Women’s Lacrosse Takes On Notre Dame – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/22/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
March 22, 2000
COLUMBUS, Ohio–Today the Ohio State women’s lacrosse team will face the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. The Buckeyes enter the game with a 3-2 record, including a perfect 3-0 mark at home, while the Irish are 3-1.
The Buckeyes Last Week
vs. Boston University
On Sunday, the Buckeyes fell to Boston University, 11-8, in a neutral site game played at Temple in Philadelphia, Pa. The squad was led by Megan Mirick, who tallied three goals in the game. Five other Buckeyes added goals in the game, including Celeste Cianfrani, Erin Andersen and Shannon Wilson who each had a goal and an assist. OSU goalie Megan Barnett played the whole 60 minutes and made nine saves.
vs. Duquesne
On Friday, seven different Buckeyes scored to lead Ohio State to a win over the Duquesne Dukes, 19-3, at Jesse Owens Stadium. The Buckeyes improved their record to 3-1 on the season with the win. The team was led by Tracey Bounds, Megan Mirick and Lauren Cochran, who each chipped in four goals in the game. The Dukes scored the first goal 30 seconds into the contest, but the Buckeyes retaliated quickly with a Cochran goal at 21:58. Ohio State continued strong, taking a 9-2 lead into the break. OSU went on to outscore Duquesne, 10-1, in the second half. Buckeye goalie Megan Barnett played all 60 minutes and recorded three saves.
Head Coach Sue Stimmel
Sue Stimmel is in her fifth season as head lacrosse coach at Ohio State. Last season Stimmel led OSU to a stellar 10-5 finish, marking the first 10-win season in the history of Ohio State women’s lacrosse. With a 23-3 win over the Ohio Bobcats April 10, 1999, Stimmel earned her 100th career victory. Scouting Notre Dame
The Fighting Irish are 3-1 this season and return 14 monogram winners from last season’s team that went 9-6. This year the squad recorded wins over Denver, Ohio and Richmond before losing to No. 16 Syracuse, 9-3, on March 16. The team is led by Lael O’Shaughnessy, who was first on the team with 50 goals and 19 assists last season. Courtney Calabrese ranked second with 31 goals and six assists in 1999.
Notre Dame Coach Coyne
Tracy Coyne is in her fourth season at the helm for the Irish. Prior to going to UND, Coyne was the head coach at Ronoake College for seven years and at Denison College for two season. Entering the season she had an overall coaching record of 135-42 and a mark of 21-16 at Notre Dame. She was recently selected to lead the Canadian national team at the 2001 World Cup.
The Series
Last season Andersen and Mirick each scored four goals to lead the Buckeyes to a 15-12 victory over the Irish at Notre Dame. Ohio State leads the all-time series between the squad, 2-1.
Largest, Toughest Schedule
Ohio State will play the most regular season games in the program’s history–16. The Buckeyes also will face the toughest schedule in the program’s five-year history. The Scarlet and Gray will face six opponents that were ranked in the final IWLCA poll last season. The Buckeyes’ schedule includes games against No. 3 Penn State, No. 9 North Carolina, No. 15 Syracuse, No. 17 Boston University, No. 20 Virginia Tech and Division II power Gannon. The Buckeyes will have the difficult task of playing their last four games on the road, including games at North Carolina, Vanderbilt and Syracuse.
Young, But Experienced
The Buckeyes return only four seniors for the 2000 season. However, they do return 10 starters who are sophomore or juniors.
“We are a young team,” Stimmel said. “But we had the opportunity to play and even start many of our freshmen last year.”
More on Sue Stimmel
Sue Stimmel is entering her fifth season as head women’s lacrosse coach at Ohio State. She has compiled a 27-26 mark at OSU, the only head coach in the brief history of the varsity women’s lacrosse program. Stimmel came to Ohio State from Denison University where she guided the Big Red to a 76-24 record during her career. She took over the Big Red program in 1989 and was named the IWLCA Regional Coach of the Year in 1991, 1992 and 1994. Stimmel was honored as the NCAC Coach of the Year in 1990, 1992 and 1993. Denison won five NCAC championships and made four appearances in the NCAA tournament during Stimmel’s tenure. She also coached the North Team in the Division III North/South All-Star Game in 1995. Her coaching career began in 1984 when she was named an assistant coach at the University of Massachusetts, where she stayed until 1986. Stimmel is a 1984 graduate of Temple University, where she received a degree in mathematics. She was a four-year varsity starter and a member of Temple’s national championship teams in 1982 and 1984. She was named a Regional All-American in 1984 and was invited to the U.S. team tryouts.
Looking Back at 1999
The Ohio State women’s lacrosse team finished the 1999 season with the program’s best record, 10-5. The Buckeyes were led by a powerful attack of underclassmen. Freshman Megan Mirick led the team in goals with 39. Sophomore Erin Andersen finished a close second with 36 goals. Andersen also led the team in total points with 53. Sophomore Celeste Cianfrani also contributed to the offense with 47 total points, 32 goals and 15 assists. Megan Barnett had an amazing freshman campaign in goal. She recorded 154 saves. Her goals-against average of 9.00 was good enough for a No. 23 NCAA ranking. The Buckeyes as a team were ranked seventh in scoring, averaging 13.13 goals per game. The Scarlet and Gray ranked 12th in scoring margin, averaging 4.07 more goals per game than their opponents. Ohio State also was ranked 25th in scoring defense, allowing only 9.07 goals per game. The 1999 season was marked by milestones. On April 10, against Ohio University, head coach Sue Stimmel earned her 100th career victory. Postseason awards were earned for the first time in program history. Miranda James was named a Mid-Atlantic Regional second-team All-American for her defensive efforts. Throughout the season the Buckeyes broke 11 team and individual records.
