EVANSTON, Ill. — Bridget Deehan made a career-high 12 saves and Madison Ahern had a team-high five points (3G, 2A) as #6/7 Notre Dame earned a 17-15 road victory over third-ranked Northwestern on Friday night inside Ryan Fieldhouse.
Maddie Howe led the Irish with four goals while Kasey Choma and Samantha Lynch each recorded hat tricks.
Ahern, Savannah Buchanan and Kathleen Roe each caused a pair of Northwestern turnovers.
Andie Aldave and Buchanan tied for a game-high six draw controls while Roe added four draw controls.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Northwestern struck twice before the Irish scored four consecutive goals to take a two-score lead.
First, Howe scored back-to-back goals to even the score less than five minutes into play.
Buchanan made it three straight Irish goals with 23:23 remaining in the frame before Lynch then converted on a free-position attempt to put the Irish up 4-2 less than a minute later.
The Wildcats answered with the next two goals to even the score at 4-4 with 17:03 left in the stanza.
At the 16:03 mark, Howe completed the hat trick on a free-position shot to restore a one-goal lead for the Irish. Then, Jessi Masinko converted a feed from Ahern to put the visitors up 6-4 at the 12:13 mark.
Northwestern responded with three consecutive markers before Lynch’s second of the night evened the score at 7-7 with 7:48 remaining in the frame.
Ahern restored a one-goal lead before the Wildcats answered again to tie the game at 3:25.
The Irish closed the first half with three consecutive goals, including a pair by Choma and one by Lynch, to take an 11-8 lead into the break.
After Katie Enrietto opened the scoring in the second half, the Wildcats rattled off four straight tallies to tie the contest, 12-12, with 16:02 to play.
This time, Notre Dame answered with another 3-0 run, which included tallies by Ahern, Howe and Choma, to go up 15-12 with 9:36 left.
The Wildcats cut the Irish lead to 15-14 with 8:07 to go, but the Irish answered again with two goals, including a coast-to-coast strike by Roe and Ahern’s third, to lead 17-14.
Northwestern scored with 3:47 remaining to get within two, but the Irish held on to secure the 17-15 victory.
Six of Deehan’s 12 saves, a trio of which were point-blank stops, came in the second half to buoy the Irish defense.
NOTABLE NUMBERS
- Samantha Lynch’s third goal tonight was her 100th career marker.
- Bridget Deehan recorded a career-high 12 saves in the contest.
- Freshman Madison Ahern has opened her college career with back-to-back five-point games.
- Maddie Howe has opened the 2020 season with back-to-back four-goal contests.
UP NEXT
#6/7 Notre Dame quickly returns to action this Sunday (Feb. 16) at home against Central Michigan. That contest is slated for noon ET inside Loftus Sports Center and will be streamed live via ACC Network Extra. Admission for all Notre Dame women’s lacrosse home contests is free.
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