THE DRINK:
Senior midfielder Natalie Loftus proved to be a prime-time player in Notre Dame’s 11-7 win over Ohio State. The crafty midfielder scored twice in a 1:54 span in the second half to wipe out a 7-5 Buckeye lead. As the catalyst for the Irish offense, Loftus recorded career highs in assists (12) and points (38) while also scoring 26 goals. For the season, Loftus, a first team all-BIG EAST choice, finished second in scoring. She is fifth in ground balls (38) and fourth in draw controls with 18. For her career, she is the fourth player in the program’s history to score over 100 points. Loftus goes into the Princeton game with 75 goals and 32 assists for 106 points in her career.
HOT MOSER:
Midfielder Alissa Moser has found her goal scoring touch in the last two weeks of the season. Over her last four games, the North Wales, Pa., native has scored 10 goals with one assist for 11 points. On the season, she has racked up career highs with 29 goals and six assists for 35 points. She continues as the team’s draw control ace as she has picked up 33 on the season and is the school’s all-time leader with 125 in her four years with the Irish.
SLAMMING THE DOOR:
Notre Dame goalkeeper Jen White slammed the door on Ohio State in the second half, blanking the Buckeyes over the final 23:12. For the game, White made eight saves while giving up seven goals on the afternoon. She finished the season as the top goalkeeper in the BIG EAST with a 7.28 goals against overall and a 7.33 average in league games. The 7.28 mark is the fewest goals per game the Irish have surrendered in a season in the program’s history. White also set the Notre Dame mark for single-season save percentage as she stopped 54.8% of the shots she faced. White set a BIG EAST record when she limited Rutgers to just two goals in Notre Dame’s 9-2 win on April 28. For the season, the Irish all-America candidate was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week three times (March 17, April 1, April 28).
BIG EAST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Senior defender Kathryn Lam (Plainsboro, N.J.) was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week for the week ending May 5. Lam played a key role in Notre Dame’s late rally versus Vanderbilt that led to the 10-9 overtime win. The Irish trailed 9-6 with less than two minutes left . Lam forced a turnover that led to the goal that made it 9-8 with 1:08 left then controlled the ensuing draw that led to Shearer’s game-tying goal with 20 seconds left. She finished the game with four ground balls, three caused turnovers and a draw control.
WARRIOR/INSIDE LACROSSE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Danielle Shearer has been selected as teh Warrior/Inside Lacrosse Player of the Week for the week ending May 5 for her heroics in last week’s dramatic overtime win against Vanderbilt. With the Irish trailing, 9-7, Shearer scored twice in the final 1:08 to send the game to overtime. She scored the game-tying goal with 20 seconds left in the game. The Irish pulled out the win in the extra stanza, 10-9.
STREAKING SHEARER:
Danielle Shearer comes into the game with Ohio State having scored at least one point in all 17 games for the Irish this season. The team’s leader in goals (37), assists (20) and points (57), she has scored at least one goal in 16 of 17 games on the year with only Yale (April 14) keeping her off the scoreboard. For the season, Shearer has 13 multiple-goal games including four with two goals, seven with three and one four-goal game. Shearer became the third Irish player to score over 100 points in her career this season. She has 93 goals and 40 assists for 133 points. Her 93 goals rank second to Lael O’Shaughnessy’s school record 122 and her 40 assists rank third behind O’Shaughnessy (68) and Kerry Callahan (63).
THE SENIOR CLASS:
Seven seniors have played key roles in building the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program. Maureen Henwood, Kate Scarola (Windsor, Conn.), Natalie Loftus, Tina Fedarcyk, Maureen Whitaker (Doylestown, Pa.), Kathryn Lam and Alissa Moser committed to Notre Dame prior to the start of the program’s second season. During their four years, they have seen the Irish win 37 games while losing 25 and have the program going in the right direction.
