April 14, 1999

• Notre Dame falls No. 19 Vanderbilt after wins over Denver, Davidson
• Callahan scoring streak reaches 25 games

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team won a pair of home games over the weekend and dropped a road game at 19th-ranked Vanderbilt to end a five-game winning streak. The 8-3 Irish will return to action with a pair of home games at Moose Krause Stadium against third-ranked Duke on Fri., April 16 at 4:00 p.m. and against 16th-ranked Yale on Sun., April 18 at 1:00 p.m., the first ranked opponents the Irish will face at home in their three-year history.

UP NEXT FOR THE IRISH: Notre Dame continues its stretch of three games against ranked opponents this weekend when third-ranked Duke and 16th-ranked Yale travel to Notre Dame for the final home games of the season for the Irish. The Blue Devils enter the contest with an 8-2 record after a 15-9 loss to second-ranked Virginia on Sunday. Junior Tricia Martin leads Duke with 26 goals and 18 assists while freshman Kelly Dirks has scored 22 goals. Junior goalie Shannon Chaney has allowed just eight goals per game and has a .549 saves percentage. The third-ranked Blue Devils will mark the highest ranked opponent the Irish have faced. Duke was ranked fifth when its beat Notre Dame 19-5 last year in the first meeting between the two schools.

Yale has an 8-2 record before a game against Columbia prior to traveling to Notre Dame. The Bulldogs boast a pair of 30-goal scorers in junior Heather Bentley and freshman Amanda Walton, both among the top 20 scorers in the country. Senior Alison Cole is third in the country in save percentage (.680) and fourth in goals against average (6.22). The game will mark the first meeting between Notre Dame and Yale.

WEEK IN REVIEW: Notre Dame exploded for seven goals in an eight-minute span late in the first half and shut out Davidson in the second half on its way to an 18-2 win over the Wildcats on Friday in the first women’s lacrosse night game at Moose Krause Stadium. Nine different players scored for the Irish, including eight in the first half. Senior captain Kerry Callahan (Churchville, Pa.) scored four goals and dished off four assists. Notre Dames offense scored seven goals in a span of 7:39 to build an 11-1 lead with 4:36 remaining in the first half. The second half saw the Irish shut out an opponent in a half for the first time in their three-year history and end the game with a 16-goal margin of victory, also the largest in Notre Dame women’s lacrosse history.

The Irish rebounded from a slow start to score 13 goals in the first half on its way to a 21-6 win over visiting Denver on Sunday at Moose Krause Stadium. Callahan scored four goals and had four assists for the second consecutive game. Notre Dames defense held the opposition to single-digit scoring for the fifth consecutive game. Nicole Wittelsberger scored four of the six goals for Denver. After falling behind 3-1, the Irish exploded for 12 goals in the final 23:10 of the first half to build a 13-4 lead at halftime. The 21 goals mark the highest single-game total for the Irish in the 33-game history of the program and the second time this season Notre Dame has scored at least 20 goals in a game.

Notre Dame fell behind 10-2 at halftime and could not recover as 19th-ranked Vanderbilt ended a five-game winning streak for the Irish 18-9 on Tuesday at the Vanderbilt Lacrosse Field. Irish sophomore Lael O’Shaughnessy (Alexandria, Va.) led the Irish with five goals and two assists for seven points. Callahan netted a pair of goals to extend her scoring streak to 25 games. Sophomore goalie Carrie Marshall (Colorado Springs, Colo.) made 15 saves for the Irish. Kinsey Osberg stung the Irish with seven goals and three assists for a game-high 10 points. Vanderbilt led just 4-1 after more than 21 minutes gone in the game but the Commodores outscored the Irish 6-1 in the final 8:10 of the first half to build a 10-2 halftime. After falling behind 14-4 in the second half, Notre Dame got as close as 15-8 with 6:15 left in the second half but could get no closer. Vanderbilt outshot Notre Dame just 42-32 but the Irish made 29 turnovers to just 17 for the Commodores.

IRISH LEAD NCAA STATS: Notre Dame entered the week with the nations second-highest scoring offense behind only top-ranked Maryland, according to the latest NCAA statistics. The Irish scoring offense is averaging 15.30 goals per game, just behind Marylands 15.92 scoring mark, while their scoring margin of 6.10 goals is tied for fourth-best. Kerry Callahan leads the country in assists with 2.80 per game and is second in points per game with 5.50. Lael O’Shaughnessy stands fifth with 3.70 goals per game and sixth in points per game with 4.90.

CALLAHAN SCORING STREAK CONTINUES: Senior two-time captain Kerry Callahan scored four goals against both Davidson and Denver and scored twice at Vanderbilt to extend her scoring streak to 25 games. A starter all three years of the program, Callahan has scored at least one goal in 32 of the 33 varsity women’s lacrosse games played at Notre Dame. Since being held scoreless in the 11-7 loss to Ohio State on April 6, 1997, Callahan scored in the final game of 1997 and in all 13 games in 1998. Her senior year scoring includes four goals against Davidson, Denver and Penn, three against Gannon, Syracuse and Ohio State, two against both Boston College, Richmond and Vanderbilt and one against Connecticut and Villanova.

COYNE AT THE HELM: Irish head coach Tracy Coyne is in her third season as head coach of the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team and in her 12th season overall after coaching Roanoke for seven years and at Denison for two years. In 11-plus seasons as a head coach, her lacrosse teams have a combined 134-39 record (.775), qualified for the NCAA championship six years, won seven conference titles and won 10-plus games in nine of those seasons. She has led Notre Dame to two winning seasons and has an 20-13 (.606) record during her time with the Irish.