SOUTH BEND, Ind.- The No. 12 Fighting Irish are on the road again as they travel to take on the No. 2 ranked Syracuse Orange.
#12 NOTRE DAME vs. #2 Syracuse
Date/Time: Saturday, March 11 — 12:00 p.m.
Location: Syracuse, NY
Live Stream: ACCN
Live Stats: Click Here
Twitter Updates: @NDWomensLax
For a more in-depth look at the matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame
FOR STARTERS
- The No. 12 Irish will pack up and travel to take on No. 2 Syracuse iat the JMA Wireless Dome.
- Live stats will be available for the contest as well as a the game being aired on the ACC Network.
- The attacking trio of Choma, Ahern, and Wolak combine for 67 of the 115 Irish points.
- While the draw count was even at 12 a piece, the Irish held the national leader in draw controls, Maddie Jenner, to only four in the matchup against Duke.
THE NOTRE DAME- SYRACUSE SERIES
- The Irish and Orange will be meeting for the 30th time on Saturday. The Orange hold the advantage in the series and specifially a 11-2 mark at home.
- In the last outing, the Irish battled back from a 6-2 deficit to send the game to overtime.
- Madison Ahern tied her career high with six goals and led the team in the last matchup with Syracuse.
- Choma led the team with six draw controls in the game.
IN THE POLLS
- Notre Dame now sits at No. 12 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, #5 Boston College, #9 Virginia, and #13 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 67 points.
- Wolak and Choma are both ranked in the top ten in the ACC for goals per game
- Wolak is ranked second in the ACC for points per game (5.20).
- Denes is ranked fourth in the ACC for draw controls per game tallying 6.40.
- 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 67 points.
- Choma leads the Irish with 17 goals and four assists, Wolak has 16 goals and 10 assists, and Ahern has 14 goals and six assists.
- Wolak leads the team in points with 26, while Choma has 21 and Ahern has 20.
- Choma now has tallied four hat tricks in the 2023 season and Wolak has tallied three in a row.
- Choma, Ahern, and Wolak have all been named to the 2023 Tewaaraton Watchlist.
- 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 in the top ten in the ACC for assists per game (2.00) and ranks in the top thirty five nationally.
- Choma ranks in the top thirty five nationally for goals with 17.
- Ahern ranks in the top five nationally for free position goals.
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 fifth in the conference in caused turnovers per game (1.60) and leads the Irish with eight on the season.
- The Irish have held four of their five opponents to single digits.
- Emma Schettig won ACC Defensive Player of the Week after helping the Notre Dame defense hold Duke to just six goals.
- The Fighting Irish defense has been one of the top units in the country in 2023, holding opponents to just 8.0 goals per game, ranking in the top 10 in the country.
- Notre Dame has caused havoc on defense, averaging 11.2 caused turnovers per game, a mark that leads the ACC and ranks eighth in the nation.
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 15 in the country in both goals-against average (7.79) and save percentage (.519)
- 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. 3 in the country in draw control percentage (.640) and No. 6 in draw controls per game 18.00.
- Kelley Denes leads the Irish in draws per game (6.40) and is the primary player used at the draw for the Irish. She ranks in the top 20 nationally for draw controls per game.
- The Irish draw control unit held the nations leader on the draw circle to only four draw controls in their matchup against Duke.
- The Irish currently have won the draw control battle on the season by a margin of 90-49.