SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The #17 Fighting Irish hosted the Northwestern Wildcats in a midweek matchup on Wednesday night. Notre Dame ultimately fell to the Wildcats in an intense 17-16 contest.
Kasey Choma led the team with four goals, and Maddie Howe, Jackie Wolak, and Kelly Denes all tallied three goals each. Madison Mote and Cailin Field each tallied a goal.
Diana Kelly led the team with five draw controls and Hannah Dorney led with five caused turnovers. Bridget Deehan tallied 10 saves during the contest.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish opened the contest with an immediate goal from Kelly Denes to put the Notre Dame in the lead. It continued when Maddie Howe found the back of the net to notch the second goal of the game. The Wildcats would eventually score four goals to take the lead at the end of the first quarter, 5-2.
The second quarter would open with the Irish getting on the board first when Denes scored her second goal of the game. Cailin Field would tally herself a goal as well after Northwestern added two to their total. The Irish kept fighting and added three more goals from Mary Kelly Doherty, Kasey Choma and Jackie Wolak. The Irish went into halftime within two goals of the Wildcats, 9-7.
Notre Dame came out of halftime swinging when they scored first on a goal from Choma. Only two minutes later, Choma would score another goal on a woman-up situation. Maddie Howe and Madison Mote would add to the Irish score but the remainder of the quarter would go back and forth as the Irish and Wildcats would trade points for an eventual quarter score of 14-11.
The fourth quarter saw the Wildcats get on the board first with two goals, increasing their lead 16-11. Choma would put the Irish on the board during the fourth quarter when she scored on a free position attempt at 8:09. The Irish would continue an offensive burst with goals from Choma and back to back goals from Wolak to close the gap and bring the score to 16-14. Denes scored on an assist from Mote to bring the game within one with three and half minutes remaining. Howe would score one more for the Irish but the Wildcats would score one more time to time to bring the game to the eventual final score of 17-16.
The Irish stay at home when they host Syracuse on February 26. Live stats will be available and the contest will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
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