March 13, 2018
By Matt Paras
GREENSBORO, North Carolina – The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team (5-3) is finishing off its spring break road trip this Wednesday when they take on High Point (4-3). Opening draw is scheduled for 4 pm ET and will be broadcast on the Big South Network.
DATE: March 14, 2018
TIME: 4 p.m. (ET)
LOCATION: Vert Stadium (High Point, N.C.)
BROADCAST: Big South Network
LIVE STATS: High Point Stats
TWITTER: @NDWomensLax
The Irish are coming off a 9-6 loss on the road against No. 24 Virginia Tech this past Sunday. The Irish are 2-0 in games following a loss and are 3-1 on the road this season.
Last Time Out
Notre Dame fell behind early to the Hokies on Sunday and faced a 6-1 halftime deficit. In the second half, the Irish started to string together goals and got momentum on their side.
Andie Aldave started it off with her second goal of the afternoon and Molly Cobb followed it up with her first to cut the deficit to 8-3. A free position goal from Savannah Buchanan and Aldave’s third goal of the afternoon cut the deficit to 8-5 with nine minutes remaining.
The Hokies broke through following a 17-minute scoreless stretch but Abi Cullinan responded for the Irish, making it a 9-6 game with five minutes left. That ended up as the final goal of the afternoon as the Irish were unable to come all the way back.
Aldave and Buchanan led the way for the Irish Sunday afternoon. Aldave recorded her third hat trick of the season and won four draw controls. Buchanan stuffed the stat sheet, tallying one goal, two assists, three ground balls, four draw controls and caused three turnovers. Samantha Giacolone made nine saves on 18 shots, notching her fourth-straight game with a save percentage of .500 percent or higher.
Scouting the Panthers
High Point enters Wednesday’s matchup with a 4-3 record on the year and are coming off a 20-9 road win this past weekend over Marist. The Panthers have faced two common opponents of the Irish so far this season. They defeated Elon 14-13 in overtime on March 1 and fell to UNC 14-10 on Feb. 16.
This will be the second all-time meeting between the Irish and the Panthers. The two teams last played in the first round of the NCAA Tournament back in 2014. Notre Dame defeated High Point 18-4 and it was the first tournament win under head coach Christine Halfpenny. This will be the third-consecutive season the Irish have faced an opponent from the Big South Conference. They have played Liberty in each of the previous two seasons.
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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.