MACON, Ga. — The University of Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team started off battling with the Bears of Mercer on the road Sunday as the two teams found themselves deadlocked early in the contest. Including a 3-3 tie through 15 minutes of play. After allowing the Bears to tie it up 4-4 in the early stages of the second quarter, the Irish burst out to a 16-2 scoring spurt to capture the 20-6 road victory and improve to 9-2 on the season.
Kelly Denes won the opening draw but a shot by Madison Ahern was saved and transitional play ensued with the Bears ultimately capitalizing to take the early 1-0 lead just 55 seconds in.
The Irish drew even with the Bears off a free position goal from Keelin Schlageter to make it a 1-1 game just minutes into the contest Sunday afternoon.
A free position was awarded on the other end of the field after a stout defensive effort from both squads forced a pair of turnovers. Mercer took advantage of the attempt, burying a shot behind Lilly Callahan in the cage to take the 2-1 lead with just 4:02 elapsed in play.
Denes won the following draw control to give the Irish the early edge at the circle with three draw controls on four chances. MK Doherty took advantage of the Irish possession and made it a 2-2 game still in the early stages of the first quarter.
A pair of saves from Callahan, including one on the free position, kept the game tied late in the opening quarter before Kelly Denes gave the Irish their first lead of the afternoon, splitting defenders and finding the back of the net for the 3-2 score with 3:36 left in the first frame.
Mercer eventually tied it back up with a free position goal in the final two minutes of the quarter, making it a 3-3 game with 1:38 to play in the stanza.
After 15 minutes of play the Irish were all tied up with the Bears, 3-3, despite outshooting the home team with a 10-5 shots on goal margin.
Kasey Choma broke the deadlock with her first goal of the game, and the first of the quarter, when Ahern found her fellow captain rushing in on the goal and flipped a quick pass over to the midfielder for the 4-3 score.
The Bears evened the score again with a free position goal to make it a 4-4 game just over four minutes into the second quarter.
Arden Tierney scored her first of the afternoon, and seventh of the season, to make it a 5-4 game in favor of the Irish with just over 10 minutes to play in the half.
The Irish took the 6-4 lead off a free position attempt when Jackie Wolak found Meghan O’Hare enclosing on the goal out front for her first of the day. Beating both defenders after receiving the Wolak pass, O’Hare gave the Irish their largest lead of the day to that point.
Notre Dame’s scoring streak continued with Madison Ahern dancing through multiple defenders before firing a shot past the Mercer goalkeeper to give her Irish the 7-4 lead.
The Irish closed out the first half on the three-goal scoring streak to take the 7-4 lead into the halftime break after Callahan made two saves late in the frame to keep it a three-goal game.
Notre Dame started the second half with the ball after a late foul against the Bears to end the first half. Kasey Choma took advantage of the powerplay opportunity burying a shot on the free position to double up the lead on Mercer, 8-4, just 54 seconds in.
O’Hare won the first draw control of the half, giving the Irish another shot on the offensive side of the ball where Tierney soon scored her second of the day to give the Irish a 9-4 lead nearly 25 seconds after Choma’s goal.
Mercer eventually capitalized on a long possession in the Irish defensive end to snap the scoring streak at five consecutive goals for the Blue and Gold. The goal came with 7:26 to play in the frame and was their first of the half.
Kathryn Morrissey answered with a shot about six meters from the mouth of the cage, beating the Mercer goalkeeper in the top corner to make it 10-5 in favor of the visitors.
A trio of graduate students extended the Irish lead in the third quarter with Ahern, Wolak and Tierney each finding the goal mouth on consecutive possessions to give Notre Dame the 13-5 lead late in the third quarter.
Ahern scored her third of the day to give the Irish the 14-5 lead with just 35 seconds left in the third quarter.
The Irish took the nine-goal lead into the final quarter of regulation after outscoring their opponent 7-1 in the third frame as they jumped out to the 14-5 lead through 45 minutes played.
Choma scored her third of the day to give the Irish a running clock advantage with a shot off the free position and marked the third Irish player to record a hat trick in the contest.
Wolak followed it up with her second goal of the day just moments later to give Notre Dame the 11-goal differential early in the fourth quarter as the Irish took the 16-5 lead.
The Bears got one back with 8:35 to play in the final quarter, making it 16-6 in favor of the Irish.
Schlager scored her second and third goals of the contest to extend the Irish lead and mark her first career hat trick when she gave Notre Dame the 18-6 edge.
Angie Conley scored her first of the day after subbing in late before Kate Timarky capped off the afternoon with her fifth goal of the season to give Notre Dame their fourth 20-goal game of the season.
Callahan ended the day with her third consecutive 10-save performance as she improved to 9-2 on the season and marked a .625 save percentage.
KEY STATS
- With her three goals on the day, Arden Tierney tallied her first career hat trick in an Irish jersey Sunday afternoon.
- After recording her hat trick goal late in the third quarter Sunday, Madison Ahern improved to 29 goals on the season and posted her seventh three-plus goal performance of the season.
- Four Irish individuals boasted hat trick performances in the win, with a pair notching their first three-goal games ever with the Irish. Tierney was first to hit three goals on the day before Ahern and Choma joined their fellow graduate student with three goals. Keelin Schlageter set a career best in goals her a pair of goals late in the contest to go with her opening goal to mark three on the day, a first for the senior.
- The Irish held the edge at the draw circle, 22-5, with Meghan O’Hare leading the team with seven total. A staple at the draw circle, Kelly Denes started the game at the dot and boasted six draw control wins while MK Doherty had five.
- Olivia Dooley wreaked havoc on defense Sunday, causing four turnovers in the contest for a team best and scooped up two ground balls in the win. Jackie Wolak ranked second on the team in caused turnovers, forcing three on the day as the team combined for 12 total caused turnovers.
- With 10 saves in the cage, Lilly Callahan recorded her third-best save percentage of the season and had her third-consecutive 10-plus save count.
- Posting three points in the contest off two goals and an assist, Wolak eclipsed 50 points on the season and owns 34 goals thus far in 2024.
- With three ground ball recoveries on the day, Kasey Choma led the team in the category.
- After being tied early in the second quarter, the Irish went on to outscore the opposition 16-2 as they captured the 20-6 final and improved to 9-2 on the season.
- With 20 goals, coming from 11 different individuals, the Irish eclipsed the 20-goal mark for the fourth time this season.
- Four rookies scored in the Sunday afternoon contest at Mercer, with Kathryn Morrissey leading all freshmen scoring with a goal and an assist.
UP NEXT
The Irish return home to close out March when they host Pitt on Saturday, March 30 at 11am. The game will serve as their Daughters 4 Dads contest, an initiative founded in 2015 to support cancer research.