Scioscia's Effort Sparks Notre Dame over BU in 2OT

by Dan Hickling | Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

BOSTON -- By her own admission, Gina Scioscia isn't much of a goal scorer.

But with the game on the line Saturday and the ball on her stick, the Notre Dame senior wasn't going to leave the job for anyone else. She wanted to take the ball to the well herself.

And she did.

Three times, in fact, before finally delivering the game-winner in the No. 15 Irish's 7-6 double-overtime triumph over No. 11 Boston University, at Nickerson Field.

"We only scored seven goals," said Scioscia. "But we scored one more than them."

And hers was the most crucial.

"I don't know if we expected triple overtime," said Irish (4-1) coach Tracy Coyne. "But we expected it to be a one-goal game."

Goals were certainly hard to come by. Witness the teensy 2-1 lead the Irish held after a grinding first half. Both Notre Dame goals came off free position chances, beginning with Maggie Tamasitis' tally at 23:35.

Tamasitis zipped her 10-footer past the stick of Terrier goalie Rachel Klein and in under the crossbar.

A string of three free position chances 10 minutes into the half gave Notre Dame a chance to add to its lead.  However, the Irish came up empty-handed, as Kaitlin Keena rang the right post with one attempt. Another was wiped out by a false start.

The Terriers knotted the score, 1-1, with 18:09 remaining, when Annie Stookesberry took a feed from Rachel Collins and connected from the left flank.

However, two minutes later, Jenny Granger restored the Irish lead with less than three minutes later, which accounted for all the first half scoring.

"It was a hard-fought game," said BU senior attacker McKinley Curro. "We had our opportunities, but we didn't finish them."

What the Terriers could do just once in the first 30 minutes, they did twice in a burst of 46 seconds just after halftime, taking a 3-2 lead on goals by Catie Tilton and Hannah Frey.

"I think our attackers started to see the openings," said BU coach Liz Robertshaw, "and actually took them."

The Terriers scored twice more to take a 5-2 advantage, and still had a 6-4 lead to nurse when Traci Landy cashed in a feed from Curro with 3:57 to go.

However, the Irish pressed hard and with goals from Shaylyn Blaney and Tamastis, knotted the score, 6-6, with 2:15 remaining in regulation.

"We pushed until the very end," said Scioscia. "Our game plan was to keep them under constant pressure."

Notre Dame held the ball for most of the overtime periods, but was unable to fire the game-winner past Klein. Then, in the final minute of the third three-minute period, Scioscia was fouled, not once, but three times near the edge of the 8-meter line.

"It was sudden death," said Scioscia. "I would sacrifice the body to hopefully get it. We knew it was going to be a physical game."

The third free position try proved to be the clincher.

Cutting in toward the right post, Scioscia gave Klein a head fake, then dipped low to put the ball between the keeper's knees.

"When I think about it," she said, "I don't score. So I didn't think about it. That was my only goal of the game, and I wanted to score. I wanted the ball, and I worked for it. I got fouled three times before I scored, but I'm proud of scoring that goal. I'm glad I got one."