Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Freshman Caitlin McKinney scored three goals and set up two others in Notre Dame's 11-8 loss to No. 2 Duke.

 
Irish Drop 11-8 Decision To No. 2 Duke

Freshman Caitlin McKinney turns in career-best five-point game (3g, 2a) to pace Notre Dame.

April 8, 2005

Final Stats

Notre Dame, Ind. - The Notre Dame Fighting Irish ran into a hot scorer and a hot goalkeeper on Friday afternoon at Moose Krause Stadium as they dropped a hard-fought, 11-8 decision, to the second-ranked Duke Blue Devils in the third game of the current five-game homestand.

Freshman midfielder Rachel Sanford scored four goals, including a pair late in the game to halt an Irish comeback and junior goalkeeper Megan Huether made 11 saves to lead Duke to the win. Katie Chrest and Caroline Cryer scored two goals each while Kristen Waagbo, Katie Laschinger and Michelle Menser had single goals for the Blue Devils.

Freshman Caitlin McKinney (Lafayette Hill, Pa.) paced the Notre Dame offense with a career-best five-point game. The speedster kept the Irish in the game converting several Duke turnovers into second-half goals. Brittany Fox (Jr., Annapolis, Md.) had two goals and an assist while Crysti Foote (Jr., Suffern, N.Y.) had a goal and two assist for three point games. Lena Zentgraf (Charlottesville, Va.) and Kaki Orr (So., Darien, Conn.) had single goals for the Irish. Goalkeeper Carol Dixon (Sr., Pennsauken, N.J.) made 12 saves in the game, including nine in the first half to keep Notre Dame in the game.

The loss drops the Irish to 3-7 overall while Duke improves to 10-2 on the year. Notre Dame faces the Stanford Cardinal on Sunday, April 10 at the Loftus Sports Center in a 12:00 noon game while Duke travels to Evanston, Ill., on Sunday for a showdown with top-ranked Northwestern.

Duke took a 2-0 lead in the game as Waagbo fired one past Dixon just 3:02 into the game and Cryer added her first of the afternoon at 5:53 to put the Blue Devils on top.

Zentgraf answered back for the Irish just over 14 minutes into the game as she took a feed from Foote behind the goal and bounced a shot paste Huether at 14:12 to cut the lead to 2-1.

Sanford made her presence known as she scored twice in a 3:29 span to give Duke a 4-1 lead. Laschinger made it 5-1 with 7:25 left in the half before McKinney closed the first-half scoring with her first of the contest at 23:13.

The Blue Devil lead would go to 7-2 as Duke opened the second half with two goals. Chrest set up Cryer for her second goal with 7:54 gone in the stanza and Menser added a free-position goal a minute-and-a-half later to give the Blue Devils a five-goal lead.

The Irish offense chipped away at the lead. McKinney picked up a loose ball and fed Fox in front with 17:46 left in the game and Fox set up Orr just 1:10 later to cut the lead to 7-4.

Chrest and McKinney then traded goals at 15:36 and 11:12 to keep Duke's lead at three goals, 8-5. Sanford then put the game away for the Blue Devils with her third and fourth goals of the game. Leigh Jester set up the freshman from Greenwich, Conn., on what would prove to be the game winner with 8:15 left in the game and Sanford made it 10-5 by cutting through the Irish defense and beating Dixon in close with 5:20 left in the game.

The Irish and McKinney weren't done yet. The freshman, who has scored all 10 of her games at Notre Dame (20 goals, 10 assists), scored on a free-position shot with 4:20 left and then scooped up a Duke turnover in the offensive zone and fed Foote to cut the lead to 10-7 with 3:56 left in the game.

The Blue Devils then went into a stall and were able to kill off most of the clock before Chrest got her second of the game with 45 seconds left. Fox closed the Notre Dame scoring with a free-position goal with 17 ticks left on the clock for the final score of 11-8.

Duke out shot the Irish in the game, 28-23. Notre Dame is now 0-3 on the year versus teams ranked in the top 20.

Game  Summary:       1      2   -    F
#2 Duke (10-2)       5      6   -   11
Notre Dame (3-7)     2      6   -    8
SCORING
DUKE:
GOALS: Rachel Sanford (4), Katie Chrest (2), Caroline Cryer (2), Katie Laschinger, Kristen Waagbo, Michelle Menser.
ASSISTS: Katie Chrest, Leigh Jester.
NOTRE DAME:
GOALS: Caitlin McKinney (3), Brittany Fox (2), Crysti Foote, Lena Zentgraf, Kaki Orr.
ASSISTS: Crysti Foote (2), Caitlin McKinney (2), Brittany Fox.
First Half Scoring
Team     Time   Score   Goal                   Assist
DU       3:02    0-1    Kristen Waagbo
DU       5:53    0-2    Caroline Cryer
ND      14:12    1-2    Lena Zentgraf          Crysti Foote
DU      17:18    1-3    Rachel Sanford
DU      20:47    1-4    Rachel Sanford (2)
DU      22:35    1-5    Katie Laschinger
ND      23:13    2-5    Caitlin McKinney       Crysti Foote (2)
Second Half Scoring
Team     Time   Score   Goal                   Assist
DU       7:54    2-6    Caroline Cryer (2)     Katie Chrest
DU       9:24 *  2-7    Michelle Menser        Free-position goal
ND      12:14    3-7    Brittany Fox           Caitlin McKinney
ND      13:24    4-7    Kaki Orr               Brittany Fox
DU      14:24    4-8    Katie Chrest
ND      18:48    5-8    Caitlin McKinney (2)
DU      21:45    5-9    Rachel Sanford (3)     Leigh Jester
DU      24:40    5-10   Rachel Sanford (4)
ND      25:40 *  6-10   Caitlin McKinney (3)   Free-position goal
ND      26:04    7-10   Crysti Foote           Caitlin McKinney (2)
DU      29:15    7-11   Katie Chrest (2)
ND      29:43 *  8-11   Brittany Fox (2)       Free-position goal
* denotes free position goal
Goalkeepers
DUKE: Meghan Huether (60:00 min; 8 goals against, 11 saves)
ND:   Carol Dixon (60:00 min; 11 goals against; 12 saves)
Shots On Goal:  DU - 28; ND - 23
Ground balls:  DU - 18; ND - 24
Draw Controls: DU - 9; ND - 11
Caused Turnovers: DU - 11; ND - 11