Lacrosse team confident heading into home opener
By ANDREW SOUKUP
Associate Sports Editor
Ask the Big East player of the week how the women's lacrosse team matches up with its weekend opponent, Denver, and she just laughs.
"We're heads above them," said Lael O'Shaughnessy.
That's not to say that the Irish are looking past Denver. They've just been preparing for their inaugural season competing in the Big East conference.
"We're not going to try to run them up, and we're certainly not going to underestimate them," O'Shaughnessy said. "We're just going to work on some things for our upcoming games."
Already the women's lacrosse team is off to a red-hot start. After a season-opening loss to No. 8 James Madison, the Irish have won their last three games, including a pair of wins over Big East foes Virginia Tech and Boston College.
"We're very confident at this point in the season," O'Shaughnessy said.
The women's lacrosse team has a different attitude this season. Joining the Big East conference has given the Irish a new focus. Before this year, the Irish played whatever team would schedule them and didn't have a clearly defined team goal. Now, they have plenty of opponents and a brand new purpose Ñ winning in the Big East.
"We have more of a point to our season," said O'Shaughnessy. "We have other, new goals, like winning the Big East tournament. It makes it seem more official."
Already, O'Shaughnessy and her teammates are excited to have earned Big East recognition. The senior was named the Big East player of the week following her sensational spring break performance. Against Virginia Tech, O'Shaughnessy scored one goal and five assists in Notre Dame's 19-8 win. Four days later, she helped the Irish edge Boston College 8-7 by scoring one goal and assisting on two more.
Notre Dame's Sunday afternoon match against Denver is their first home contest of the season. O'Shaughnessy said the women's team is happy to finally be competing at home this weekend, and they're hoping for some support from the students.
"We get a little tired of being on the road," she said. "Hopefully we can get a little people out."
Notre Dame's match against Denver will take place Sunday afternoon at Moose Krause Stadium. The match is slated to begin at 1 p.m.
All Sports Stories for Friday, March 23, 2001
