Women's Lacrosse: Miracle season concludes in Elite Eight loss
By: CHRIS COLEMAN
Sports Writer
It was a miracle season for the Notre Dame women's lacrosse team. The Irish started the season ranked 17th and finished as one of the Elite Eight teams in the country at 13-5 and second in the Big East. In their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance, the seventh-ranked Irish defeated Ohio State 11-7 and then went on to face top-seeded Princeton.
While Princeton won the national quarterfinal contest it did not lessen the sense of pride that the senior led squad had.
"Our seniors have been the heart and soul of this team," head coach Trace Coyne told UND.com. "They've played a lot over the past four seasons and have gotten the program where it is today. ... They took a chance on us four years ago and along with the support the university has given us are responsible for getting us here today."
The seven seniors on this year's team — Maureen Henwood, Kate Scarola, Natalie Loftus, Maureen Whitaker, Tina Fedarcyk, Kathryn Lam and Alissa Moser — came into a program four years ago which had left club status only two years before. Since their arrival, the team has gone 36-25. They have proven they were the backbone of a team which would go on to a team best 13 victories.
Moser was a tri-captain and finished this year second in scoring with 27, moving up to fifth on the all-time scorers list. Loftus also had a career year, finishing second and third in points and goals.
The Irish defense was the team's strength and was consistently one of the best nationally thanks to captains Lam and Fedarcyk, along with Henwood. This threesome has started every game since arriving their freshman year and holds the 1-2-3 spots all time in groundballs. This year they only allowed an average of 7.3 goals per game.
The team rolled through the early part of the season, superbly regrouping after a sub par preseason weekend in Loyola. The women opened up by defeating Ohio 15-3 and then traveled to California and beat rival Stanford 10-5. After beating George Mason 10-8 the women opened up a five game homestand which started with a 14-5 smacking of Big East opponent Boston College.
Cornell had come in ready for 4-0 Notre Dame and opened up to a quick lead. The Irish struggled back but time ran out before the comeback was finished and the Irish lost by one goal, 10-9. It would not be the only heartbreak of the year. Delaware provided a bit of a challenge 9-7, but the Irish found their shot against Virginia Tech and sent the Hokies home losing 15-4.
At 6-1, Notre Dame faced the Syracuse Orangewomen, a Big East team they had never beaten. But Syracuse, picked to finish second in the division, looked a bit flat, and the Irish came out strong and finished the same to win 12-7. After beating Connecticut on the road, the team began the toughest part of the schedule — four ranked teams in 11 days.
The women lost another heartbreaker to Ohio State 12-11, and then had to come home to face the then sixth-seed Duke. In the tightest game of the year the girls again came from behind to push the game into overtime with 20 seconds left. In the third overtime, Duke snuck in a goal after Loftus' last attempt rang off the post. Pumped up after their third one goal loss the Irish came out and defeated Yale 11-8.
Georgetown, then ranked No. 2, proved to be too much for the Irish and for the first time, they lost a game by a large margin, 17-8. The 9-4 Irish picked up and destroyed Northwestern and Rutgers and beat Vanderbilt in overtime to finish the regular season 12-4 and second in the Big East.
All Sports Stories for Friday, May 17, 2002
