LOUISVILLE – The No. 18 Fighting Irish clinched the No. 5 seed in the upcoming ACC Championship with a comeback 15-14 road win at Louisville on Saturday afternoon to close the regular season.
Kasey Choma turned in one of the best performances of her career to lead the Irish attack, matching her season high in goals with five. Maddie Howe also recorded a hat trick with three goals, including the winner late in the fourth quarter.
Bridget Deehan was masterful in net, making 16 saves to spark the Irish.
Notre Dame will host No. 4 Duke in the ACC Championship quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. ET on Friday, April 29 at Arlotta Stadium. All games of the ACC Championship will air on ACCN.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish jumped out to an early 2-1 lead off two goals from Choma with just under seven minutes left in the first frame. The hosts responded with a six-goal run to take a 7-2 lead after the opening minute of the second quarter.
The two sides traded goals over the next seven minutes of action, with the score moving to 9-4 but then Notre Dame finished the opening half strong. The Irish duo of Choma and Howe each scored twice in the last seven minutes to spur a 4-1 run that trimmed the Cardinals’ lead to 10-8 at the halftime break.
Louisville scored two of the first three goals of the third stanza to push its lead to 12-9 with 11:30 left in the quarter. The Irish roared back by pouring in four straight goals to take its first lead since early in the game at 13-12. Madison Mote scored the go-ahead goal, sprinting from midfield to the front of the crease before finishing for her first of the day.
The fourth quarter was heavily contested, with Louisville evening the score just over five minutes into the final frame at 13-13 before Choma scored on a perfectly executed cut off the feed from Ahern just 40 seconds later.
The Cardinals refused to go away, once again tying the game at 14-14 with 7:47 left.
However, the Irish would not be denied, as a Deehan save and outlet led to a Notre Dame transition opportunity. Howe was found on the end of the fastbreak and the attacker made no mistake with the finish, which ended up being the game-winning score, to give the Irish a 15-14 lead. Notre Dame’s defense held strong for the final two minutes to deliver the Irish the big road victory.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will host No. 4 Duke in the ACC Championship quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. ET on Friday, April 29 at Arlotta Stadium. All games of the ACC Championship will air on ACCN.
— ND —