(Notre Dame, Ind.) - The Notre Dame women's lacrosse team wasted little time in getting back on the winning side of the ledger on Wednesday night as the Irish scored on five of their first six shots, led 9-1 at halftime and finished with a 16-9 win over Ohio State at the Loftus Center.

Nine different players registered a point for Notre Dame with senior Meghan Murphy (Centennial, Colo.) and sophomore Jane Stoeckert (Mendham, N.J.) leading the way with four points each. Murphy scored once and added three helpers while Stockert scored twice and added a pair of assists for her four-point night.

Caitlin McKinney (Jr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.) and Lena Zentgraf (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.) scored three goals each while Alicia Billings (Potomac, Md.), Jillian Byers (So., Northport, N.Y.) and Mary Carpenter (Jr., Rochester, N.Y.) added two apiece. Kaki Orr (Sr., Darien, Conn.) rounded out the scoresheet for the Irish with Heather Ferguson (Jr., Newtown Square, Pa.) assisted on two Irish goals. Ohio State was led in the game by Kristen Slahor who scored three times and was joined by six other Buckeyes who scored one goal each.

The victory improved Notre Dame to 6-2 on the season while Ohio State falls to 3-2 on the season. Notre Dame got off to a fast start, scoring just 56 seconds into the contest when Orr set up Lena Zentgraf to give the Irish the 1-0 lead and start the Irish on a 5-0 run over the first 12 minutes. McKinney (3:11), Stoeckert (4:46), Byers (6:05) and Zentgraf again (12:06) put the Irish ahead by five goals.

Slahor answered back at 16:29 with an unassisted goal at 16:29 but that would be all the Buckeyes would get in the first half as Notre Dame scored the final four goals of the half with McKinney, Carpenter (free-position shot), Byers and Murphy finding the back of the net for a 9-1 halftime lead.

A different Ohio State team came out in the second half as the Buckeyes scored the first four goals of the half to cut the lead to 9-5. Megan Levins, Jessica Patane, Amanda Shimp and Rachel Hawes scored in the first 7:36 of the second half to make it a four-goal game. Following an Irish timeout, Notre Dame found its' offense again as Billings and Zentgraf (third of game) scored 41 seconds apart at 10:41 and 11:22 to make it 11-5.

A Slahor free-position shot made it 11-6 and led to four consecutive Notre Dame goals. Billings started the run at 14:20 and was followed by Carpenter (16:46), Stoeckert (17:23) and McKinney (18:20) to put the Irish ahead by nine goals at 15-6. The Buckeyes went on to score three of the final four goals of the night for the final score of 16-9.

The Irish fired 33 shots on goal, including 21 in the first half. Ohio State was held to just 14 in the game. Notre Dame goaltender Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) made just two saves in the game. Kristen Gilwee gave up 13 goals while making eight saves for the Buckeyes in 53:59 minutes of action. Joy DeMarco played 6:01 and gave up three goals for Ohio State.

Notre Dame now returns to action on Sunday, March 25 when the Irish travel to Baltimore, Md., for a BIG EAST game with Loyola (Md.). Game time at Diane Geppi-Aikens Field is set for 1:00 p.m.

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio State (3-2, 0-1 American Lacrosse Conference) women's lacrosse team lost a 16-9 decision to 12th-ranked Notre Dame (6-2) in a game played indoors at the Loftus Sports Center on the Notre Dame campus. Ohio State's Kristen Slahor (Jr., Ellicott City, Md.) scored a team-high three goals in the contest. Notre Dame's Lena Zentgraf and Caitlin McKinney shared team-high honors with three goals each.

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2007-03-22