SOUTH BEND, Ind.- The No. 12 Fighting Irish are back at home to take on conference opponent Virginia Tech. The matchup will take place at Loftus Arena at Notre Dame.
#12 NOTRE DAME vs. Virginia Tech
Date/Time: Thursday, March 16 — 2:00 p.m.
Location: Notre Dame, Ind.
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. 12 Irish are back at Loftus to take on the Virginia Tech Hokies.
- Live stats will be available for the contest as well as a the game being aired on ACCNX
- The attacking trio of Choma, Ahern, and Wolak combine for 73 of the 128 Irish points.
THE NOTRE DAME- VIRGINIA TECH SERIES
- The Irish and Hokies will be meeting for the 14th time on Thursday. The Irish hold the advantage in the series 11-2.
- In the last outing, the Irish ultimately fell in a game down to the buzzer, 13-12.
- Kelly Denes led the Irish with seven draw controls along with Jackie Wolak (3) and Mary Kelly Doherty (2) leading the Irish in goals.
- Notre Dame featured seven different goal scorers in the last matchup.
IN THE POLLS
- Notre Dame is ranked No. 12 in this week’s ILWomen/IWLCA poll.
- Six 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, #15 Duke, and #24 Clemson.
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 73 points.
- Choma is currently ranked in the top ten in the ACC for goals per game (3.00)
- Wolak is ranked in the top five in the ACC for points per game (5.17) and assists per game (2.5).
- Denes is ranked fourth in the ACC for draw controls per game tallying 6.33.
- 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 73 points.
- Choma leads the Irish with 18 goals and four assists, Wolak has 16 goals and 15 assists, and Ahern has 14 goals and six assists.
- Wolak leads the team in points with 31, while Choma has 22 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 and nationally for assists per game (2.50).
- Ahern ranks in the top fifteen 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 and Keelin Schlageter are both ranked in the top ten in the conference in caused turnovers per game.
- The Irish have held four of their six 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.
- Notre Dame has caused havoc on defense, averaging 11 caused turnovers per game, a mark that ranks ninth 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 five of their six games this season.
- Notre Dame currently ranks No. 8 in the country in both draw control percentage (.618) and in draw controls per game 17.00.
- Kelley Denes leads the Irish in draws per game (6.33) 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 102-63.