(Notre Dame, Ind.) -- Sophomore Jillian Byers (Northport, N.Y.) and senior Meghan Murphy (Centennial, Colo.) each had five points to lead 11th-ranked Notre Dame to a 15-7 win over Duquesne University Sunday afternoon at Moose Krause Stadium.

For the second game in a row, Byers scored four times and added an assists while Murphy turned in a career-best five-point afternoon, scoring three goals and adding two assists in the Notre Dame win. The Irish also got two goals each from Heather Ferguson (Jr., Newtown Square, Pa.) and Kaki Orr (Sr., Darien, Conn.) while Caitlin McKinney (Jr., Lafayette Hill, Pa.), Lena Zentgraf (Sr., Charlottesville, Va.), Jane Stoeckert (So., Mendham, N.J.) and Alicia Billings (So., Potomac, Md.) scored one goal each.

Duquesne was led by Sarah Cates with two goals while top scorer Kathleen McNish had a goal and two assists for a three-point game to lead the Dukes. Courtney Tamasitis, Meg Cloutman, Sarah Carson and Janna Faulkner added single goals for Duquesne. The win, the fourth in a row for the Irish improves Notre Dame to 9-2 on the season while Duquesne falls to 4-5 on the year.

This game had all the makings of a blowout for the Irish as Notre Dame scored the first eight goals of the game over the first 23 minutes of the opening half for an 8-0 lead. Stoeckert started the scoring just 2:43 into the game when she beat starting goalkeeper Caitlin Carducci in close to the top corner. Byers (5:08 and 6:07) and Murphy (13:47 and 20:56) scored the next four goals for the Irish to make it 5-0. Ferguson made it 6-0 with her first goal of the game with 8:15 left in the half and was followed by Byers with her third goal of the game and McKinney to make it 8-0 with 6:57 left in the first half.

The Dukes finally broke through on Notre Dame goalkeeper Erin Goodman (So., Cortlandt Park, N.Y.) when Cates scored her first of the game with 6:10 left in the half. Cates would cut the lead to 8-2 with her second goal of the game with 2:51 left in the half and Faulkner made it 8-3 at halftime. The late surge by Duquesne seemed to change the momentum as the Dukes scored the first two goals of the second half to make it 8-5. Tamasitis scored her goal 1:54 into the half and McNish set up a Sarah Carson goal with 4:35 gone in the half to cut the Notre Dame lead to just three goals.

Carson's goal prompted a timeout by Notre Dame coach Tracy Coyne and the break seemed to inspire the Irish offense. Orr scored her first of the game off a free-position chance at the 7:04 mark to make it 9-5 and when Byers set up Zentgraf just 22 seconds later, the lead was back to five at 10-5. The Dukes weren't done however. Cloutman made it 10-6 with 18:18 left in the game. Billings scored a key goal for Notre Dame with 13:03, converting a nice pass from Orr to make it 11-6. McNish answered that goal with her only marker of the afternoon with 7:16 left in the game and the Dukes had made it an 11-7 game.

From there, the Irish offense kicked into gear, scoring the final four goals of the game. Murphy put the game out of reach with 5:06 left in the game when she scored her third of the game off a behind-the back shot that made it 12-7. Ferguson made it 13-7 just 22 seconds later with 4:44 left in the game when she converted a pass from behind the cage by Murphy. Byers got her fourth of the game on a free-position shot with 1:59 left and Orr added her second goal of the game with 33 seconds left for the final score of 15-7.

Notre Dame out shot Duquesne by a 31-24 margin in the game. Goodman finished the day with eight saves while Carducci had three saves while giving up eight goals in the first 30 minutes of the game. Meghan Holloran played the entire second half, giving up seven goals while making one save.

The Irish will return to action on Thursday, April 5 when they play host to the Duke Blue Devils at Moose Krause Stadium. Game time is 4:00 p.m. Notre Dame then hosts California on Saturday, April 7 in a 1:00 p.m. game.

2007-04-02