SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 12 Notre Dame Fighting Irish turned in a complete performance on Sunday afternoon, defeating Liberty 19-8 inside Loftus Sports Center to improve to 6-2 on the season.
Madison Ahern had one of her best games of her career, scoring six goals and adding two assists to tie her career-high for points in a game with eight. Ahern’s six goals tie her career high for goals in a game.
Kasey Choma and Abby Maichin each added hat tricks of their own as they both finished with three goals.
Jackie Wolak was dealing as a distributor, tying her career high in assists with five while adding an assist to tie her season high in points with six.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish scored the opener within the first minute of play, as Ahern found the back of the net to make it 1-0. After Liberty leveled the score at 1-1 the Irish reeled off four straight goals in a little over a two-minute stretch to open up a 5-1 advantage early. Notre Dame finished the quarter by scoring two of the final three goals to make it 7-2 after 15 minutes of action.
Notre Dame dominated the second quarter, outscoring the visitors 8-1 to open up a 15-3 lead at the halftime break. Ahern, Maichin and Choma each scored twice in the period to pace the attack.
Liberty managed to score the first goal of the third before the Irish found the back of the net four times courtesy of two Ahern goals and scores from Maichin and Mary Kelly Doherty to make the score 19-4.
The Eagles scored four goals in the fourth quarter to make the final score 19-8.
STAT OF THE GAME
Notre Dame dominated the draw, winning 24-of-31 attempts in the game. Kelly Denes led the Irish in draws, collecting eight draws in the game and Ali McHugh added six.
NOTRE DAME NOTES
- The victory moves Notre Dame’s record against Liberty to 5-0 in the all-time series.
- The Irish defense has held six of its eight opponents to single-digit goal totals during the 2023 campaign.
- Nine different Irish players scored a goal in the win.
- Ahern tied her career high for points in a game with eight off six goals and two assists, matching the mark she recorded in a win over Jacksonville during the 2022 season.
- Wolak (41), Choma (34) and Ahern (32) each have more than 30 points on the season.
- Choma now has a team-high six hat tricks on the season.
- Maichin recorded the first hat trick of her career with three goals.
- Wolak has recorded five assists in a game twice this season and leads the team with 22 on the year.
UP NEXT
The Irish travel east to take on Virginia in a ranked ACC showdown at Klockner Stadium. The game is slated to start at noon ET on Saturday, March 25 and will air on ACCN.