May 5, 2004
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
IRISH CLOSE REGULAR SEASON VERSUS VANDERBILT: For the third
consecutive season the Notre Dame women's lacrosse team will end its
regular-season schedule versus the Vanderbilt University Commodores.
This year's contest will be played on Saturday, May 8 at 1:00 p.m.
(EST) at Moose Krause Stadium on the Notre Dame campus. The Irish
come into their only game this weekend with an 11-4 overall record
and are 13th in the most recent IWLCA poll. At stake for the Irish
is an at-large bid to the NCAA women's lacrosse tournament that will
start on Thursday, May 13 at campus sites. Notre Dame snapped a
four-game losing streak on May 1 with a 13-11 win versus Syracuse.
The win gave Notre Dame a share of second place in the BIG EAST with
a 4-2 league mark. Vanderbilt plays twice this week. On Thursday,
May 6, the Commodores play at Northwestern with the winner of that
game clinching the American Lacrosse Conference's (ALC) automatic
NCAA bid. Vanderbilt is 9-4 on the year overall and 4-1 in league
play. The Commodores have not played since April 24 when they lost a
14-13 double-overtime decision at Hofstra.
SENIOR DAY: Notre Dame will honor it's graduating class of 2004
prior to the start of Saturday's tilt with Vanderbilt. The class of
eight includes: Kassen Delano (Alexandria, Va.), Lauren Fischer
(Pittsburgh, Pa.), Kristen Gaudreau (Annapolis, Md.), Bridget Higgins
(Wilton, Conn.), Andrea Kinnik (West Chester, Pa.), Mia Novic
(Murrysville, Pa.), Abby Owen (Briarcliff Manor, N.Y.) and Meredith Simon (Flemington, N.J.).
IRISH VERSUS COMMODORES: Notre Dame and Vanderbilt got their women's
lacrosse programs started within a year of each other (Notre Dame,
1997 and Vanderbilt in 1996). They have met every year since 1997
with the Commodores holding a 5-2 edge in the all-time series.
Vanderbilt won the first five meetings before the Irish broke through
with 10-9 overtime win in May of 2002. Last season, the Irish ended
the season on May 1 with a 22-11 win at Vanderbilt. At Notre Dame,
the Irish are 1-2; in Nashville, Notre Dame is 1-3. The last time
that Vanderbilt won at Notre Dame was on April 2, 2000, a 10-6 win.
HEAD COACH Tracy Coyne: Notre Dame head coach Tracy Coyne is in her
eighth season with the Irish and is the only coach the program has
ever known. Coyne owns a 68-47 (.591) record at Notre Dame and is
182-73 (.714) in her 17-year coaching career. She is 2-5 versus
Vanderbilt since taking over at Notre Dame. In 2003, she led the
Irish to an 8-7 record and a 4-2 mark in the BIG EAST, good for third
in the league standings. In 2002, Coyne led the Irish to their
first-ever NCAA tournament bid as Notre Dame advanced to the
quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion, Princeton, 11-5.
The Pittsburgh, Pa., native led Denison (1988) and Roanoke (1990,
1991, 1992, 1994, 1996) to the NCAA Division III tournament during
stops at those schools. A 1983 graduate of Ohio University, Coyne
has coached on the international level as the head coach for the
Canadian women's lacrosse national team. She led the team to the
medal round at the 2001 World Cup and will serve as head coach of
Team Canada again for the 2005 World Cup.
NCAA SELECTION SHOW: Notre Dame and Vanderbilt will learn of their
2004 NCAA tournament fate on Sunday evening. The selection show will
be televised live on College Sports Television's (CSTV) Scoreboard
Show between 6:30 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (EDT). CSTV can be found on
DirecTV channel 610 and on selected cable systems.
SIMON TAKES TWO WEEKLY HONORS: Notre Dame's senior attack/midfielder
Meredith Simon added to her list of honors this season when she was
selected the BIG EAST offensive player of the week and Inside
Lacrosse Magazine's player of the week for the week ending May 2.
All Simon did was record a career-high eight points (four goals, four
assists) in Notre Dame's 13-11 win over Syracuse. Simon had three
goals and three assists in the first half as the Irish built a 9-3
lead at halftime. On the year, Simon has been selected BIG EAST
offensive player of the week four times.
