SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Twelve different goal scorers helped the #5/#7 Irish open their season with a 24-5 victory over Central Michigan on Friday night inside Loftus Sports Center.
Madison Ahern netted a career high of six goals in the contest. Following right behind her was Maddie Howe with four goals and an assist. Howe now has 203 career points and is now seventh in the program for career points.
Jane McAvoy, Ava Kristynik, and Mary Kelly Doherty each registered their first collegiate career goal with the Irish. Kasey Choma and Keelin Schlageter each recorded one goal while Choma led the team with six draw controls.
Bridget Deehan tallied two saves while in goal. Lilly Callahan and Isabel Pithie each saw action in the second half of the game. Callahan registered two saves during the contest while Pithie registered one.
As a team, the Irish went 9-9 on clears, and had 14 caused turnovers. They held an 18-11 draw control advantage.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish opened the contest with the first six goals of the game and kept the Chippewas off the board. The Irish got tallies from Field, Denes, Ahern (2), Howe, and Doherty during the 6-0 run. Deehan stopped two shots during the first quarter and the Irish defense caused eight turnovers in the frame.
Notre Dame continued to go unanswered during the second quarter when Ahern (3), Denes, Howe (2), Choma, Mote, McAvoy, and Wolak all contributed to the 10-0 run. The Irish went into halftime up 16-0.
The second half of the contest was dominated by the Irish when they scored seven more goals in the third quarter. Goals from Field, Ahern, Denes, Howe, Kristynik, Schlageter, and Wolak propelled the Irish to a 23-0 third quarter run.
The fourth quarter saw action from Callahan and Pithie in goal. Callahan made two saves and Pithie tallied one during the game. Central Michigan found its way onto the scoreboard when they tallied five goals, but did not go unanswered when Carr tallied the last Irish goal for the 24-5 win.
Coach Halfpenny on returning to action:
“A great home opener for the Irish, I am really excited about the first impression that the team put out there. Everything we have been practicing we saw in every area of our game. The group effort we have and that group unit is something that we are excited to build off of after this first game.”
Maddie Howe on returning to action:
“We are just excited to be back to normal, COVID things are lifting and we have the chance to bond, and I think tonight was such a great showing of that. Everyone scoring, everyone participating, everyone getting time, I think just really shows how deep we are this year.”
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Madison Ahern made her career-high with six goals.
- Maddie Howe made her 200th point and is now seventh in program history for career points.
- 13 players tallied points in the 24-5 win over Central Michigan.
- Notre Dame kept Central Michigan off the board until 12:04 in the fourth quarter.
- The Irish scoring 25 goals ranks second for most goals scored at a home game.
- Notre Dame improves to 18-1 in home games dating back to March 24, 2018.
- The Irish move to 22-4 all-time in season-opening games.
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