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US Lacrosse College Notebook
March 19, 2004
Irish Climb to Third
After a breakout 2002 season in which it advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals, the Notre Dame women's lacrosse team slipped to an 8-7 record last year. The Irish are slipping no more.
Notre Dame is off to the best start in school history at 5-0 and last week knocked off two previously unbeaten Top 10 teams—No. 2 Duke and No. 6 James Madison in Orlando, Fla.. The Irish have climbed to No. 3 in the latest IWLCA poll, the school's highest ranking ever.
Seniors Meredith Simon, a first team All-Big East selection last year, and Abby Owen lead the Irish in scoring with 15 goals each and classmate Lauren Fischer had contributed 11 goals. Junior goalie Carol Dixon, a first-year starter, has a 7.65 goals against average and a 55.2 save percentage.
Dixon held James Madison scoreless over the final 23 minutes as Notre Dame scored the final six goals of the game to rally for a 9-7 victory on March 14. Fischer scored two of her game-high three goals during the late run.
The Irish host Virginia Tech and Boston College in a pair of Big East games this weekend.
Around the Country
Tragedy at Cornell
The lacrosse world was shocked to hear of the death of Cornell men's lacrosse player George Boiardi during a game against Binghamton University on March 17. The thoughts of everyone at US Lacrosse go out to his family and friends. Cornell has developed a page on its web site for people to submit thoughts, prayers and remembrances.
Keeping it Close
Johns Hopkins 19-8 victory over Syracuse in the 2003 NCAA men's semifinals was far from the norm in this series, which resumes Saturday at Homewood Field in Baltimore. Since 1997, six of the seven regular season meetings between the two schools have been decided by a single goal and the "blowout" was a 12-10 Syracuse victory at Johns Hopkins in 1999. Hopkins is currently ranked first and Syracuse is ranked third.
Commonwealth Connection
The top four scorers in NCAA Division I women's lacrosse through games of March 14 were all from the commonwealth of Virginia—Old Dominion's Suzanne Wosczyna (9.0 ppg), James Madison's Gail Decker (6.0 ppg), Virginia's Amy Appelt (5.83 ppg) and Old Dominion's Melody Shotwell (5.5 ppg).
Service Time
This weekend includes a pair of big games for the service academies. Fifteenth-ranked Army hosts No. 4 Rutgers on Saturday and No. 18 Air Force plays at Delaware. Jack Emmer's Army squad knocked off Rutgers, his alma mater, last season by a 9-8 score on its way to a NCAA tournament berth. After the Rutgers game, Army has just two more current Top 20 teams on its schedule—Navy and Duke.
Since starting the season 2-0, including a win over Virginia, Air Force has suffered one-goal losses to Army and North Carolina. The Falcons look to get back on the winning side of the ledger against an improved Delaware (5-2) team.
Stick Checks
Johns Hopkins women's team is off to a 6-0 start and the 15th-ranked Blue Jays host 13th-ranked Boston University on Sunday...Goucher junior goalie Reeves Craig is averaging 18.8 saves per game...C.W. Post senior Trisha Moran (18g, 22a) has had a hand in 40 of the 50 goals scored by the Pioneers (4-0) this season. Her 40 points easily leads Division II in scoring.
US Lacrosse College Notebook is a weekly feature on the US Lacrosse web site. For information about supporting the sport through membership in US Lacrosse, visit our membership page.
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