SIMON NAMED TEWAARATON CANDIDATE: Notre Dame senior midfielder,
Meredith Simon, has been named one of 20 nominees for the fourth
annual Tewaaraton Trophy that will be awarded in June. Simon leads
the Irish in scoring with career highs in goals (44), assists (24)
and points (68). She is the first Notre Dame player ever to make the
final list of nominees. The Tewaaraton Trophy is awarded each year
to the top male and female lacrosse players in the country. In early
May, the list will be cut to five finalists. Simon is one of three
BIG EAST players nominated for the honor, joining Georgetown's Michi
Ellers and Syracuse's Leigh-Ann Zimmer.
NOTRE DAME-SYRACUSE RECAP: (Notre Dame, Ind.) ... Meredith Simon
had a career-high eight-points while Lauren Fischer and Crysti Foote
(So., Suffern, N.Y.) each had three goals as Notre Dame snapped its
four-game losing streak with a 13-11 win over Syracuse. Simon
recorded four goals and four assists in the game and Jackie Bowers
(Jr., Springfield, Pa.) added a career-high three-assist game.
Leigh-Ann Zimmer paced the Orangewomen with five goals and two
assists in the game. Simon scored three goals and set up three
others in the first half with Fischer and Abby Owen scoring twice and
Meghan Murphy (Fr., Centennial, Colo.) and Foote getting one each for
a 9-3 lead at the half. In the second half, Syracuse rallied with
Zimmer getting four goals and Danielle Lillis three as the Orange got
as close as 12-11 with 5:48 left in the game. Fischer closed out her
hat trick with 5:35 left and the Irish held off Syracuse for the win.
Carol Dixon (Jr., Pennsauken, N.J.) made five saves for the Irish and
Jennifer Kasel had 12 saves for Syracuse. Notre Dame outshot the
Orangewomen by a 31-21 margin in the game.
STREAKY IRISH: After starting the year with 10 straight wins, and 14
straight dating back to last season, the Irish followed with a
four-game losing streak. The losses came at the hands of fifth-ranked
Georgetown (9-7), 11th-ranked Northwestern (9-5), ninth-ranked Johns
Hopkins (13-12) and at Rutgers (7-6). The four-game losing streak
was the longest for the Irish since a six-game run from March 16 to
April 8, 2000. Prior to the losing streak, the Irish were averaging
14.40 goals per game. During the four-game skid, the Irish averaged
just 7.50 goals per game. Notre Dame hopes to start another winning
streak after knocking off Syracuse, 13-11, on May 1.
THE LAST TIME OUT: The last time Notre Dame and Vanderbilt met (May
1, 2003), the Irish set a school record for goals in an away game
with 22, in a 22-11 win over the Commodores in the 2003 season
finale. The 22-goal outburst broke the previous road mark of 20 set
at Gannon (20-10) and equaled the school record of 22 set in a 2000
home win over Ohio University (22-3). The 22 goals are the most that
Notre Dame has ever scored versus a ranked team. Vanderbilt was
ranked 15th in the nation at the time of the game.
70 IS THE NUMBER: Meredith Simon will look to break Notre Dame's
single-season point mark this weekend. She currently has 44 goals
and 24 assists for 68 points, all career highs. The Irish record is
69 and was set by Lael O'Shaughnessy '01, who recorded 50 goals and
19 assists in the 1999 season. Simon is also the second player in
school history to record 40 or more goals in a season along with
O'Shaughnessy. She recorded the 100th goal of her Notre Dame career
in the 13-12 loss to Johns Hopkins, a game she had three goals and
three assists in. A first team all-BIG EAST selection in 2003, Simon
joins Danielle Shearer (130) and O'Shaughnessy (122) as the only
Notre Dame players with 100 or more goals. She is also just the third
player in the program's eight-year history to score 60 or more points
in a season (O'Shaughnessy with 69 in 1999 and Shearer with 61 in
2003 are the others). For her career, Simon is third in goals (107),
fourth in assists (45) and third in points (152). She ranks 8th in
the nation with 4.53 points per game, is 12th in assists with 1.60
per game and is tied for 19th with 2.93 goals-per-game.
DEFENSIVE STANDOUT: Senior Andrea Kinnik (West Chester, Pa.)
continues her outstanding play for the Irish defense. This season,
Kinnik has already set career highs for ground balls (49) and caused
turnovers (29) as she leads the team in both categories. As a
junior, she had 44 ground balls and 22 caused turnovers. Her 49
ground balls overall are tops in the BIG EAST and in six league
games, Kinnik is tied for the league lead with 21 ground balls. Last
season, her defensive skills were recognized as she was named
first-team Brine/IWLCA all-Mid-Atlantic Region and third-team
All-America by womenslacrosse.com.
