(Baltimore, Md.) - The Notre Dame women's lacrosse team has been known for its high-scoring exploits over the past few seasons but on Sunday afternoon versus Loyola, goalkeeper Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Manor, N.Y.) stole some of the thunder. Making just her ninth career start, Goodman made 14 saves, limiting the Greyhounds to just one free-position shot in an 11-1 Irish win. The win improves the 12th-ranked Irish to 7-2 on the season and 1-1 in the BIG EAST while Loyola falls to 1-6 overall and 0-2 in conference play.

By giving up one goal, Goodman set an Irish record for fewest goals given up in a game, breaking the previous low mark of two goals against, something that previous goalkeepers had done four times in the program's history.

Offensively, junior Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) led the team with four goals while senior Lena Zentgraf (Charlottesville, Va.) had two goals and two assists and Jillian Byers (So. Northport, N.Y.) added two goals and an assist for a three-point afternoon. Jane Stoeckert (So., Mendham, N.J.), Meghan Murphy (Sr., Centennial, Colo.) and Heather Ferguson (Jr., Newtown Square, Pa.) added single goals in the win. Kate McHarg broke Goodman's shutout bid with under 17 minutes left, scoring Loyola's lone goal of the afternoon.

Notre Dame scored seven straight in taking a 7-0 halftime lead. McKinney got the game's first goal and her first of four on the afternoon with a free-position goal 7:59 into the game. Byers built the lead to 3-0 with goals at 10:00 and 14:18, giving Goodman all the offense she would need in the game. McKinney built the lead to 5-0 with back-to-back goals at 20:14 and 23:47, giving her six consecutive games with three or more goals this season. Heather Ferguson made it 6-0 at 24:40 and Stoeckert closed the first-half scoring at 26:23 to give Notre Dame the 7-0 lead at halftime. Goodman was credited with six saves in the first half.

Lena Zentgraf ran the Irish lead to 8-0 just 55 seconds into the second half for her first of the game after assisting on a pair of first half goals. Loyola finally got on the scoreboard at 13:56 when McHarg was awarded a free-positon shot and scored to make it 8-1. That would be the only goal surrendered by Goodman who finished the second half with eight saves.

The Irish weren't done though. Murphy continued her strong play (goal and assist), scoring at 22:27 to make it 9-1. McKinney followed with her fourth at 25:13 via a free-position goal and Zentgraf closed the scoring with her second goal of the season at 28:25 for the final score of 11-1.

Zentgraf's four-point afternoon equaled a career high for the senior midfielder and gives her career highs in goals (12), assists (10) and points (22) in a season. The two teams each had 23 shots on goal in the game. Erin Nicolaus finished with six saves for the Greyhounds. The 10-goal win was the second of the season for the Irish who defeated Canisius, 18-8 earlier this year.

Notre Dame now returns home for a pair of home games this coming weekend. On Friday, March 30, the Irish will play host to Connecticut in a 7:00 p.m. BIG EAST game at Moose Krause Stadium. On Sunday, April 1, they play host to Duquesne University in a 1:00 p.m. game at Krause Stadium.

IRISH NOTES:

** With four goals and two goals respectively, Caitlin McKinney and Jillian Byers each reached the 30-goal mark for the 2007 season and for the second season in a row.

** McKinney has now scored in 31 consecutive games going back to her freshman season. In those 31 games, she has 80 goals and 33 assists for 113 points.

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2007-03-25