March 22, 1998

Notre Dame Suffers Second Consecutive Setback

Irish loses 19-6 To Vanderbilt

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Notre Dame women's lacrosse team suffered it second consecutive setback at home as the Irish dropped a 19-6 decision to Vanderbilt. With the loss Notre Dame fall to 3-2 on the season.

Susan Napolitano scored six times for the Commodores and added two assists, while Michelle Dillow added four goals and led the visitors with six assists.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 1-0 1:19 into the contest when Kerry Callahan scored on an unassisted goal. Vanderbilt responded with six unanswered goals over the a seven-minute stretch as the Commodores built a 6-1 advantage with 16:29 remaining in the first half.

Back-to-back goals by Courtney Calabrese and Kathryn Perrella cut the Vanderbilt deficit to 6-3 with 6:59 left before halftime, but two scores by Napolitano gave the Commodores an 8-3 advantage at intermission.

Leal O'Shaughnessy scored the first goal of the second half at the 3:23 mark to pull Notre Dame to within (8-4). Vanderbilt responded with two goals of its own to built a 10-4 lead with 19:03 remaining in the contest, but then Holly Manthei and Stephanie Fox each tallied once over the next two minutes as the Irish pulled to within four with 16:39 to play.

Vanderbilt, which improves to 5-3 on the season, closed out the game by scoring nine unanswered goals for the final 19-6 count.

Notre Dame returns to action on Tuesday, March 24 when the Irish entertain Duquesne at 4:00 p.m.