HEIR APPARENT: Junior defender Jess Mikula (Chester, Md.) has had a
breakout season for the Irish on defense. In her first season as a
starter, Mikula is fourth on the team in ground balls with 33 and is
tied for second in caused turnovers with 21. She has started all 15
games for the Irish. She is second to Kinnik in both categories
among defensive players in the Irish lineup.
VERSUS THE BEST: Notre Dame's 13-11 win over Syracuse on May 1 not
only snapped a four-game losing streak for the Irish, it snapped a
three-game losing streak versus ranked teams. Prior to the loss to
Georgetown (4/17), the Irish had won six in a row versus the nation's
best. For the season, Notre Dame is now 5-3 versus ranked teams.
All-time, the Irish are 14-31 versus teams that were ranked in the
top 20. Among Notre Dame's wins this season versus ranked teams are
victories over #2 Duke and #6 James Madison. Those two wins came
against the highest-ranked teams the Irish have ever beaten. The
previous highest-ranked team Notre Dame beat was Yale (7th-ranked)
in 2001 and in 2002, they downed 7th-ranked Syracuse. In 2003, the
Irish were 3-7 versus teams ranked in the top 20.
RECORD-SETTING STREAK: Notre Dame's 14-game winning streak from
4/22/03 to 4/17/04 was the longest in the program's history and
included four games in the 2003 season along with 10 this season.
The previous longest winning streak for the Irish was six games from
3/13/01 to 3/31/01.
GAMES PLAYED LIST: Meredith Simon and Kassen Delano have moved into
the top 10 on Notre Dame's all-time games played list this season
with one more regular season games remaining. For her career, Simon
has now played in 62 career games to rank ninth all-time (the school
record is 63 games played held by six players). Delano has played in
60 career games to rank 10th on the all-time list.
SCORING STREAKS: Meredith Simon ran her scoring streak to 26 games
with four goals and four assists versus Syracuse. Here are the
current active Irish points streaks.
Meredith Simon - 26 games (66g, 31a, 97 pts)
Abby Owen - 4 games (6g, 2a, 8 pts)
Lauren Fischer - 4 games (6g, 2a, 8 pts)
Meghan Murphy - 2 games (1g, 1a, 2pts)
CAREER YEAR: You thought that midfielder Abby Owen had a breakout
season in 2003 when she had 15 goals and 10 assists for 25 points???
Well, in 2004, through the first 15 games of the year, Owen has
already scored 31 goals with nine assists for 40 points (a new career
high). She has four games this season with four points and four
games with three points on the year. She had a career-high four-goal
game versus Stanford on Feb. 29. She was named Inside Lacrosse
Magazine Player of the Week for the week ending Feb. 29 and BIG EAST
Offensive Player of the Week for the week ending March 14.
SCORIN' LAUREN: Senior attacker Lauren Fischer has points in 14 of
Notre Dame's 15 games this season. For the year, Fischer has career
highs in goals (26), assists (10) and points (36). Fischer's
three-assist game on March 28 versus Boston College is a career high.
Her four-point game versus Syracuse was her third of the season
(March 7 vs. Cornell) and the fourth of her career and is a career
high. The three-goal game versus Syracuse was the fourth of the
season and sixth of her career. Fischer's previous career highs in
goals (18), assists (6) and points (24) were established last season.
SLAMMING THE DOOR: Through 15 games this season, Notre Dame's
defense has given up 128 goals for an 8.48 goals-against average.
The best goals against in the program's previous seven seasons was
7.49 and that came during the 2002 campaign. The Irish have only
given up double-digit goals in four games this season - Syracuse,
Duke and Virginia Tech with 11 goals and Johns Hopkins with 13.
ON THE RIGHT FOOTE: Crysti Foote has found her scoring touch with
points in nine of her last 10 games (18 goals and five assists for 23
points). On the season, Foote is fourth in scoring with 22 goals and
eight assists for 30 points on the year. As a freshman, she finished
third in scoring with 27 goals and 11 assists for 38 points. Foote
played in all 15 games, starting the final six of the season. In
those six games, she racked up 18 goals and eight assists for 26
points. She ended the year with an eight-game scoring streak with 22
goals and nine assists for 31 points. Following the season, Foote
became the first Notre Dame women's lacrosse freshman to be named to
the Brine/IWLCA all-Mid-Atlantic region team.
