March 3, 2018
By Matt Paras
NOTRE DAME, Indiana – Following a win against Marquette to close their home stand, the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team (4-2) heads on the road for a three-game road swing. Notre Dame’s first stop will be in Louisville (5-1) this weekend and the Irish are looking to claim their first conference win of the season.
DATE: March 4, 2018
TIME: 1 p.m. (ET)
LOCATION: UofL Lacrosse Stadium (Louisville, Ky.)
LIVE STATS: Louisville Live Stats
TWITTER: @NDWomensLax
Last Time Out
The Irish faced Marquette this past Wednesday to end their three-game home stand and did not wait long to get the scoring going. The Irish scored the first four goals of the contest, with two coming from Andie Aldave and the other two from Nikki Ortega and Savannah Buchanan.
Following Marquette’s first goal, the Irish scored two more from Aldave and Molly Cobb. Aldave recorded her hat trick in the first 15 minutes of the game. Notre Dame held a 4-2 advantage over the final 15 minutes of the half and took a 10-3 lead into the break.
Marquette pushed back in the second half, scoring five of the first seven goals but the Irish answered when they needed to. Buchanan found Aldave for her fifth goal of the game in the final two minutes to seal the 15-10 win.
Cobb and Abi Cullinan joined Aldave with hat tricks on the night. Tewaaraton Watch List nominee Samantha Giacolone had a superb game in the cage for the Irish. She made 12 saves on 21 shots and scooped up a career-high seven ground balls. It was her third game this season with 10 or more saves.
Scouting the Cardinals
Louisville enters Sunday’s game with a 5-1 record on the year and it will be their first ACC contest of the season. The Cards have won three straight games heading into Sunday, including a 17-15 mid-week win over Vanderbilt on Tuesday. Freshman Caroline Blalock is leading the way for Louisville with 16 goals this year.
Notre Dame holds an 8-2 all-time record against Louisville. Last season in South Bend, the Irish defeated the Cardinals 9-7 to win their seventh-straight game. The Irish were trailing 6-2 early on but turned the tide in the second half. Notre Dame held the Cards to just two goals in the final 30 minutes to claim the win.
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Matt Paras, athletics communications assistant director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since January 2018. In his role, he coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse and cross country/track & field programs. A native of Warwick, Rhode Island, Paras is a graduate of the University of Louisville where he completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Sport Administration. Prior to arriving at Notre Dame, he worked at Vanderbilt University as the sports information contact for the women’s soccer and lacrosse programs.