NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Hat tricks from junior Jillian Byers and freshman Shaylyn Blaney led the No. 11 Notre Dame women's lacrosse team to a 13-10 victory over Loyola (Md.) in BIG EAST Conference play on Saturday afternoon inside the Loftus Sports Center.

Senior Caitlin McKinney chipped in two goals for the Fighting Irish, while sophomore Gina Scioscia had a team-high two assists. Grace Gavin paced the Greyhounds with four goals.

Notre Dame (6-3, 1-1) jumped on top 39 seconds into the contest on a goal from Jackie Doherty. Loyola (3-6, 1-3) evened the game one minute later as Cara Filippelli scored. Blaney would put the Irish up for good as she connected on a free-position shot with 27:19 left in the first half. McKinney gave Notre Dame a 3-1 lead with her first goal of the game.

Gavin scored to make it 3-2 before the Irish went on a 3-0 run. Goals from Heather Ferguson, Byers and Blaney made it 6-2 by the 22:48 mark of the opening stanza. Loyola tallied three of the game's next four goals to slice the Notre Dame advantage to two (7-5) with 7:40 remaining in the half.

Another 3-0 spurt gave the Fighting Irish a five-goal advantage (10-5), which was their largest of the first half. Kaitlin Keena, McKinney and Byers notched goals in the surge. The Greyhounds' Mary Claire Taylor scored with just three seconds left to make it 10-6 in favor of Notre Dame at the intermission.

Byers opened up the scoring in the second half with her third goal of the game and Kailene Abt followed to put Notre Dame up 12-6 with 24:12 left on the clock. The six-goal advantage was the largest of the afternoon for the Fighting Irish.

Loyola responded with four unanswered goals to trim the Irish lead to two (12-10) by the 11:59 mark of the second half. The Greyhounds did not score the rest of the way and Blaney's third goal came with 1:05 left in regulation to put the game away and give Notre Dame the victory.

Notre Dame held a 30-26 edge in shots, while Irish goalkeeper Erin Goodman made seven saves. Loyola's Megan Steffe had 12 stops.

The Fighting Irish are back in action at Hofstra on Tuesday, March 25. Game time is slated for 4:00 p.m. (ET).

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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Loyola cut a six-goal deficit to two with almost 12 minutes remaining, but it would get no closer, as 11th-ranked Notre Dame held off the Greyhounds for a 13-10 BIG EAST Conference win on Saturday afternoon at the Loftus Sports Center.

The Fighting Irish (6-3 overall, 1-1 BIG EAST) led 10-6 at halftime before Jillian Byers and Kailene Abt scored in the first six minutes of the second half to go ahead by six with 24:12 remaining. Loyola (3-6, 1-3), however, controlled the next several minutes, cutting into Notre Dame's lead.

Alicyn Brunnett's shot ricocheted off Notre Dame goalie Erin Goodman, but Brunnett corralled the rebound and her second shot beat Goodman with 19:34 left. Grace Gavin, who led all players with a career-high-tying four goals, then scored on a free-position shot just over two minutes later. Emily Gibson fed a pass from behind the cage to Elizabeth Weber, who scored with 16:45 in the game, pulling Loyola within three, 12-9.

Weber cut the Fighting Irish advantage again with 11:59 left in the game, cutting from left-to-right in front of the goal and scoring to make the score, 12-10. Both teams remained scoreless, however, for the next 11-plus minutes despite several chances for the Greyhounds' offense. Shaylyn Blaney scored with 65 ticks left to provide the final margin for Notre Dame.

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2008-03-22