Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Jillian Byers had four goals and two assists, including her 100th point of the season, to lead No. 6 Notre Dame to a second half comeback in an 11-9 triumph over No. 19 Cornell on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red ends its 2009 campaign with a 9-7 record, while the Fighting Irish enter the NCAA tournament with a 15-4 record.

Cornell led 6-3 at halftime and extended the lead to four early in the second half, but the powerful Notre Dame offense came alive to help the visitors to the victory. Junior Kristen Reese held the Fighting Irish at bay most of the day, recording 13 saves, including eight in the first half. She added five ground balls in an active performance throughout. Sophomore Libby Johnson had two goals and an assist to pace the Cornell offense, while senior Jessica Wiegand and freshman Shannon McHugh each tallied a pair of scores.

Besides Byers' six points, Notre Dame got two goals and two assists from high-scoring Gina Scioscia, as well as a pair of scores from Kailene Abt and two assists from Maggie Tamasitis. Erin Goodman made four saves, with three coming in the decisive second half. Notre Dame held advantages in shots (32-18), ground balls (25-21) and draw controls (13-9).

Cornell controlled the tempo throughout the first half, as Notre Dame scored two of its three goals in unsettled situations, while three of the Big Red's scores came on fantastic finishes after good looks near the crease. The difference, however, was Reese. The junior made eight saves, including several of the highlight variety, and also won possession with three ground balls. 

Cornell scored three times to open the game and held the vaunted Fighting Irish offense off the board for the first 19:10 of the game before Kaitlin Keena tallied her 18th score of the season to cut it to 3-1. Tissy O'Connor got Cornell on the board at the 25:46 mark on a great find by Libby Johnson to go up 1-0. Five minutes later senior Halsey Diakow hit Shannon McHugh for her 19th goal of the year to extend the lead to 2-0, then saw the advantage grow to 3-0 midway through the period as Katie Kirk scored on an eight-meter shot.

Keena and Kailene Abt each found the back of the net, but Cornell answered each time to get the lead back to three. Olivia Knotts and Shannon McHugh each tallied. Byers finally got on the board with her first point of the game, answering a McHugh goal at 6:20 with one of ther own 11 seconds later on a feed from Scioscia, Byers' 71st goal of the year. Wiegand ended the half by giving the Big Red some momentum with her score at 3:20 to cap the half.

The Big Red opened the second half with a goal from Johnson less than two minutes into the half to extend the lead to 7-3, but then Notre Dame came to life. Byers scored an unassisted goal two minutes later to ignite an 8-1 run by the visitors that featured three goals and two assists from the senior. Her final goal of the night, an unassisted tally wuth 7:53 left, pushed the Notre Dame lead to two (10-8), and the home team was unable to cut into the lead further the rest of the way. Johnson scored the final goal of the game with 2:01 left to play to make the final 11-9.