SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The No. 6 Irish women’s lacrosse team made a statement Saturday afternoon at Arlotta Stadium, welcoming No. 23 Duke to South Bend for a top-25 showdown. After allowing the first game of the contest, the Irish rolled to a 19-7 victory as the team honored its senior class.
Prior to first draw, the Irish recognized the 17 members of its senior and graduate classes, seven of which went on to score in the contest.
The Irish forced a turnover on the opening Duke possession as Keelin Schlageter intercepted a pass to transition play to the other end of the field. Schlageter then drew a foul but was unable to convert as her shot was saved in the crease to give the Blue Devils the possession back.
Duke scored on the following possession to take the 1-0 lead early.
The Irish got their scoring started with a goal from Abby Maichin with 10:59 to play in the opening frame to draw even with the Blue Devils, 1-1.
A pair of draw controls won by MK Doherty resulted in the Irish jumping out to a 3-1 lead, with three goals in 2:11 of play to force Duke to call timeout. Madison Ahern gave the Irish the lead less than a minute following the Maichin goal, picking up a pass from Kasey Choma to find the back of the net before Jackie Wolak walked in all alone after retrieving the ball behind the cage to make it 3-1 with 8:48 left in the first quarter.
The Irish scoring streak continued following a caused turnover in the defensive end by Grace Weigand. Tierney capitalized on the change of possession, giving the Irish the 4-1 lead before Choma scored her first of the game to stretch the scoring streak to five unanswered goals.
The Irish looked to have taken the 6-1 lead after a behind the back goal from MK Doherty but the goal was called off and after a lengthy review, upheld.
Duke answered with a foul against the Irish called as the shot clock stood at one second. The Blue Devils took advantage of the free position attempt, firing a shot low and beating Lilly Callahan in the crease to make it a 5-2 game.
Doherty won the draw control after the Blue Devils’ goal, eventually feeding a pass to Wolak out front to reclaim the four-goal Irish lead. The Irish took the 6-2 lead into the first quarter break as Wolak tallied the final goal of the opening 15 minutes of play.
Ahern scored her second goal of the game to make it a 7-2 contest just over two minutes into the second quarter.
A free position attempt on the Irish end ricocheted off the cross bar and the Blue Devils took the ball the other way and beat Callahan with a behind-the-back shot to make it 7-3.
Wolak’s hat trick goal gave the Irish the 8-3 lead with 8:12 to play in the second quarter before Doherty scored an uncontested goal to give the Irish their largest lead of the day, up six goals with 4:28 to play in the half.
Tierney extended the Irish lead to give the home team double-digits on the day before Choma fired her second of the day into the net to make it 11-3 late in the half.
With a free position shot just 55 seconds into the second half, Choma gave the Irish the the 12-3 lead and a hat trick for the graduate midfielder.
Doherty and Ahern continued the Irish scoring to start the half as the Irish forced the running clock just under five minutes into the third quarter.
The Irish kept the momentum going through the final 25 minutes, with the Irish taking the 15-3 lead off goals from Ahern and Tierney before Duke found an answer with two of their own late in the third quarter.
Abby Maichin fired a no-look shot on net as she fell to the ground, beating the Duke goalkeeper and making it a 16-5 game with 61 seconds to go in the frame.
The Irish captured three more goals in the fourth quarter before the final horn sounded, ultimately defeating the visiting Blue Devils, 19-7.
Lilly Callahan finished the day with four saves to hit 250 career stops and improve to 11-2 on the season.
KEY STATS
- With her fourth and final save of the day, Lilly Callahan eclipsed 250 career stops in the Irish crease. With the milestone, she became just the eighth individual to reach 250 saves and currently sits in eighth all-time in program history.
- The graduating classes accounted for 29 of the team’s 30 points Saturday afternoon, with freshman Kathryn Morrissey recording the lone point by an underclassman.
- Arden Tierney’s six points off three goals and three assists, the graduate attacker recorded her career-best with the Irish and third consecutive hat trick.
- Kasey Choma also had six points on the day, tying her season high.
- The Irish finished the day with the 20-9 edge at the draw control, with Kelly Denes recording 11 herself for a team-best.
- One of the strongest defensive teams in the nation, the Irish caused 11 turnovers on the afternoon, led by Ali McHugh, Olivia Dooley and Kelly Denes with two each.
- With the win, head coach Christine Halfpenny becomes the winningest coach in program history, surpassing former coach Tracy Coyne, with 148 career wins at Notre Dame.
UP NEXT
The Irish return to the road to close out the regular season with three consecutive contests away from home. The team first heads to Virginia to face Liberty (April 11) and Virginia Tech (April 13) before rounding out the regular season at Louisville on April 18.