IRISH ON THE NATIONAL SCENE: Notre Dame figures prominently in the
national statistics this week (through games of May 2):
Individuals:
Points per game: Meredith Simon, 8th, 4.53 ppg
Goals per game: Meredith Simon, t19th, 2.93 gpg
Assists/game: Meredith Simon, 12th, 1.60 gpg
GAVG: Carol Dixon, 13th, 8.51 GAVG
Team:
Goals per game: 12th, 12.47 gpg
Team Defense: 15th, 8.53 opponent gpg
Margin of Victory: 10th, +3.93 gpg
Ground Balls: 8th, 26.33
Caused Turnovers: 7th, 11.00
HIGH-SCORING IRISH: The Irish have scored 187 goals through 15 games
this season. The school record for goals is 200, set during the 1999
season. Notre Dame leads the BIG EAST in scoring with the 187
markers.
IRISH HONORS: The following Notre Dame players have been honored during 2004.
Carol Dixon
BIG EAST co-defensive player of the week (April 12)
BIG EAST co-defensive player of the week (Feb. 29)
Andrea Kinnik
BIG EAST co-defensive player of the week (March 29)
Abby Owen
BIG EAST offensive player of the week (March 14)
Inside Lacrosse Magazine Player of the Week (Feb. 29)
Meredith Simon
BIG EAST offensive player of the week (May 2)
Inside Lacrosse Magazine player of the week (May 2)
BIG EAST offensive player of the week (April 12)
BIG EAST offensive player of the week (March 29)
BIG EAST co-offensive player of the week (March 8)
THE CAPTAINS: Serving as captains for the Notre Dame women's
lacrosse team in 2004 will be seniors Andrea Kinnik and Meredith
Simon. For both players are first-year captains for the Irish.
NEW KIDS: Freshman goalkeeper Katie Linhares (Greenwich, Conn.) saw
her first action in goal for the Irish in the 9-5 loss to
Northwestern. She played 3:28 while Carol Dixon was serving a yellow
card. Linhares made one save on the only shot she faced. Midfielder
Meghan Murphy (Fr., Centennial, Colo.) has stepped right into the
Notre Dame lineup and has played like a veteran through the first 15
games of the season. Murphy had a career-high three goals and four
points in the win over Cornell (Mar. 7), just her third game in an
Irish uniform. For the season she has 11 goals and three assists for
14 points and is eighth on the team in scoring. Fellow freshman
defender Meaghan Fitzpatrick (Farmingdale, N.Y.) made her first
career start versus Connecticut and has seen action in all 15 games
on defense. Sophomore Brittany Fox (So., Annapolis, Md.) scored her
first career goal in the win over Cornell in her second career game.
Junior midfielder Maura Costello (Manhasset, N.Y.) and sophomore
defender Katie Killeen (Manhasset, N.Y.) both saw their first action
for the Irish women's lacrosse team versus Cornell. Kristin Hopson
(Fr., Rosemont, Pa.) saw her first action versus Virginia Tech while
Megan O'Shaughnessy (Fr., Englewood, Colo.) and Kaki Orr (Fr.,
Darien, Conn.) saw their first career action versus Boston College.
BOWERS POWERS: Junior attacker Jackie Bowers turned in a career-high
three assist game in the win over Syracuse. The Springfield, Pa.,
native continues her strong first season in the Notre Dame lineup.
On March 26 versus Virginia Tech, Bowers socre a career-best five
goals. For that weekend versus Virginia Tech and Boston College,
Bowers had six goals and one assist for seven points. On the year,
Bowers has 13 goals and 10 assists for 23 points. All are career
highs. Bowers had three goals and one assist for four points in
limited action last season.
NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: Junior goalkeeper Carol Dixon took over the
reins in goal for the Irish in 2004 from All-American Jen White
('03) and has turned in a strong first season in goal for Notre Dame.
She started with a 10-game winning streak and has been in the top 20
in the nation in goals-against average and save percentage all
season. For the year, Dixon is 11-4 with an 8.51 goals against and a
.521 save percentage. Nationally, she ranks 13th in goals-against
average. Twice this season, Dixon has been named the BIG EAST
co-defensive player of the week (Feb. 29 and April 12). When the
Irish opened the 2004 season at Cal-Berkeley, Dixon became the first
goalkeeper to start a game for the Irish other than White since the
final game of the 2000 season. White started 48 consecutive games
for Notre Dame, between 2001-2003. Dixon served as White's backup
the previous two seasons and saw action in five games last year,
playing 121 minutes with a 8.93 goals-against average and a .571 save
percentage. She was 0-0 on the year.
