April 28 , 2007

Terrific Twelve
Two Falcons combine for eleven goals in win

GAMBIER, Ohio - Notre Dame College (12-4) continued it’s run against North Coast Athletic Conference teams with a 13-10 road win over Kenyon College (7-7) on Saturday. A slowed down possession kept the ball in Falcon sticks and a sharp shot selection gave NDC it’s unprecedented twelfth win of the season. The victory marks the second in a row for the Falcons as they head into their final game of the season.

NDC and the Kenyon Ladies spent much of the first half trading goals after Gena McPherson (Fr/Brampton, ON) got on the board first from a Jenna Schuerman (So/Savage, MN) assist a minute and a half into the match.  Schuerman then fed one more time to McPherson one minute later to respond to the first Lady goal from Amanda Drummond. Schuerman’s two assists mark the ninth game in a row she’s been able to thread the needle to her teammates. It also marked the fourth and fifth goals in a row McPherson has scored from a feed from the Minnesota native.

The next twenty minutes became a game of possession with both teams scoring nearly every time they were able to get the ball inside of the offensive thirties. While Kenyon was able to capitalize on the fast break, Notre Dame took each possession seriously and kept in motion and preventing the Kenyon offense from finding the back of the net for over twenty four minutes.Even with the two different styles of play, the Falcons had a 9-8 edge over the Ladies heading into intermission.

The second half became a completely different game for both teams where NDC was able to combine both their fast break attack and possession games while Kenyon began to feel the pressure of the NDC defense. It took the Ladies until 13:33 left in the game to penetrate the defensive unit when Drummond scored her fourth of the day.

However, by this point, NDC had done it’s damage and began putting the finishing touches on the victory with two goals fourteen seconds apart from Stacey Gowe (Fr/Medina, OH) and Staci Myrup (Fr/Murray, UT). While McPherson’s first scoring binge came to an end in the second half, Molly Merrill (So/Medina, OH) wasn’t done for the day. After two goals in the first half, the sophomore attacker picked up two more netfinders from patient play and shot selection.

"For a young team, we really showed a lot of maturity playing such a disciplined style of lacrosse today. We stuck to the new game plan and really had a lot of patience against a good Kenyon team," third-year Head Coach Candace Taglianetti said.

McPherson lead all scorers with seven goals and one assist while Merrill finished in the books with four goals two assists. Gowe and Myrup finished with one goal apiece. Shuerman and Jenn Morse (Fr/Brampton, ON) each passed off two assists.

Kylie Flett (Jr/Adelaide, Australia) earned the win in between the pipes while making eight saves on the day.

The Falcons close out their season on Tuesday, May 1 when they host the Allegheny Gators at Korb Field. Game time is scheduled for 7:00pm.

Notes from the Nest…

No Vacancy at the HoJo:Holly Joseph (So/Lapeer, MI) held the North Coast Athletic Conference leading scorer, Frankie De Lavis without a goal for the first time this season. De Lavis was averaging 4.60 goals per game before Joseph was able to end De Lavis' day without a score. Last season, in the Falcons’ 12-9 win over Kenyon, Joseph did the same with a frustrating defense on Kenyon’s Amanda Drummond.

Oh, Canada: Brampton, Ontario natives, Gena McPherson and Jenn Morse were responsible for ten of the total NDC points in the 13-10 victory. McPherson scored seven goals and had one assist while Morse dished out two helpers, one which landed in the stick of her fellow Canadian teammate.

Back to the Drawing Board: In addition to their scoring barrage, McPherson and Molly Merrill were key coming off the circle on the draw. NDC picked up 16 draw controls to Kenyon’s seven with Merrill and McPherson responsible for four each.