Irish Take Down Duke, Move on to ACC Semifinals

SOUTH BEND, IND. – The #20 Fighting Irish took down the #7 Duke Blue Devils during the ACC Quarterfinals on Friday afternoon. The Irish downed the Blue Devils 19-11.

Jackie Wolak finished the day with eight points, establishing a new career high, and tied the program record with most assists in a home game (6). Ahern led the team in goals with five on the day. Choma and Howe each tallied four.

Mary Kelly Doherty led the Irish with seven draw controls and Kelly Denes tallied six. Bridget Deehan finished the day with 10 saves. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Irish came out with a boom when they went on an 8-2 run to open the first quarter. The first Irish goal came from Howe, followed by Choma, Dorney, Wolak and Ahern. Wolak assisted four of the eight Notre Dame goals. After Howe opened the scoring, 24 seconds later, Choma found the back of the net. Ahern made her way past the goalie, to immediately give the Irish a 3-0 lead. When the fourth Notre Dame goal came from Wolak, the Irish had a perfect shot percentage with four shots on four goals. They continued the streak with goals from Dorney and more from Choma and Ahern for an 8-2 lead after the first quarter.

Going into the second quarter Madison Mote found the back of the net continuing the Irish streak of nine shots, nine goals. Ahern tallied a hat trick when she found the back of the net on an extremely tight shot that snuck by the Duke goalkeeper. Ahern then continued the perfect shot streak with the Notre Dame eleventh goal for an 11-2 lead. Howe extended the Irish lead with another goal, before defender Diana Kelly scored her first goal of the season for a 13-5 lead. Choma added one more to the tally for a halftime score of 14-6.

Jackie Wolak opened the scoring for the Irish in the third quarter followed by Kelly Denes who gave Notre Dame their 10 goal lead. Howe then registered her hat trick when she found the back of the net for a 17-6 lead. Ahern and Howe scored the final two goals for Notre Dame for an eventual 19-11 final score.

The Irish move on to the ACC Semifinals where they will take on the North Carolina TarHeels. The game is scheduled for 1:00 pm on Sunday, May 1. The game will be aired on the ACC Network and live stats will be available.

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