Brosco Leads Irish Upset of No. 16 Georgetown
from press release
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Freshman midfielder Kaitlyn
Brosco continued her red-hot scoring, notching four goals on
Saturday afternoon to help lead Notre Dame to a 13-10 upset win
over No. 16 Georgetown on Senior Day at Arlotta Stadium.
Brosco, who now has eight goals in her last two games, got plenty
of help from her upperclassmen teammates as junior Maggie Tamasitis
scored three times while seniors Kaitlin Keena, Shaylyn Blaney and
Ansley Stewart produced a pair of goals each in their final game at
the home of Irish lacrosse in the big win.
The Hoyas, who were coming off wins over BIG EAST league leaders
Loyola and Syracuse prior to Saturday's game, were led by sophomore
Sophia Thomas who scored three times. Kelyn Freedman and Kelsi
Bozel added a pair and Georgetown got single goals from Jordy Kirr,
Dina Jackson and Hannah Franklin on the afternoon.
The win, Notre Dame's first of the season over a ranked team (1-5),
improves the Irish to 7-8 overall but 4-2 in BIG EAST play. That
gives them sole possession of fourth place in the conference and
the final spot for the BIG EAST Tournament. Notre Dame leads fifth
place Louisville (3-4) for that final spot and will close the
regular season next week against the Cardinals in Louisville on
April 20 and at Cincinnati on May 1.
Georgetown is now 8-6 overall and 6-1 in the BIG EAST and own a
share of first in conference play with tiebreakers against Loyola
and Syracuse who each have one loss in the league. The Hoyas finish
the regular season at Rutgers on May 1.
Saturday's game was played in the nicest weather the Irish have
seen this season and the teams seemed to take in the sunshine early
as it took almost seven minutes before Notre Dame got on the
scoreboard as Keena opened the scoring with her first of two on the
day at 23:10. The senior midfielder finished the day with four
points on two goals and two assists.
The Hoyas answered back with goals by Freedman (free-position) and
Jackson at 22:30 and 18:06 to take their first and only lead of the
game at 2-1.
Notre Dame followed Jackson's goal with six consecutive markers in
a 10-minute span to open a 7-2 lead with less than eight minutes to
go in the half.
Brosco scored the first of three in that 10-minute span a
free-position shot to tie the game, 2-2, with 17:09 left in the
half.
Tamasitis notched her first of the day a minute later at 16:09. She
then set up a goal by Stewart at 15:15 and then scored her second
of the game at 14:07 on a nice crease roll, slipping the ball past
Georgetown goalkeeper Barb Black for her second goal and third
point in a little over two minutes, giving the Irish a 5-2
lead.
Brosco closed out the run with goals number two (12:43) and three
(7:51) of the half, giving the Irish a 7-2 lead.
The Hoyas would cut the lead to 7-4 at halftime on a pair of
free-position goals by Bozel and Franklin to end the half.
Georgetown was 4-for-7 on free-position shots while Notre Dame was
1-for-3 in the game.
The Irish came out of halftime like gangbusters, scoring the first
four goals of the half over a 6:26 span. Blaney opened the scoring
off the draw, taking the ball the length of the field before
beating Black just 39 seconds into the second stanza for an 8-4
lead.
All-American defender Jackie Doherty set up two of the next three
goals for Notre Dame. She forced a turnover in the midfield,
grabbed a loose ball, and carried the ball on goal before feeding
Keena for her second of the game at 27:07 to make it 9-4.
Brosco equaled her career high at 26:36 when she scored her fourth
goal of the afternoon to give the Irish a six-goal lead at 10-4 and
Tamasitis closed out her hat trick with the fourth goal of the run,
for an 11-4 lead with 23:34 left in the game. Her four-point game
extended her current point streak to 33 consecutive games.
From there, the Hoyas took control of the action, going on a
five-goal run in a 13-minute span while the Notre Dame scorers went
dry for a span of just under 22 minutes.
Thomas scored twice in the run while Bozel, Kirr and Freedman
getting one each to cut the Irish lead to 11-9 with 8:42 left in
the game.
The teams traded scoring chances over the next seven minutes with
Black and Notre Dame goalkeeper Ellie Hilling coming up with key
saves to keep the margin at two goals.
The Irish continued to run down the clock in the final three
minutes when Georgetown pulled its goaltender to make her another
defensive player as the Hoyas were willing to give up a goal to get
the ball back. Blaney scored her second of the game with 1:46 left
to make it 13-10.
The Hoyas would get one more chance as they controlled the draw and
Thomas was fouled, to give her a free-position shot. She converted
at 1:12 to cut the lead to 12-10. Notre Dame controlled the next
draw and put the game away with 16 seconds left as Keena set up
Stewart for the final goal of the game and a 13-10 win.
Georgetown out shot the Irish, 34-27, in the game. Hilling had
another strong game in the Notre Dame goal as she made 14 saves,
including 10 in the second half to preserve the win. Black finished
with eight saves for the Hoyas.
