May 5, 2001

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The 19th-ranked Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team fell behind 7-2 at halftime and lost to 11th-ranked host Syracuse 13-10 on Saturday in the final regular-season contest for both teams. Sophomore Danielle Shearer helped the Irish attempt to rally in the second half as she tied a school record for goals in a half with all of her career-high six goals in the second half. Notre Dame fell to 10-5 with the loss, after finishing with a 5-10 record in 2000. The Irish finished third in the inaugural season of BIG EAST women’s lacrosse with a 4-2 record after being selected to place fourth in the coaches’ preseason poll. Syracuse improves to 10-4, 5-1 in the league.

“We made great strides as a team and gained a lot of momentum for the future of the program,” said fifth-year Irish head coach Tracy Coyne, whose teams have notched double-figure win totals in 10 of her 14 years as a head coach. “We had a great turnaround from last year and reached a number of milestones, including our first 10-win season.”

The Irish led 2-1 early on a pair of goals by junior Natalie Loftus, but the Orangewomen closed the half on a 6-0 run and did not allow a goal in the final 22:35 for the 7-2 halftime lead. The teams traded goals in the second half, and Notre Dame never got closer than the final score, tallying the final three goals in the game. Shearer scored the first four Irish goals of the second half and added two more after a third goal by Loftus. Irish senior Lael O’Shaughnessy scored the team’s final goal with 34 seconds remaining. Leah Ann Zimmer led Syracuse with three goals. Notre Dame sophomore goaltender Jen White made 13 saves while allowing 13 goals.

With the 4-2 BIG EAST women’s lacrosse record, the five Notre Dame women’s team sports that participate in regular-season BIG EAST play finished with a 56-3 record (.949), including perfect records by women’s soccer (6-0-0), volleyball (11-0) and softball (20-0). The Irish women’s basketball team also won the BIG EAST regular season, sharing the title with Connecticut, both with 15-1 records.

Team Scoring

#19 Notre Dame 2-8 10

#11 Syracuse 7-6 13

Individual Scoring (goal-assist)

ND: Danielle Shearer (6-1), Natalie Loftus (3-0), Lael O’Shaughnessy (1-1), Kate Scarola (0-1).

SU: Zimmer (3-0), Hable (2-1), Szyluk (2-1), Healy (2-0), Brady (1-0), Wayne (1-0), Mueller (0-1), Hofmann (0-1), Soults (1-0).

Team Stats

ND: total shots – 22, free position shots – 4, shots on goal – 18, saves – 13 (Jen White, draw control – 8.

SU: total shots – 31, free position shots – 4, shots on goal – 27, saves – 9 (Leonard), draw control – 17.