NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Bridget Deehan matched her career-high with 14 saves and Maddie Howe collected a hat trick, but No. 4 Notre Dame dropped an 11-10 nailbiter to top-ranked North Carolina on Saturday afternoon at Arlotta Stadium.
Eleven of Deehan’s 14 saves, including numerous point-blank stops, came in the opening half to anchor the Irish defense.
Jackie Wolak scored twice for the Irish while Kasey Choma, Madison Ahern, Samantha Lynch, Madison Mote and Hannah Dorney also netted goals for Notre Dame.
Defensively, Kelly Donnelly racked up a game-high three caused turnovers to go with a pair of ground balls. Deehan also earned five ground balls to go with her 14 stops.
As a team, Notre Dame went 20-for-20 on clears and earned a 16-9 advantage in ground balls.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After the Tar Heels took a 5-1 lead to open play, the Irish answered with a 6-1 run to close the half and lead 7-6 at the break.
The run included two goals by Wolak, including one just before the buzzer, and markers from Lynch, Ahern, Choma and Howe.
Deehan, who was spectacular all day, made 11 saves in the first-half to keep the Irish within striking distance and eventually propel Notre Dame to the one-goal halftime lead.
The Tar Heels scored the first three goals of the second half before Howe netted back-to-back goals to even the score at 9-9 with 14:10 remaining.
Mote evened the score again at 10-all with 8:33 to play, but North Carolina scored the eventual game-winner with 7:11 remaining.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Bridget Deehan matched her career-high with 14 saves for the second straight contest.
- Deehan has racked up 40 saves in her last three outings with a combined .571 save percentage, all against top-10 ACC opponents.
- Samantha Lynch is up to a team-high 27 goals and 33 points in nine games.
- The contest was a culmination of NDWLAX’s seventh annual Daughters For Dads campaign to raise funds for cancer research.
UP NEXT
- #4 Notre Dame (6-3, 3-3 ACC) heads back on the road this week for a pair of matchups at No. 5 Boston College.
- The Irish and Eagles meet first this Thursday (April 15) at 5 p.m. in a contest that will be televised on ACC Network.
- Game two between Notre Dame and Boston College is set for Saturday (April 17) at 11 a.m. and that tilt will be streamed via ACC Network Extra.
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