Rutgers Upsets Notre Dame in Yurcak Debut
from press release
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- Rutgers senior attacker
Brooke Cantwell (Moorestown, N.J.) scored her team-leading eighth
hat trick of the season and tallied the game-winning goal as the
Scarlet Knights knocked off 12th-ranked Notre Dame (10-5, 5-2 BIG
EAST) on Saturday, April 24, in the team’s Yurcak Field
debut.
Rutgers (10-4, 3-3 BIG EAST) had five Scarlet Knights score two or
more goals in the contest as RU snapped a previous two-game losing
streak against the Irish and notched its third win over a ranked
opponent this season.
“[The win] is great,” said head coach Laura Brand-Sias.
“We definitely needed to win this to keep the team in the
hunt for the BIG EAST Tournament. We talked every game about going
1-0 and we’re undefeated at home this year so we wanted to
keep that streak going. The first game at Yurcak Field is always
exciting and I think we did a good job from top to bottom. There
was that lull in the middle but we didn’t break
down.”
The Scarlet Knights jumped out to a 7-1 halftime lead, scoring the
first six goals of the game. Senior midfielder Mary Cryan (Newtown
Square, Pa.) posted back-to-back goals to open the game, followed
by scores from freshman midfielder Stephanie Anderson (Wading
River, N.Y.), junior midfielder Marlena Welsh (Jarrettsville, Md.)
and a pair of tallies from Cantwell.
Welsh and senior attacker Meghan Flanagan (Medford, N.J.) assisted
on Cryan’s first two scores, while the remaining five goals
of the first half came on free position shots.
Notre Dame’s Kailene Abt snapped the 6-0 scoring run by the
Scarlet Knights with a goal at the 6:03 mark in the first half,
while sophomore midfielder Brittany Davis (Wading River, N.Y.)
responded with a goal to close out the half at 7-1.
The Irish went on a 4-0 run to start the second half, pulling to
within two goals. Welsh and junior midfielder Kristen Anderson
(Wading River, N.Y.) scored back-to-back unassisted goals to
maintain the RU lead at 9-5. Notre Dame and Rutgers traded scores
with Kristen Anderson again finding the back of the net to make it
10-6.
The Irish, however, outscored the Scarlet Knights 5-1 over the
final 15 minutes to tie the game and send it into overtime.
After going without a score for almost four minutes of the
six-minute overtime period, Cantwell helped put the Scarlet Knights
ahead when she scored with 2:02 remaining, giving RU the 12-11
victory and keeping the squad’s BIG EAST Championship hopes
alive.
“We just knew coming in throughout the whole week we knew we
had to win this game,” said Cantwell. “We’ve been
undefeated at home. We wanted to step out on the field and play our
game, we know that we’re able to win games against teams like
[Notre Dame] who are really good, we just haven’t been able
to put a full 60 minutes together. I don’t think we did this
game but we were able to come out on top. Even when they were
coming back we didn’t let down at all, which is something we
would have done last year.”
With her three goals against Notre Dame, Cantwell moved into fourth
place on the all-time Rutgers list with 127 goals, also moving her
into a tie for fifth with 171 career points.
Rutgers will return to action on Friday, April 30, to host BIG EAST
foe Louisville at 3 p.m. at Yurcak Field.
