(Washington, D.C.) ... The Notre Dame women's lacrosse team won their first-ever BIG EAST Tournament game on Friday evening, knocking off eighth-ranked Syracuse, 16-10, at Georgetown's Multi-Sport Field. The Irish advance to the BIG EAST championship game on Sunday, April 26 where they will face the host team Georgetown. The Hoyas defeated Louisville, 21-12 in the second semifinal game.

The Irish were led offensively by the BIG EAST attack player of the year, senior Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) who had seven points in the game, scoring four goals in the first half and then setting up three with assists in the second. She was followed by sophomore Kailene Abt (Huntington, N.Y.) and junior Gina Scioscia (Summit, N.J.) who each had five-point games. Abt had four goals and one assist while Scioscia had two goals and three assists.

Shaylyn Blaney (So., Stony Brook, N.Y.) and Ansley Stewart (So., Alexandria, Va.) scored twice with Jackie Doherty (So., Ellicott City, Md.) and Kaitlin Keena (So., Vienna, Va.) getting single goals.

Syracuse was led by senior Katie Rowan who had two goals and four assists for six points in the contest. Christian Dove, Megan Mosenson, Awehiyo Thomas and Bridget Looney all had a pair of goals for the Orange in the loss.

The win improves the 11th-ranked Irish to 13-4 overall while Syracuse goes to 12-4 on the year. The win snapped a three-game Syracuse winning streak versus Notre Dame. The last Irish win versus the Orange came in the 2006 season.

The Irish led 9-8 at halftime paced by Byers' four goals and then opened the second half with the first five goals, opening a 14-8 advantage that they never surrendered.

Defense was the name of the game for the Irish in the second half as they held Syracuse's high-powered offense to just two goals. Senior goalkeeper Erin Goodman (Sr., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) picked up her 13th win of the season while making seven saves. Liz Hogan had seven stops for the Orange.

The Irish defense held Syracuse to just 20 shots in the game while forcing 19 turnovers. They won the ground ball battle, taking a 21-10 edge.

Sunday's BIG EAST Championship game will be televised live by CBS College Sports in a game that will start at 1:00 p.m.

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WASHINGTON D.C. – Syracuse senior Katie Rowan (Delmar, N.Y.) moved up a spot on the NCAA Division I scoring list and junior Christina Dove (Bel Air, Md.) became the second all-time leading goal scorer in program history in the Orange's 16-10 setback to Notre Dame in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Tournament on Friday, April 24. It is Syracuse's first loss in the conference tournament after winning the 2007 and 2008 titles.

Rowan scored two goals and dished out four assists to increase her career point total to 374. She climbed past Virginia's Amy Appelt (2002-05) to No. 6 on the NCAA all-time scoring list. Rowan trails Temple's Gail Cummings (1984-88) by four points for fifth place. Dove netted two goals to take over second place on Syracuse's career goals scored list. She has scored 172 goals in her career, bettering Leigh-Ann Zimmer's (2001-04) mark of 171.

Rowan and Dove combined for seven points in a back-and-forth first 30 minutes of action. Two straight goals from Jillian Byers gave Notre Dame (13-4) its largest lead of the half at 9-6 with 9:05 remaining. The Orange (12-4) scored the final two goals of the half, both on assists from sophomore Tee Ladouceur (Slingerland, N.Y.). First she found senior Bridget Looney (Silver Spring, Md.) cutting in front of the cage, who scored her second goal of the game. Ladouceur then connected with senior Megan Mosenson (Malvern, Pa.) for the final goal of the half to cut the lead to one, 9-8, at halftime.

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2009-04-25