Hoyas send Irish back to bubble again
By CHRIS COLEMAN
Sports Writer
The Notre Dame women's lacrosse team finds itself on the bubble again.
On Saturday, the team traveled to Georgetown to fight for the Big East Championship as well as solidify their presence as a national power.
Unfortunately, the No. 2 Hoyas defeated the No. 9 Irish 17-8, leaving the Irish a bit uncertain about their postseason chances for the second season in a row.
"I don't know what happened at Georgetown," midfielder Kelly McCardell said. "It was not the team the played with Duke and beat Yale."
Natalie Loftus came out and claimed the first goal of the game for Notre Dame, but it would prove to be the only Irish lead of the day.
Georgetown then opened up a six-goal run to go up 6-1 on Notre Dame with 15 minutes still to play in the first half.
Danielle Shearer, who was the point for the Irish with three goals and an assist, and Kate Scarola then added a goal each to cut the lead to 6-3.
Georgetown and Notre Dame then traded two goals with Eleanor Wielle and Shearer scoring for the Irish to make the game 9-5.
The game looked still in reach for the Irish but then Georgetown came out a scored two quick goals before the half and opened the second half with three quick goals to make the score 14-5.
Alissa Moser, Kassen Delano and Shearer scored in the second half for the Irish.
The Irish have struggled to find their consistency since defeating Syracuse 12-7, going 7-1 before the game and 2-3 after it. The competition has increased steadily and the Irish have let teams get ahead of them early in games. The Georgetown game, however, was the first time the Irish have been blown out of the water.
Their other three loses were one-goal games.
"[The loss to Georgetown] was a real big wake- up call," said defensive player Elizabeth Knight. "The next three games are so important for the tournament."
The Irish have three games left against Northwestern, Rutgers and tenth-ranked Vanderbilt, and if they win all three, should advance to the tournament.
"It's not the worst situation we could be in," said senior captain Alissa Moser on being in control of their fate. "It is a must win situation … but we can play with, and beat any of those teams."
The Irish have some time off after playing four games in 11 days and look to assure their playoff spot Thursday against Northwestern in Chicago.
"We'll bounce back." Moser said. "We are not a different team than when we played Syracuse."
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, April 23, 2002
