NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Behind another strong defensive performance and goals from seven different players, the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team topped Louisville, 16-4, in its ACC opener this afternoon inside Loftus Sports Center.
An early 8-0 run fueled another dominant victory for the Irish as they remain undefeated, improving to 6-0 on the season and 1-0 in ACC play. The Cardinals fall to 1-5 overall and 0-1 in the ACC.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Notre Dame started off the contest on an 8-0 run in the first 20 minutes of play, led by a pair of goals from junior Andie Aldave and a hat trick from senior Samantha Lynch. Louisville scored their first goal with 8:34 left in the first half, but the Irish responded with two more tallies to give them a 10-1 lead heading into the intermission.
The Irish and the Cardinals traded the first six goals to open the second half, which gave Notre Dame a 13-4 lead with 16:46 left to play. The Irish then pulled away with three late goals to make the final score 16-4.
Aldave had six points (4G, 2A) and seven draw controls, and Lynch finished with five points (4G, 1A) to lead Notre Dame.
Sophomore Maddie Howe recorded a hat trick and junior Jessi Masinko added three assists to help power the Irish offense.
Freshman Mollie Carr added a pair of goals, and Savannah Buchanan, Katie Enrietto, and Nikki Ortega each recorded tallies to round out the scoring.
Senior Samantha Giacolone started in goal for the Irish and made five saves before sophomore Bridget Deehan stopped five shots in relief.
As a team, Notre Dame collected 23 ground balls, 16 draw controls, and forced 15 turnovers.
Makenna Pearsall, Hannah Proctor, Kathleen Roe and Diana Kelly each caused three Louisville turnovers.
Hannah Proctor’s thoughts:
“This was another awesome team win today and I thought defensively we played with great energy for a full 60 minutes.”
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- The Irish have scored the first goal in each of their first six contests and have only trailed for 3:14 out of the 360 minutes of play this season.
- The Irish have scored 116 goals and racked up 181 points in their first six victories.
- Maddie Howe leads the Irish with 27 points (18G, 9A) while Samantha Lynch paces the team with 23 goals scored.
- Four players have 20+ points for the Irish so far this season, including Howe, Lynch, Andie Aldave (16G, 9A) and Jessi Masinko (9G, 13A)
- Notre Dame has caused 86 turnovers in six games.
- Aldave leads the Irish with 48 draw controls this season and Savannah Buchanan ranks second on the team with 29.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame goes back on the road to take on Virginia Commonwealth University on Wednesday, March 13 at 4 p.m. in Richmond.
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