March 17, 2001

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team built a 6-2 halftime lead and held on to beat host Boston College 8-7 on Saturday, as the Irish improved to 2-1 this season and 2-0 in the BIG EAST. Sophomore Danielle Shearer led the Irish with three goals, and junior Natalie Loftus scored both of Notre Dame’s second half goals to provide the decisive scoring for the Irish, who close out their spring break trip with a 2:00 p.m. Sunday game at Harvard.

Shearer scored her first goal just 42 seconds in the game on an assist from senior Lael O’Shaughnessy, and the pair combined again at 23:35 for a 2-0 lead. After the Eagles scored their first goal, the Irish scored three goals in a span of 2:59 — one each from O’Shaughnessy, sophomore Angela Dixon and junior Alissa Moser — for a 5-1 lead 15:56 into the contest. Shearer’s third goal at 6:20 put Notre Dame ahead 6-1 before a late goal pulled Boston College within 6-2 at halftime.

Neither team could find the net in the second half until Loftus scored the first of back-to-back goals at 15:03 and recorded the eventual goal-winning goal 34 seconds later to give the Irish an 8-2 lead. Boston College then began its comeback with a goal at 10:27 and another at 4:15 to pull within 8-4. The Eagles scored at 1:32 for 8-5 and make it 8-6 with 39 seconds left. Boston College then scored with 10 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 8-7 but Irish senior Sarah LeSueur won the ensuing draw to allow Notre Dame to run out the clock for the win.

Sophomore Jen White played all 90 minutes in goal for the Irish and made 11 saves. Notre Dame had a 26-23 advantage in shots, while Boston College took 12 free-position shots to seven for the Irish.