Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Goalkeeper Erin Goodman and the Notre Dame defense held Connecticut to just four goals in the first half of the 18-11 Irish win.

 
Irish Pick Up Second BIG EAST Win With 18-11 Decision At Connecticut

Jillian Byers paces attack with seven goals and one assist.

March 29, 2008

Final Stats

Storrs, Conn. - The Notre Dame women's lacrosse team returned to BIG EAST action on Saturday afternoon and wasted little time in disposing of the Connecticut Huskies by an 18-11 score.

Junior Jillian Byers paced the Irish attack with seven goals and one assist in the game while Caitlin McKinney and Shaylyn Blaney had three goals each, Gina Scioscia scored twice and Alicia Billings, Kaitlin Keena and Kailene Abt each scored once in the road win. Notre Dame scored the first six goals of the game and led 14-4 at halftime before being outscored 7-4 in the second half.

McKinney and Scioscia each had three assists for six and five-point afternoons each.

The Huskies were led offensively by Robyn Pastuch who had three goals on the day. Whitney Michele, Laura Eichert and Katy Ryan each scored twice while Katie Kasch and Kim McGinty had one goal each.

The win improves 13th-ranked Notre Dame to 8-3 on the year overall and 2-1 in BIG EAST conference action. Connecticut falls to 0-9 on the year and 0-3 in conference action.

It would take the Irish over four minutes to get on the scoreboard in the first half but when they finally did they scored often.

Blaney got her first of three in the game at 25:51 to open the scoring with Scioscia picking up the first of her three assists in the game. The sophomore from Summit, N.J., actually would assist on three of Notre Dame's first four goals in the game.

Over the next 4:31, the Irish would score five times for the 6-0 lead at 20:59. Byers scored three of her six first-half goals in the run, getting the first of the contest just 15 seconds (25:36) after Blaney's opening goal for a 2-0 lead. That was followed by Billings'lone goal, one by Byers, one by Blaney and a third by Byers for the 6-0 lead.

Pastuch would break up that run at 20:23 to make it 6-1. Byers, with two, and McKinney one offset a goal by McGinty for a 9-2 lead with 13:50 left in the first half.

Following a Connecticut goal by Eichert at 12:10, Scioscia took her turn to score as she picked up unassisted goals at 9:18 and 8:27 for her five-point first half and gave the Irish an 11-3 lead. Michele scored her first goal at 6:06 to cut the lead to 11-4, but Notre Dame got three more goals from Abt, McKinney and Byers to end the first half scoring spree and give the Irish the 14-4 lead at halftime.

Notre Dame would score three of the first four goals in the second half to make it a 17-5 game with 20:49 left on the clock. McKinney got her third of the day at 27:46 of the second stanza only to see Michele answer back at 24:32. Byers closed out her afternoon with goal seven for the day at 21:43 and Keena got into the act at 20:49.

Goals by Ryan (free-position) and Kasch cut the Irish lead to 10 goals at 17-7. Blaney's third of the day, her third, at 10:38, closed out the Notre Dame scoring and made it 18-7.

At that point of the game, head coach Tracy Coyne replaced starter Erin Goodman with Amy Winik in goal, giving the sophomore goalkeeper her second career action.

The Huskies would score the final four goals of the game with Eichert getting one, Pastuch a pair and Ryan her second for the final score of 18-11.

Notre Dame continues its five-game road swing on Thursday, April 3, when the Irish travel to Durham, N.C., to face the Duke Blue Devils. That game begins at 4:00 p.m.

GAME SUMMARY                            1    2  -   F
#13/#13 Notre Dame (8-3/2-1 in BE)     14    4  -  18
Connecticut (0-9/0-3 in BE)             4    7  -  11

Scoring Summary
First Half
Time   Team  Score   Goal                     Assist
25:51   ND    1-0    Shaylyn Blaney           Gina Scioscia
24:35   ND    2-0    Jillian Byers
23:13   ND    3-0    Alicia Billings          Gina Scioscia
22:32   ND    4-0    Jillian Byers            Gina Scioscia
22:05   ND    5-0    Shaylyn Blaney           Caitlin McKinney
20:59   ND    6-0    Jillian Byers
20:23   UC    6-1    Robyn Pastuch
19:21   ND    7-1    Jillian Byers            Shaylyn Blaney
18:44   UC    7-2    Kim McGinty              Robyn Pastuch
17:33   ND    8-2    Caitlin McKinney
13:50   ND    9-2    Jillian Byers            Caitlin McKinney
12:10   UC    9-3    Laura Eichert            Whitney Michele
 9:18   ND   10-3    Gina Scioscia
 8:27   ND   11-3    Gina Scioscia
 6:06   UC   11-4    Whitney Michele          Laura Eichert
 5:29   ND   12-4    Kailene Abt              Caitlin McKinney
 4:55   ND   13-4    Caitlin McKinney         Jillian Byers
 4:29   ND   14-4    Jillian Byers            Maggie Zentgraf

Second Half
Time   Team  Score   Goal                     Assist
27:46   ND   15-4    Caitlin McKinney
24:32   UC   15-5    Whitney Michele
21:43   ND   16-5    Jillian Byers
20:49   ND   17-5    Kaitlin Keena
14:50   UC   17-6    Katy Ryan                Free-position shot
12:38   UC   17-7    Katie Kasch
10:38   ND   18-7    Shaylyn Blaney
 6:22   UC   18-8    Laura Eichert
 2:03   UC   18-9    Robyn Pastuch
  :59   UC   18-10   Robyn Pastuch            Whitney Michele
  :20   UC   18-11   Katy Ryan

Goalkeepers:
Notre Dame:   Erin Goodman, 49:22 min., 7 GA, 7 saves
              Amy Winik, 10:38 min., 4 GA, 0 saves
Connecticut   Jenna Moulton, 60:00 min., 18 GA, 11 saves

Shots:  ND:  34; UCONN:  21
Ground Balls:  ND: 12; UCONN:  15
Caused Turnovers: ND: 1; UCONN:  7
Draw Controls: ND: 15; UCONN: 13