STORRS, Conn. (March 29, 2008) - Robyn Pastuch (Merrick, N.Y.) scored a career-high three goals as the University of Connecticut women's lacrosse team outscored No. 13 nationally-ranked Notre Dame 7-4 in the second half, but lost 18-11 Saturday afternoon at the George J. Sherman Family-Sports Complex. The loss drops UConn's record to 0-9 on the season and 0-3 in the BIG EAST. Notre Dame is now 8-3 overall and 2-1 in the conference.

The Huskies poured on the attack in the second half, out-shooting the Irish by a 20-7 margin and earning six of 10 draw controls in the period. Whitney Michele (East Rochester, N.Y.) also helped pace the Huskies on the day, tallying two goals and two assists to extend her team-leading point total to 31 (17g, 13a). Jillian Byers finished the day with seven goals for Notre Dame, while Caitlin McKinney and Shaylyn Blaney each added three.

Notre Dame jumped out to a 6-0 lead over the first nine minutes of action before Pastuch put the Huskies on the board at the 20:13 mark. The Huskies would add one goal for every two of the Irish's over the next 14-plus minutes as Notre Dame stretched out their lead 11-4 before closing out the half with a 3-0 run.

Coming out of the intermission with a 14-4 lead, the Irish scored three of the first four goals of the second half with Michele punctuated the stretch with an unassisted goal at 24:32. With Notre Dame leading 17-5, the Huskies started a 6-1 run that would cut the margin to seven by game's end. Katy Ryan (Hamburg, N.Y.) started and ended the scoring spree with her two goals of the day, while Pastuch had back-to-back tallies within 1:04 in the final minutes of action to account for the final score.

Notre Dame held narrow advantages in shots, 34-31, and draw controls, 15-13. UConn controlled the ground balls, 15-12. The Huskies return to action tomorrow, Sunday, Mar. 30, at 1:00 p.m. against UC Davis at the Sherman Complex. The Aggies are 4-6 on the season coming into Sunday's game against UConn.

Box Score [PDF]

* * * *

(Storrs, Conn.) … The Notre Dame women's lacrosse team returned to BIG EAST action on Saturday afternoon and wasted little time in disposing of the Connecticut Huskies by an 18-11 score.

Junior Jillian Byers paced the Irish attack with seven goals and one assist in the game while Caitlin McKinney and Shaylyn Blaney had three goals each, Gina Scioscia scored twice and Alicia Billings, Kaitlin Keena and Kailene Abt each scored once in the road win. Notre Dame scored the first six goals of the game and led 14-4 at halftime before being outscored 7-4 in the second half.

McKinney and Scioscia each had three assists for six and five-point afternoons each.

The Huskies were led offensively by Robyn Pastuch who had three goals on the day. Whitney Michele, Laura Eichert and Katy Ryan each scored twice while Katie Kasch and Kim McGinty had one goal each.

The win improves 13th-ranked Notre Dame to 8-3 on the year overall and 2-1 in BIG EAST conference action. Connecticut falls to 0-9 on the year and 0-3 in conference action.

It would take the Irish over four minutes to get on the scoreboard in the first half but when they finally did they scored often.

Blaney got her first of three in the game at 25:51 to open the scoring with Scioscia picking up the first of her three assists in the game. The sophomore from Summit, N.J., actually would assist on three of Notre Dame's first four goals in the game.

1 2    Next  »

2008-03-29