TOP FIVE SCORERS:
The top five scorers in the programs history are:
1. Lael O’Shaughnessy (98-01): 122-68-190
2. Kerry Callahan (97-98): 83-63-146
3. Danielle Shearer (00-02): 93-40-133
4. Natalie Loftus (99-02): 75-32-107
5. Alissa Moser (99-02): 67-18-85
THE CORNERSTONES:
Part of the reason for Notre Dame’s success in 2002 is its stingy defense. Ranked number one in the nation for two weeks this season, the three top Irish defenders have started every game of their Notre Dame careers. Kathryn Lam, Tina Fedarcyk (Sr., Millersville, Md.) and Maureen Henwood (Sr., Marlton, N.J.) have combined to start 185 games and rank 1-2-3 in career ground balls with a total of 484. The threesome have seen Notre Dame’s goals against average drop from 13.47 as freshmen to 7.28 this season.
VERSUS THE BEST:
The Irish are 4-4 this season, 3-1 in the last four games, in games versus ranked teams. All-time, the Irish have a 6-19 record versus teams in the national top 20. The 2001 season marked the first time the Irish beat a ranked team as they defeated #17 Delaware on March 31 in Nashville, Tenn. The Irish then won at #7 Yale on April 16, 2001 for their first win over a top 10 team. The highest ranked team the Irish have ever beaten was Yale (7th-ranked) in 2001 and this season versus 7th-ranked Syracuse at home (April 3, 12-7).
ONE GOAL LOSSES:
The Irish are 4-4 this season in eight games versus nationally ranked teams. Three of the four losses came by one goal with one in triple-overtime. The Irish lost at home to #10 Cornell, 10-9, dropped a 12-11 decision at #15 Ohio State and lost 10-9 in triple-overtime at home to Duke. Notre Dame’s fourth loss came by a 17-8 margin at second-ranked Georgetown. Notre Dame’s wins over ranked teams came versus #7 Syracuse, 12-7, versus #12 Yale, 11-8, versus #10 Vanderbilt, 10-9 in overtime and on Thursday versus #12 Ohio State, 11-7.
THE LONGEST GAME:
Notre Dame’s heartbreaking 10-9 loss to 7th-ranked Duke in three overtimes goes down as the longest game in the history of the women’s lacrosse program. The total time for the game was 71:45 as Duke got the winning goal with 15 seconds left in the third overtime period. In that game the Irish trailed 8-6 and got goals from Maureen Henwood and Meredith Simon with 1:40 left to send the game to overtime. Simon’s goal came with 19 seconds left in the game. The Irish have played three overtime games in their history and are 2-1 in those games.
BALANCED ATTACK:
Notre Dame had six players score 10 or more goals this season. The Irish were led by Danielle Shearer (37) who was followed by Alissa Moser (29), Natalie Loftus (26), Meredith Simon (26), Lauren Fischer (17) and Kassen Delano (So., Alexandria, Va.) with 12.
NOTRE DAME IN NATIONAL STATS:
As a team, the Irish are among the top teams in several categories in the NCAA statistics.
Team Defense – 4th, 7.43 goals per game
Team Offense – 23rd, 10.94 goals per game
Draw Controls – 24th, 10.97 per game
Scoring Margin – 11th, 3.50 goals per game.
Individually, goalkeeper Jen White is fourth in the nation with a 7.30 goals against average. Her .549 save percentage is 19th best.
IRISH LEADERS:
Points:
Danielle Shearer – 57
Natalie Loftus – 38
Alissa Moser – 35
Goals:
Danielle Shearer – 37
Alissa Moser – 29
Natalie Loftus – 27
Assists:
Danielle Shearer – 20
Natalie Loftus – 12
Ground Balls:
Kathryn Lam – 55
Tina Fedarcyk – 42
Maureen Henwood – 40
Caused Turnovers:
Tina Fedarcyk – 24
Jen White – 18
Maureen Henwood – 17
Kathryn Lam – 17
Draw Controls:
Alissa Moser – 33
Danielle Shearer – 20
Tina Fedarcyk – 19