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Fighting Irish Top Loyola, 13-10, In Conference Play

Byers and Blaney notch hat tricks for No. 11 Notre Dame.

Jillian Byers scored three times for the Irish on Saturday.

March 22, 2008

Final Stats

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Hat tricks from junior Jillian Byers and freshman Shaylyn Blaney led the No. 11 Notre Dame women's lacrosse team to a 13-10 victory over Loyola (Md.) in BIG EAST Conference play on Saturday afternoon inside the Loftus Sports Center.

Senior Caitlin McKinney chipped in two goals for the Fighting Irish, while sophomore Gina Scioscia had a team-high two assists. Grace Gavin paced the Greyhounds with four goals.

Notre Dame (6-3, 1-1) jumped on top 39 seconds into the contest on a goal from Jackie Doherty. Loyola (3-6, 1-3) evened the game one minute later as Cara Filippelli scored. Blaney would put the Irish up for good as she connected on a free-position shot with 27:19 left in the first half. McKinney gave Notre Dame a 3-1 lead with her first goal of the game.

Gavin scored to make it 3-2 before the Irish went on a 3-0 run. Goals from Heather Ferguson, Byers and Blaney made it 6-2 by the 22:48 mark of the opening stanza. Loyola tallied three of the game's next four goals to slice the Notre Dame advantage to two (7-5) with 7:40 remaining in the half.

Another 3-0 spurt gave the Fighting Irish a five-goal advantage (10-5), which was their largest of the first half. Kaitlin Keena, McKinney and Byers notched goals in the surge. The Greyhounds' Mary Claire Taylor scored with just three seconds left to make it 10-6 in favor of Notre Dame at the intermission.

Byers opened up the scoring in the second half with her third goal of the game and Kailene Abt followed to put Notre Dame up 12-6 with 24:12 left on the clock. The six-goal advantage was the largest of the afternoon for the Fighting Irish.

Loyola responded with four unanswered goals to trim the Irish lead to two (12-10) by the 11:59 mark of the second half. The Greyhounds did not score the rest of the way and Blaney's third goal came with 1:05 left in regulation to put the game away and give Notre Dame the victory.

Notre Dame held a 30-26 edge in shots, while Irish goalkeeper Erin Goodman made seven saves. Loyola's Megan Steffe had 12 stops.

The Fighting Irish are back in action at Hofstra on Tuesday, March 25. Game time is slated for 4:00 p.m. (ET).

GAME SUMMARY
Loyola (3-6, 1-3) - 6 4 - 10 #11 Notre Dame (6-3, 1-1) - 10 3 - 13

FIRST HALF Time Team Score Goal Assist 29:21 ND 1-0 Jackie Doherty Gina Scioscia 28:21 LOY 1-1 Cara Filippelli Kate Filippelli 27:19 ND 2-1 Shaylyn Blaney Free-position shot 26:20 ND 3-1 Caitlin McKinney Shaylyn Blaney 25:16 LOY 3-2 Grace Gavin 24:13 ND 4-2 Heather Ferguson 24:01 ND 5-2 Jillian Byers Gina Scioscia 22:48 ND 6-2 Shaylyn Blaney Free-position shot 14:51 LOY 6-3 Alicyn Brunnett Bridget O'Keefe 11:28 ND 7-3 Gina Scioscia Kaitlin Keena 9:40 LOY 7-4 Grace Gavin Free-position shot 7:40 LOY 7-5 Grace Gavin Abby Rehfuss 2:36 ND 8-5 Kaitlin Keena Free-position shot 2:24 ND 9-5 Caitlin McKinney Jillian Byers 1:57 ND 10-5 Jillian Byers 0:03 LOY 10-6 Mary Claire Taylor Free-position shot SECOND HALF 27:58 ND 11-6 Jillian Byers 24:12 ND 12-6 Kailene Abt Heather Ferguson 19:34 LOY 12-7 Alicyn Brunnett 17:20 LOY 12-8 Grace Gavin Free-position shot 16:45 LOY 12-9 Elizabeth Weber Emily Gibson 11:59 LOY 12-10 Elizabeth Weber 1:05 ND 13-10 Shaylyn Blaney

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