GOING ON THE OFFENSIVE: Notre Dame's defense has even joined in on
the goal scoring this season. The Irish defense had a goal and an
assist in the 13-8 win over Ohio University on April 6. Andrea
Kinnik set up one goal and sophomore Kerry Van Shura (Bel Air, Md.)
scored her first collegiate goal in the contest. In nine games this
season, Irish defenders have 12 goals and three assists on the year.
Kristen Gaudreau leads the defense with six goals and an assist for
seven points. Andrea Kinnik has four goals and two assists while Van
Shura and Jess Mikula have one goal each.
THE LONGEST GAME: Notre Dame's overtime win versus California was the
seventh overtime game in the program's history. The Irish are now
3-4 in games that go beyond regulation. On April 13, 2003, Notre
Dame played the longest game in its history, a double-overtime loss
to Stanford (14-13) as the two team's battled for 72 minutes (60
regulation minutes and four three-minute overtime stanzas). The
previous long game came in 2003 versus Duke as the Irish played 71:45
before losing a 10-9 decision. That game ended in sudden-death as
the winning goal was scored with just 15 seconds left in the fourth
three-minute overtime.
CLOSE ONES: The Irish suffered back-to-back one-goal losses in their
games versus Johns Hopkins and Rutgers (April 23 and April 25). For
the year, Notre Dame is 1-2 in one-goal decisions with the win coming
in the season opener at California, 12-11, in overtime. In the
program's eight-year history, the Irish are 7-10 all-time in one-goal
games. During the 2003 season, Notre Dame was 1-3 in one-goal games
with two of the losses coming in back-to-back overtime contests.
SEASON-BY-SEASON: Notre Dame women's lacrosse in its first eight seasons:
Overall BIG EAST
1997 5-4 ----
1998 7-6 ----
1999 9-6 ----
2000 5-10 ----
2001 10-5 4-2, tie 2nd
2002 13-5 5-1, 2nd
2003 8-7 4-2, 3rd
2004 10-4 4-2, tie, 2nd
Totals 68-47, .591 17-7, .708
PRESEASON PROGNOSTICATIONS: The Irish were picked in BIG EAST
coaches voting to finish third in the BIG EAST this coming season
behind Georgetown and Syracuse. The coaches also named Meredith
Simon and Andrea Kinnik to their preseason all-BIG EAST team. Inside
Lacrosse Magazine ranks the Irish 16th in the nation in their
preseason poll.
FUTURE IRISH: Head coach Tracy Coyne has announced that six players
will join the Irish women's lacrosse squad for the 2004-05 school
year. They are:
Player Pos. Hgt.
Hometown/High School
Mary Carpenter M 5-6
Rochester, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy
Heather Ferguson A 5-4
Newtown Square, PA/Archbishop Carroll
Lindsey Ferguson M 5-4
Newtown Square, PA/Archbishop Carroll
Julie Foote M/A 5-6
Suffern, NY/Suffern
Caitlin McKinney M/A 5-1
Lafayette Hill, PA/Germantown Academy
Becky Ranck M/D 5-8
Radnor, PA/Radnor
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Two members of the Notre Dame lacrosse team have
family ties to the program and two others have ties to the men's
lacrosse program. Junior goalkeeper Carol Dixon (Pennsauken, N.J.)
got to play two seasons with her sister, Angela, who graduated in May
of 2003. The duo gave Notre Dame its second set of sisters to play
on the women's lacrosse team, joining Amy and Mara Grace who played
in the first year of the program. Freshman midfield/attack player,
Megan O'Shaughnessy (Englewood, Colo.) is the cousin of Irish scoring
great Lael O'Shaughnessy, a 2001 graduate. Senior Meredith Simon
follows in her brother Eric's footsteps. A 2003 graduate, Eric
served as one of the captains of the 2003 men's lacrosse team while
Meredith is a co-captain of the women's team in 2003. Senior
defender Bridget Higgins (Wilton, Conn.) older brother, Kevin, played
lacrosse at Notre Dame and served as team captain for the 2000
season. Sophomore defender Lena Zentgraf (Charlottesville, Va.) is
the niece of men's lacrosse coach Kevin Corrigan and the
granddaughter of former Notre Dame athletic director Gene Corrigan.
|
|
 |
