Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Game 5 Preview: #11 Duke

SOUTH BEND, Ind.- The No. 13 Fighting Irish are on the road again as they travel to the Crown Classic in Charlotte, North Carolina to take on the No. 11 Duke Blue Devils. The pair will be meeting up for the 24th time and for the fourth time in a neutral site matchup.

#13 NOTRE DAME vs. #11 DUKE

Date/Time: Saturday, March 4 — 1:30 p.m.

Location:American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, NC.

Live Stream: ACCNX

Live Stats: Click Here

Twitter Updates: @NDWomensLax

For a more in-depth look at the matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame

FOR STARTERS

  • The No. 13 Irish will pack up and travel to take on No. 11 Duke in the Crown Classic Tournament in Charlotte, NC.
  • Live stats will be available for the contest as well as a live stream through ACCNX.
  • The attacking trio of  Choma, Ahern, and Wolak combine for 53 of the 99  Irish points.
  • The Irish dominated on the draw circle again winning by a margin of 16-8 over the Tigers in their last game. Denes led the Irish on the draw circle with seven draw controls.
  • Mary Kelly Doherty leads the conference in caused turnovers per game averaging 2.00 per game.

THE NOTRE DAME- DUKE SERIES

  • The Irish and Blue Devils will be meeting for the 24th time on Saturday. The Irish hold the advantage in neutral site games, 2-1.
  • The pair last met in the 2022 ACC Tournament where the Irished downed the Blue Devils 19-11.
  • Jackie Wolak finished the day with eight points, establishing a new career high, and tied the program record with most assists in a home game (6) in the last meeting
  • Ahern led the team with five goals, while Mary Kelly Doherty led the team in draw controls with seven
  • Kelley Denes tallied six draw controls during the contest.

IN THE POLLS

  • Notre Dame now sits at No. 13 in the ILWomen/IWLCA weekly poll after week three.
  • Five other ACC programs are currently ranked in the top-25 according to the  IL Women/IWLCA Preseason Poll, including #1 North Carolina, #2 Syracuse, #4 Boston College, #10 Virginia, and #11 Duke. 

BALANCED ATTACK

  • The Irish return 3 of the 4 top scorers from the 2022 season in Kasey Choma, Madison Ahern, Jackie Wolak.
  • The top scorers were assisted by Kelly Denes who won 100 draw controls and tallied 14 goals of her own.
  • Choma, Ahern, and Wolak lead the Irish in points combining for 53 points.
  • Wolak and Choma are both ranked in the top ten in the ACC for goals per game
  • Wolak is ranked fourth in the ACC for points per game (5.25). 
  • Denes is ranked fourth in the ACC for draw controls per game tallying  7.25.
  • Fourteen different players have scored at least one goal this season with 12 having found the back of the net multiple times.

THREE HEADED MONSTER

  • The attacking trio of Choma, Ahern, and Wolak are combining for 53 points.
  • Choma leads the Irish with 15  goals, Wolak has 12 goals and nine assists, and Ahern has eight goals and six assists.
  • Wolak leads the team in points with 21, while Choma has 18 and Ahern has 14.
  • Choma  now has tallied a hat trick in every game of the 2023 season and Wolak has tallied two in a row.
  • Choma, Ahern and Wolak combined for 15 points in the win over Central Michigan (02/18/23).
  • They also combined for 14 assists leading to eleven different goal scorers over Central Michigan.
  •  Wolak ranks fifth  for assists per game (2.25) and ranks in the top twenty nationally.
  • Choma ranks in the top twenty nationally for goals with 15.

DEFENSE ON DEMAND

  • The Irish held the nation’s top scoring offense to just nine goals, which is more than 12 below Clemson’s season average. 
  • Notre Dame is the first team this season to hold the Tiger attack under a double-digit goal total in a game.
  • Mary Kelly Doherty is ranked second in the conference in caused turnovers per game (2.00) and leads the Irish with eight on the season. 

CALLAHAN in the Crease

  • Callahan made her first double-digit save performance of her career, finishing with 15 saves against Northwestern. This also established a new career high in saves for her.
  • Ranks in the top 25 in the country in both goals-against average (8.27) and save percentage (.516)
  • Lilly Callahan earned her first career win in her first career start while holding the San Diego State attack to just two goals .
  • The two goals Callahan allowed marked the lowest scoring output in SDSU program history, which dates back to the 2012 season. 

DOMINATING THE DRAW

  • The Irish have won the draw control battle in all their games this season.
  • Notre Dame currently ranks No. 2 in the country in draw control percentage (.678) and No. 4 in draw controls per game 19.50.
  • Kelley Denes leads the Irish in draws per game (7.25) and is the primary player used at the draw for the Irish.
  • The Irish currently have won the draw control battle on the season by a margin of 78-37.