Irish must play strong at home
By SARAH RYKOWSKI
Sports Writer
The Notre Dame women's laxers will seek redemption in their contests at home this weekend against Columbia and Harvard. Seeking to improve on a disappointing 4-8 season campaign, the Irish will look to come up with some wins.
"It's a really difficult thing to lose," sophomore defender Kathryn Lam said. "Nobody likes to lose to keep going out there and coming up short is hard."
The Irish play the Columbia Lions on Saturday, April 22, and take Easter Sunday off before facing the Harvard Crimson on Monday, April 24.
"We're all about getting each other ready," Lam said. "We try to pick each other up."
Columbia has 5-5 overall record and 0-5 record in the Ivy League.
The Lions are 19-35 under the leadership of fourth-year head coach Celine Cunningham. The Lions are coming off a 10-day break. Their last game resulted in a 17-7 loss to Yale.
Notre Dame also fell to the Bulldogs on April 15, three days after Columbia's defeat.
"I think that they are all particularly good teams," Lam said. "They are all competitive teams that we are trying to [defeat]."
The Lions are led by senior midfielder Sara Brubaker, who has 10 goals and 1 assist this season. Brubaker finished the 1999 season with 17 goals and 4 assists.
Devin Fitzpatrick, a junior midfielder, is close behind Brubaker with 11 goals and 1 assist on the 2000 season.
Junior attacker Caroline Samponaro was last year's leading scorer for the Lions, notching 21 goals and 8 assists. Samponaro has 6 goals and 1 assist so far in 2000.
Sophomore Gina Kline is in goal for Columbia. Kline has posted a .483 save percentage and a 10.33 GAA thus far.
The Irish emerged victorious from last year's contest between with the Lions, with a final score of 13-5. Current sophomore tri-captain defensive leader Kathryn Lam scored 4 goals and assisted on another goal to lead Notre Dame to victory against the home team.
"Usually the attack is down there scoring," Lam said. "It just happened to go that way."
Columbia will play Harvard on Sunday, April 23, before the Irish face the Crimson on the following Monday. The Crimson are 4-4 overall and 2-2 in Ivy League competition. They arrive at Notre Dame after a 15-6 loss to second-ranked Princeton on April 15.
"It is nice to be able to collect ourselves and get back on track," Lam said. "Everybody is working hard and conditioning [this week.]
The Irish first met Harvard in 1999, losing 15-10 on Harvard's home turf. Irish attacker Kathryn Perrella, now a junior tri-captain, led Notre Dame in that game with three goals.
Carrie Marshall, then a sophomore, made 12 saves in goal for the Irish in the loss to Harvard.
"I remember last season after that loss I didn't feel like we played to our potential," Lam said.
The Crimson are led this season by junior attacker Lauren Corkery, who has 9 goals and 2 assists. Corkery was her team's lead scorer in 1999, finishing with 16 goals and 10 assists.
Like Notre Dame, Harvard has more than one talented goalkeeper. Junior Keltie Donelan and freshman Nora Guyer have backed each other up in net all season.
Guyer, who has seen the majority of game time in goal for hte 2000 season, was an Honorable Mention All-American at the Baldwin School.
"Whatever it's going to take [to win] we're going to try and put it out there," Lam said.
All Sports Stories for Thursday, April 20, 2000
