Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Freshman Kaitlin Keena's goal at 13:01 of the first half gave Notre Dame a 5-4 in the first half against Stanford.

Jillian Byers paces Notre Dame with four goals and one assist.

March 2, 2008

Final Stats

Palo Alto, Calif. - The Notre Dame women's lacrosse team headed west for a three-game Spring Break trip to California and saw the trip get off on the wrong foot Sunday afternoon as the Irish lost a 13-9 decision to Stanford at Cagan Stadium.

Junior Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) led the Irish offense with four goals and one assist for he fourth game this season with four or more points this season. Freshman midfielder Shaylyn Blaney (Stony Brook, N.Y.) had two goals and an assist while Caitlin McKinney (Sr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.), Gina Scioscia (So., Summit, N.J.) and Kaitlin Keena (Fr., Vienna, Va.) added single goals for Notre Dame.

Megan McClain paced the Cardinal attack with four goals while Sarah Flynn scored three times and Karen Nesbitt and Dana Lindsay had two each. Jamie Nesbitt and Bess Siegfried each had one goal.

The loss snapped 10th-ranked Notre Dame's three-game season-opening win streak as the Irish are now 3-1 on the season. Stanford improved to 4-2 on the year.

The two teams opened the game by trading the first six goals of the game. McClain, Jamie Nesbitt and Karen Nesbitt scored the first three Stanford goals while Scioscia, Byers and McKinney made it 3-3 with 14:23 left in the first half.

Byers' second goal of the game at 14:00 gave Notre Dame its first lead of the game at 4-3 only to see Flynn's first goal of the game tie the game at 4-4 with 13:37 remaining on the clock.

The Irish would get their final lead of the afternoon at 13:01 when Keena got her lone goal by beating Stanford's Laura Shane with a free-position shot for the 5-4 lead.

From there, Stanford scored four straight goals. McClain scored twice at 10:59 and 9:57 while Flynn (9:07) and Lindsay (5:50) gave the Cardinal an 8-5 lead.

The Irish hoped to make a comeback in the second half only to see Stanford open the half by running off four consecutive goals over a 9:23 span.

Siegfried built the lead to 10-6 just 36 seconds into the half. She was followed by Lindsay (27:03), Karen Nesbitt (25:52) and McClain (20:37) to give Stanford a 12-6 lead.

Byers broke up the run at 14:47 with her third goal of the game to make it 12-7. The Irish would then take over nine minutes to score again as Byers beat Shane at 5:04 to make it 12-8.

Flynn scored for the Cardinal at 2:36 and Blaney got the game's final goal at 1:14 with her second marker of the game.

The Irish out shot Stanford, 33-30, in the game. Erin Goodman (Jr., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) finished with nine saves in the game while Shane made 17 to lead the Cardinal to the win.

Notre Dame will look to get back on track when the Irish participate in the East/West Challenge on Thursday, March 6 in San Diego, Calif. They will face the Oregon Ducks in a game that will be played at Torrey Pines High School with the opening draw set for 8:00 p.m. (PST). IRISH NOTES:

** Notre Dame's loss to Stanford on Sunday afternoon marked the first time the Irish had lost to the Cardinal at Palo Alto. They are now 4-1 at Stanford and 6-3 in the all-time series.

** The Irish will play California on Saturday, March 8 at Pasadena, Calif., at the Rose Bowl to close out the trip. That game begins at 1:00 p.m. (PST).

GAME SUMMARY
                           1     2  -   F
#10 Notre Dame (3-1)       6     3  -   9
Stanford (4-2)             8     6  -  13

First Half
Time    Team   Score	Goal                  Assist
29:00   STAN    0-1     Megan McClain         Free-position shot
28:09   ND      1-1	Gina Scioscia         Jillian Byer
27:16   STAN    1-2	Jamie Nesbitt
26:02   ND      2-2	Jillian Byers         Shaylyn Blaney
19:00   STAN    2-3	Karen Nesbitt
14:23   ND      3-3	Caitlin McKinney      Alicia Billings
14:00   ND      4-3	Jillian Byers
13:37   STAN    4-4	Sarah Flynn           Karen Nesbitt
13:01   ND      5-4	Kaitlin Keena         Free-position shot
10:59   STAN    5-5	Megan McClain
 9:57   STAN    5-6	Megan McClain
 9:07   STAN    5-7	Sarah Flynn           Daphne Patterson
 5:50   STAN    5-8	Dana Lindsay          Daphne Patterson
 4:46   ND      6-8	Shaylyn Blaney

Second Half
Time    Team   Score    Goal                  Assist
29:24   STAN    6-9     Bess Siegfried
27:03   STAN    6-10    Dana Lindsay          Julie Christy
25:52   STAN    6-11    Karen Nesbitt
20:37   STAN    6-12    Megan McClain
14:47   ND      7-12    Jillian Byers         Free-position shot
 5:04	ND      8-12    Jillian Byers
 2:36   STAN    8-13    Sarah Flynn           Claire Hubbard
 1:14   ND      9-13    Shaylyn Blaney

Goalkeepers:
Notre Dame:  (Erin Goodman; 60:00 min; 13 goals, 9 saves)
Stanford:  (Laura Shane; 60:00 min; 9 goals, 17 saves)
Total Shots: ND - 33;  STAN - 30
Groundballs:  ND - 23;  STAN - 18
Draw Controls:  ND - 10;  STAN - 14
Caused Turnovers:  ND - 14;  STAN - 8