March 18, 2001

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team concluded a successful spring break trip with an 8-3 win at Harvard on Sunday, as the Irish beat the Crimson for the first time in three meetings. Senior Lael O’Shaughnessy led the Irish attack with two goals and three assists, while sophomore goaltender Jen White made 14 saves, while allowing just three goals. Notre Dame improves to 3-1 with its third win of the week-long trip and returns to action when it opens its home schedule with a 1:00 p.m. game against Denver on Sun., March 25.

Notre Dame broke a 2-2 tie with the final two goals of the first half and then scored the first four goals of the second half to build an 8-2 lead with less than a minute in the game. Harvard led 1-0 with a goal at 22:23 before O’Shaughnessy and sophomore Danielle Shearer scored twice in 20 seconds to give the Irish a 2-1 lead at 12:29. The Crimson tied the game at 8:52 but juniors Natalie Loftus and Maureen Henwood scored back-to-back goals to put Notre Dame ahead 4-2 at halftime.

Freshman Kassen Delano and O’Shaughnessy each scored in the first five minutes of the second half, as the Irish pulled ahead 6-2. Neither team could find the net for a span of 24:13 until sophomore Kelley McCardell scored with 1:39 remaining in the game. Junior Alissa Moser closed out the scoring for the Irish with 47 seconds remaining.

Notre Dame’s defense held Harvard scoreless for a span of 28:23 until the Crimson scored the game’s final goal with 27 seconds left for the 8-3 final margin. Notre Dame held a slight 23-22 edge in shots but a career-high 14 saves by White paced the Irish to the win.