March 10, 2018
By Matt Paras
BLACKSBURG, Virginia – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team (5-2, 1-1) is on the road again, traveling to Blacksburg this weekend for a conference matchup. The No. 15/17 Irish will take on No. 24 Virginia Tech (4-3, 1-0) on Sunday at 1 pm ET.
DATE: March 11, 2018
TIME: 1 p.m. (ET)
LOCATION: Indoor Practice Facility (Blacksburg, Va.)
BROADCAST: ACC Network Extra
LIVE STATS: VT Live Stats
TWITTER: @NDWomensLax
Notre Dame is hoping to continue its winning streak, as they head into Sunday’s game winners in their last three games. The Irish picked up their first conference win last weekend at Louisville and are 3-0 on the road this season.
Last Time Out
The Irish faced Louisville last Sunday and after giving up two of the first three goals, the Irish defense clamped down and responded with a run of their own. Notre Dame scored seven of the next eight goals in the half to take an 8-3 lead into the break. The Irish held Louisville scoreless for a span of 18:50 during the 7-1 run to end the half.
In the second half, the Irish extended their lead to 10-4 in the opening five minutes but the Cardinals had an answer in them. They responded with five-straight goals to cut the deficit to 10-9 with 16 minutes remaining in the game.
Similar to the Marquette game, the Irish were able to respond with the final run of the game. Neither team scored over the next seven minutes of play until Maddie Howe broke through for her third goal of the afternoon. The Irish went on to score the final four goals of the game and clinched a 14-9 conference win.
The Irish freshmen were on top of their game as Howe led the way with six points on the afternoon (4 goals, 2 assists). She tied Savannah Buchanan and Andie Aldave for the most points scored in a game this season. Katie Enrietto recorded her second hat trick of the season and Aldave had a team-high six draw controls. It was the sixth game this season with five or more draws for Aldave, who leads the team with 52 on the year.
Scouting the Hokies
Virginia Tech enters Sunday’s game with a 4-3 overall record and 1-0 in conference play. The Hokies are coming off a strong performance on the road, defeating No. 16 Denver 11-5 to snap their 10-game home win streak. The Hokies have one common opponent with the Irish this season. They opened the season against USC, dropping the opener 11-5 to the Trojans. Virginia Tech picked up its conference win with a 17-14 home win over No. 10 Duke on Feb. 24.
Notre Dame and Virginia Tech will meet for the ninth time on Sunday with the Irish holding an 8-0 all-time advantage. The Irish defeated the Hokies 13-9 last season on Senior Day. The Irish seniors accounted for 15 of the 20 points scored that afternoon. The two teams last met in Blacksburg on March 8, 2016, and the Irish won that matchup 19-10.
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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.