March 7, 2009
Hanover, N.H. – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team ventured to the mountains of New Hampshire on Saturday afternoon to start the Spring Break by facing the Dartmouth Big Green at Scully-Fahey Field.
For the first 13:39 of the game, it looked like the Irish were on break as they spotted the Big Green a 6-0 lead before roaring back late in the first half and early in the second half by running off 11 straight goals on the way to a 16-11 road win against 13th-ranked Dartmouth.
Jillian Byers (Sr., Northport, N.Y.) paced the Irish with three goals and two assists and was backed up by Gina Scioscia (Jr., Summit, N.J.) with three goals and an assist in the win. Kaitlin Keena (So., Vienna, Va.), Ansley Stewart (So., Alexandria, Va.) and Kailene Abt (So., Huntington, N.Y.) scored two goals each with Jackie Doherty (So., Ellicott City, Md.), Shaylyn Blaney (So., Stony Brook, N.Y.), Shannon Burke (Sr., Timonium, Md.) and Maggie Tamasitis (Fr., Boyertown, Pa.) had one each.
Dartmouth got three goals from Greta Meyer and two from Kat Collins with Sarah Plumb, Sarah Parks, Kirsten Goldberg, Katherine Chiusano, Dana Brisbane and Eliza Bennett scoring one each.
The win improved 11th-ranked Notre Dame to 4-1 on the season while Dartmouth falls to 2-2 for the 2009 campaign.
To say the game got off to a bad start for the Irish is probably an understatement as the Irish failed to attempt a shot until there was 17:34 left in the first half and Byers fired a shot wide of Dartmouth goalkeeper Julie Wadland. They got their first shot on goal at 17:06 when Wadland stopped Blaney on a free-position shot. By then, the Big Green had a 4-0 lead.
It wasn’t until Parks’ goal with 16:21 left in the half made it 6-0 that the Irish started to show signs of life as they started getting pressure in the midfield, forcing turnovers.
Stewart would break through with 10:37 left in the opening half when she beat Wadland on a free-position shot that made it 6-1. The goal was Stewart’s seventh of the season.
Twenty-nine seconds later, Doherty picked up her third goal of the year at 10:08 as she converted a pass from Blaney to cut the lead to 6-2.
Dartmouth regrouped and stopped the Irish goal-scoring surge as goals by Bennett (9:46) and Collins (7:30) put the Big Green back on top by six goals at 8-2.
Following Collins’ goal, Blaney won the draw and the Irish put on the pressure with Scioscia getting her first of the afternoon at 6:23. Off the next draw, Keena controlled the ball and moved it to Scioscia who was fouled on the play and converted the free-position shot just 17 seconds later at 6:06 to cut the lead to 8-4.
Scioscia kept the pressure on as she helped cut the lead to 8-5 with 4:40 left in the half when she set Keena up for her second goal of the season. That would be the last of the scoring in the half, as the Irish were able to cut the early six-goal deficit in half with 30 minutes left to play.
Notre Dame made some adjustments at halftime and came out firing in the second stanza, running off eight straight unanswered goals in a 15:56 span. Coupled with the final three goals of the first half, the Irish scored 11 straight goals to turn and 8-2 deficit into a 13-8 lead.
Byers got her first of the game just 35 seconds into the second half, converting a Keena set up at 29:25. Blaney made it 8-7 at 28:22.
Scioscia would cap off her three-goal day with her 13th goal of the season with 25:20 left in the game, tying the score at 8-8. Byers followed with the eventual game winner as she scored her second of the game at 23:46.
Burke, Byers with her third of the game, Keena and Stewart closed out the 11-goal run for Notre Dame, making it 13-8 with 14:04 left in the game.
Collins, Meyer and Chiusano scored three of the next four goals in the game, sandwiching markers around a Tamasitis goal (8:43) to make 14-11. Abt closed out the scoring, scoring her 10th and 11th of the season at 3:39 and with 0:09 left for the final of 16-11.
In the game, the Irish out shot Dartmouth by a 32-30 margin. Erin Goodman (Sr., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) finished the game with 13 saves while Wadland had nine for the Big Green.
Notre Dame continues its Spring Break trip to Florida as the Irish head to the Disney World of Sports in Orlando, Fla., where they will train from Sunday through Wednesday. On Tuesday night, March 10, they will face James Madison in a 7:00 p.m. game.
IRISH NOTES
** Notre Dame’s win over Dartmouth was the first for the Irish against the Big Green. The only other meeting came on May 27, 2006 in the NCAA semifinal games at Boston University. Dartmouth won that one, 14-8.
** With the win over Dartmouth, Notre Dame is now 2-1 on the season versus ranked teams. The Irish will play their third consecutive ranked team next week, March 10th when they face #17/#17 James Madison.
GAME SUMMARY 1 2 - F#11/#11 Notre Dame (4-1) 5 11 - 16#13/#12 Dartmouth (2-2) 8 3 - 11
ScoringFirst Half:Time Team Score Goal Assist28:10 DC 0-1 Greta Meyer (5) Sarah Plumb25:15 DC 0-2 Sarah Plumb (7) Sarah Parks23:14 DC 0-3 Greta Meyer (6)22:09 DC 0-4 Dana Brisbane (1)16:48 DC 0-5 Kristen Goldberg (5) Katherine Chiusano16:21 DC 0-6 Sarah Parks (6) Free-position goal10:37 ND 1-6 Ansley Stewart (7) Free-position goal10:08 ND 2-6 Jackie Doherty (3) Shaylyn Blaney 9:46 DC 2-7 Eliza Bennett (3) 7:30 DC 2-8 Kat Collins (9) 6:23 ND 3-8 Gina Scioscia (11) 6:06 ND 4-8 Gina Scioscia (12) Free-position goal 4:40 ND 5-8 Kaitlin Keena (3) Gina Scioscia
Second HalfTime Team Score Goal Assist29:35 ND 6-8 Jillian Byers (14) Kaitlin Keena28:22 ND 7-8 Shaylyn Blaney (12) Jackie Doherty25:20 ND 8-8 Gina Scioscia (13)23:46 ND 9-8 Jillian Byers (15)20:08 ND 10-8 Shannon Burke (2) Maggie Tamasitis17:32 ND 11-8 Jillian Byers (16)14:44 ND 12-8 Kaitlin Keena (4) Jackie Doherty14:04 ND 13-8 Ansley Stewart (8) Jillian Byers10:18 DC 13-9 Kat Collins (10)10:03 DC 13-10 Greta Meyer (7) Katherine Chiusano 8:43 ND 14-10 Maggie Tamasitis (4) Jillian Byers 6:36 DC 14-11 Katherine Chiusano (7) 3:39 ND 15-11 Kailene Abt (10) Shannon Burke 0:09 ND 16-11 Kailene Abt (11) Ansley Stewart
Goalkeepers:Notre Dame: Erin Goodman - 60:00 min; 11 goals against, 12 savesDartmouth: Julie Wadland - 60:00 min; 16 goals against, 9 saves
Total Shots: Notre Dame: 32; Dartmouth: 30Ground Balls: Notre Dame: 22, Dartmouth: 30Draw Controls: Notre Dame: 19, Dartmouth: 10