CINCINNATI – Laura Simanski (Reisterstown, Md./Roland Park) recorded her seventh hat trick of the season but the University of Cincinnati lacrosse team (5-6, 0-3 BIG EAST) was unable to stop No. 9/10 Notre Dame (10-3, 3-1 BIG EAST) on Friday afternoon at Nippert Stadium, falling 16-5 in BIG EAST action.

Cincinnati traded goals with the Irish in the early going but Notre Dame pulled ahead, 10-3, by halftime. The Irish added six goals in the second period and were led by Jillian Byers' five goals.

Simanski scored UC's first goal at the 21:10 mark of the first period. Natalie Starvaggi (Loveland, Ohio/Mount Notre Dame) scored for UC with 11:14 remaining and Lindsey Marshall (Hilliard, Ohio/Ohio) calmly weaved between players to score the third goal of the period for the Bearcats with 10:15 left. Simanski scored both of UC's goals in the second period.

The Bearcats host Rutgers on Sunday, April 5 at 2:00 p.m. at Nippert Stadium.

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(Cincinnati, Ohio) ... The Notre Dame women's lacrosse team got their four-game road swing off to a fast start on Friday afternoon as the Irish rolled to a 16-5 BIG EAST win over the University of Cincinnati at Nippert Stadium. The meeting was the first ever between the two schools as the Bearcats are in their first season of conference play.

Senior All-American and Tewaaraton Trophy candidate, Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) paced the Notre Dame attack with five goals and one assist for a six-point afternoon. Sophomore attack Ansley Stewart (Alexandria, Va.) scored a career-best four goals in the game and junior Gina Scioscia (Summit, N.J.) chipped in two goals with three assists for five points.

Joining those three on the Notre Dame side of the score sheet were freshman Maggie Tamasitis (Boyertown, Pa.) with her second four-point game of the season on two goals and two assists; sophomore Kailene Abt (Huntington, N.Y.) added a goal and two assists while Shaylyn Blaney (So., Stony Brook, N.Y.) and Maggie Zentgraf (Jr., Charlottesville, Va.) added single goals. Jackie Doherty (So., Ellicott City, Md.) and Kate Newall (Fr., Middlesex, England) picked up assists. Newall's assist was the first point of her collegiate career.

Laura Simanski led Cincinnati with three goals while Natalie Starvaggi and Lindsey Marshall scored for the Bearcats.

The win improves the 10th-ranked Irish to 10-2 overall and 3-1 in BIG EAST play. Cincinnati falls to 5-6 on the year and 0-3 in conference play. The 10th win for Notre Dame marks the fourth consecutive season in a row that the Irish have had 10 or more wins, a first in the program's 13-year history.

This game started slowly as it took Notre Dame just over seven minutes to start the scoring as Abt set up Byers for her first of the game and 41st of the season with 22:55 left in the half. Simanski answered back for the Bearcats less than two minutes later at 21:10 when Simanski beat Erin Goodman (Sr., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) to even the score at 1-1.

From there the Irish ran off four straight goals and nine of the final 11 goals in the first half. The four-goal run started at 16:53 and ended 5:17 later with Stewart scoring twice and Blaney and Byers getting single goals for a 5-1 Notre Dame lead.

Starvaggi halted that run at 11:14 to make it a 5-2 but Byers set up a Scioscia goal just 28 seconds later to regain the four-goal lead at 6-2. Marshall collected her lone goal with 10:15 left in the opening half to make it 6-3, but that would be as close as Cincinnati would get.

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2009-04-03