Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Sophomore Gina Scioscia had a career-best five-point game (2g, 3a) in Notre Dame's 18-8 win over California at the Rose Bowl.

Jillian Byers and Jane Stoeckert combine for nine goals to lead Notre Dame attack.

March 8, 2008

Final Stats

Pasadena, Calif. - The Notre Dame women's lacrosse team closed out its Spring Break trip to California on Saturday afternoon with an 18-8 win over the University of California at the Rose Bowl.

Junior Jane Stoeckert (Mendham, N.J.) helped the Irish to a 12-4 halftime lead as she scored four goals and added an assist to lead three Notre Dame players with five-point games. Junior Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) scored five goals and sophomore Gina Scioscia (Summit, N.J.) added a pair of goals with three assists for her career-best five-point game. Senior Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.), with two goals and two assists, and Heather Ferguson (Sr., Newtown Square, Pa.), with a goal and three assists, had four-point games. They were complimented by Alicia Billings (Jr., Potomac, Md.), Kaitlin Keena (Fr., Vienna, Va.), Jackie Doherty (Fr., Ellicott City, Md.) and Shaylyn Blaney (Fr., Stony Brook, N.Y.) who added single goals in the game.

California was led by Brittany Aungier, Alex Tickner and Alyse Kennedy with two goals each. DennaFaye Herald and Danni Zuralow added single goals for the Golden Bears.

The victory snapped a two-game California losing streak for the 13th-ranked Irish as they improve to 4-2 on the season. California falls to 2-3 on the year. Notre Dame is now 5-0 all-time against the Golden Bears.

After dropping a heartbreaking 14-13 decision to Oregon on Thursday night after giving up two goals in the final 15 seconds, Notre Dame scored early and often on the way to a 12-4 lead at halftime, the team's biggest offensive output in the first 30 minutes all season.

The teams traded the next five goals with Cal getting three from Aungier, Herald and Zuralow while Byers and Stoeckert were scoring for the Irish to make it 6-3 Notre Dame with 13:09 left in the half. The Irish closed out the first half with six of the final seven goals. Byers with two, joined McKinney, Stoeckert, Scioscia and Doherty to build the 12-4 lead. Heather Ferguson assisted on three first-half goals as part of her four-point game.

In the second half, the Irish would score just six times, but the defense held the Golden Bears to just four goals as goalkeeper Erin Goodman (Jr., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) would finish the game with 12 saves.

California would score three of the first five goals of the second stanza to make it 14-7 at the 15:49 mark but that was as close as the Bears would get.

Notre Dame ran off four of the last five goals in the game as Byers added two more and Blaney and Keena got single goals for the final of 18-8.

The 10-goal margin of victory was the second-largest for the Irish this season surpassed by the 12-goal margin Notre Dame had in its 22-10 season-opening win against Canisius.

After playing their last four games away from home, Notre Dame returns home for a three-game homestand. The Irish return to action on Thursday, March 13 for a 3:00 p.m. game with the University of Delaware Blue Hens at the Loftus Sports Center.

IRISH NOTES:

** Jillian Byers had 11 goals and two assists in the two games of the East West Challenge. She has 30 goals in the first six games and is now second all-time at Notre Dame with 142 career goals.

** Heather Ferguson equaled career highs with three assists and four points in the game. She has had three games in her career with three assists and three with four points.

** With four points in the game, Caitlin McKinney extended her school-record scoring streak to 45 games. The streak that started in her freshman season of 2005 has seen her score 108 goals with 54 assists for 162 points.

** Ten different Notre Dame players made the scoresheet for the Irish in the win. Sophomore Maggie Zentgraf (Charlottesville, Va.) assisted on the final goal of the game for her first career point.

GAME SUMMARY
                            1     2  -   F
California (2-3)            4     4  -   8
#13 Notre Dame (4-2)       12     6  -  18

First Half
Time   Team  Score    Goal                   Assist
28:53   ND    1-0     Caitlin McKinney       Jane Stoeckert
28:10   ND    2-0     Jane Stoeckert         Heather Ferguson
26:46   ND    3-0     Alicia Billings        Gina Scioscia
26:00   ND    4-0     Jane Stoeckert         Free-position shot
24:15   CAL   4-1     Brittany Aungier
18:44   ND    5-1     Jillian Byers          Gina Scioscia
15:49   CAL   5-2     DennaFaye Herald       Danni Zuralow
13:48   ND    6-2     Jane Stoeckert         Kaitlin Keena
13:09   CAL   6-3     Alyse Kennedy
 8:53   ND    7-3     Caitlin McKinney
 8:05   ND    8-3     Gina Scioscia
 3:57   ND    9-3     Jane Stoeckert         Heather Ferguson
 3:16   ND   10-3     Jackie Doherty         Free-postion shot
 1:33   ND   11-3     Jillian Byers          Caitlin McKinney
 0:48   CAL  11-4     Alex Tickner
 0:05   ND   12-4     Jillian Byers          Heather Ferguson

Second Half
Time   Team  Score    Goal                   Assist
29:07   ND   13-4     Heather Ferguson       Gina Scioscia
22:48   CAL  13-5     Alyse Kennedy
20:56   ND   14-5     Gina Scioscia          Kaitlin Keena
18:43   CAL  14-6     Danni Zuralow
15:49   CAL  14-7     Brittany Aungier
14:39   ND   15-7     Shaylyn Blaney         Caitlin McKinney
13:02   CAL  15-8     Alex Tickner           Free-position shot
10:44   ND   16-8     Jillian Byers
 7:08   ND   17-8     Kaitlin Keena          Free-position shot
 3:15   ND   18-8     Jillian Byers          Maggie Zentgraf

Goalkeepers:
Notre Dame:  (Erin Goodman; 60:00 min; 8 goals, 12 saves)
California: (Allie Shropshire; 26:03 min; 9 goals, 4 saves)
            (Morgan Dyson; 33:57 min; 9 goals, 3 saves)