Irish suffer first losing season
By SARAH RYKOWSKI
Sports Writer
The Notre Dame women's lacrosse team ended its 2000 season with a 5-10 record, marking its first losing season in the team's four year history.
"I feel like we faced a lot of challenges," coach Tracy Coyne said. "I've never had a losing season as a head coach. It's going to give us a renewed sense of commitment to accomplish our goals."
The Irish competed this season for the first time in the squad's history without a senior class.
Relying heavily on the leadership of the junior and sophomore classes, the Irish also needed a strong freshman class to fill in the gaps. Four of the 11 first-year Irish started five games or more.
"Our team was pretty balanced. We had a lot of freshmen in the lineup," Coyne said.
Danielle Shearer led the attacking youngsters, finishing second on the team with 31 points, 21 goals, and 10 assists.
"It takes a lot of hard work to be a varsity player at this school," sophomore tri-captain Kathryn Lam said. "That's just awesome."
Junior tri-captains Lael O'Shaughnessy and Kathryn Perrella led the attack corps, stepping in for the absent senior class.
"This is the third season with recruits on the team," Coyne said. "That's where we are in terms of the program. The juniors on the team are from the first recruiting class. I think they did a great job."
O'Shaughnessy finished first on the team in points and goals for the second year in a row, totaling 27 goals and 34 points in 15 games and passed the century mark for goals in the team's 12-10 loss to Harvard. According to Coyne, O'Shaughnessy's formidable 1999 totals made her a defensive target for other teams.
"[O'Shaughnessy] excels in many aspects of the game," Coyne said. "Scoring her 100 goals is pretty awesome."
If the offense struggled this season, the defense shone. Starting in all 15 games for the Irish this season, Lam was named team's Most Valuable Player. She led the defense with 62 groundballs, causing 35 turnovers while only allowing 12 and winning 17 draw controls.
"We learned a lot about each other throughout the season, [in] all the adverse situations," Lam said. "Everybody worked together. We're building a program here. We're trying to establish ourselves."
The level of difficulty has risen each season in the four years that the women's lacrosse program has had varsity status at Notre Dame.
"Each year the schedule was set for where we were as a team," Coyne said. "This is by far our most competitive schedule. Every game we went out there and did our best. I think the schedule for next year will be another step up."
One advantage of a team with no seniors is that all the starters return.
Not only that, the Irish also had the services of three goalies, juniors Tara Durkin and Carrie Marshall as well as White.
Durkin saw the majority of action this year, finishing with a .548 save percentage and an 11.11 GAA, starting in all Irish contests.
Marshall, last year's starter, played in two games this season, finishing with a .875 save percentage and 2.26 GAA.
"We're definitely excited about [keeping all our players]," Lam said. "It's an added plus for our team."
All Sports Stories for Friday, May 19, 2000
