SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program heads back on the road for the final time in the regular season with a pair of games at Pitt and Robert Morris.
The Irish close out their road ACC schedule Friday evening against the Panthers before rounding out their non-conference schedule at RMU for a Sunday matinee game.
GAME 14 DETAILS
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa. | Highmark Stadium
Schedule: April 14 — 5 p.m. ET
TV: ACCNX
Live Stats: UND.com
Twitter Updates: @NDWomensLax
For a more in-depth look at the matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame
GAME 15 DETAILS
Location: Moon Township, Pa. | Joe Walton Stadium
Schedule: April 16 — 1 p.m. ET
Live Stats: UND.com
Twitter Updates: @NDWomensLax
For a more in-depth look at the matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame
FOR STARTERS
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Notre Dame is coming off a record-breaking performance with a program best 26 goals in their road win at Butler Monday.
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Fourteen individuals highlighted the box score, including Fran Frieri and Jaclyn Marszal who both registered their first career goals in the victory. Seventeen women have now notched at least one goal this season with Ava Kristynik also picking up her first of 2023 in the win.
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Notre Dame’s 37 points in the win at Butler matched a program record, previously set earlier this season against Central Michigan.
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Their 26 goals against Butler was a season-high for the Irish, topping that previously set of 24 in February.
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The 23-goal victory was also the largest margin of victory for the Irish this year and their three goals against was second fewest in 2023.
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The Irish are back on the road this weekend to conclude their road slate with a pair of games in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They’ll first face ACC rival Pitt Friday before a trip across the city to RMU to round out their nonconference schedule.
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Notre Dame remained in eighth following last weekend’s matchup against fellow top-10 foe Boston College.
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Live stats will be available for the contest as well as a the game being aired on the ACCNX (Friday at Pitt).
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The attacking trio of Choma, Ahern, and Wolak have combined for 173 of the 297 Irish points. The dynamic attack team posted 25 points last week against BC and Butler.
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In her last ACC road contest, at Virginia, Wolak set a career best mark in goals (six) and points (eight), scoring nearly half of the team’s 13 goals in Charlottesville.
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Ahern recently tied her career high for points in a game with eight off six goals and two assists, matching the mark she recorded in a win over Jacksonville during the 2022 season.
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Choma now has a team-high nine hat tricks on the season. Ahern and Wolak follow close behind with seven a piece in 13 games played.
THE NOTRE DAME – PITT SERIES
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The Irish and Panthers have met once previously, with the Irish taking the 19-7 home victory over Pitt in 2022.
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Current senior Kasey Choma led the Irish in points last season against Pitt, registering five goals and an assist for six points total. Madison Ahern also recorded multiple goals (four) while other current members of the team tallied one goal each in Jackie Wolak, Keelin Schlageter and MK Doherty.
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Lilly Callahan came into the game late in the fourth, stopping one shot in 3:56 played against the Panthers in 2022.
THE NOTRE DAME – RMU SERIES
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Notre Dame owns a 2-0 undefeated record against the RMU Colonials, having played twice in the 2021 season. All-time the Irish have outscored the Colonials 32-2, picking up a 16-2 regular season win before rolling to a 16-0 shutout in the first round of the NCAA Championship Tournament two years ago.
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Seven current Irish women have success over the Colonials, highlighting the box score in two meetings with RMU. With four goals and an assist against RMU in two games played, Choma leads all current team members with five career points against the Pittsburgh based team. Jackie Wolak (2-2-4) and Keelin Schlageter (3-1-4) are tied for second-most among current Irish teammates. Ali McHugh, Madison Ahern, Alison Harbough and Hannah Dorney also sport points against RMU while Dorney’s two caused turnovers in the first round of the NCAA tournament led the team in the category.
IN THE POLLS
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Notre Dame is ranked No. 8 in this week’s ILWomen/IWLCA poll.
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Five other ACC programs are currently ranked in the top-25 according to the IL Women/IWLCA Preseason Poll, including #1 Syracuse, #5 North Carolina, #7 Boston College, #12 Virginia, and #19 Clemson.
NEARING THE MARK
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With her first save against BC, Lilly Callahan eclipsed the 100 career save mark. She now boasts 113 stops in 27 games played, with a .509 save percentage.
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Hannah Dorney, last week’s ACC co-Defensive Player of the Week, hit 100 career ground balls when the Irish hosted BC last weekend. She now has 105 career pick ups.
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Ahern’s five goals against UNC brought her career tally to 140. She followed it up with four points against the Eagles, including a hat trick which gave her 202 career points. After six points at Butler Monday the senior owns 208 career points off 145 goals and 63 assists.
BALANCED ATTACK
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The Irish returned 3 of the 4 top scorers from the 2022 season in Kasey Choma, Madison Ahern, Jackie Wolak.
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The top scorers were assisted by Kelly Denes who won 100 draw controls and tallied 14 goals of her own. This season Denes boasts 83 draw controls and currently sits at 187 career draws.
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Choma, Ahern, and Wolak lead the Irish in points combining for 173 points.
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Choma is currently ranked sixth in the ACC for goals per game (3.15) and 24th nationally.
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Wolak is ranked in the top five in the ACC for points per game (5.15) and assists per game (2.54). Her assists per game is also 12th-best nationally while her points per game average ranks eighth.
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Denes is ranked third in the ACC for draw controls per game tallying 6.38.
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Seventeen different players have scored at least one goal this season with 13 having found the back of the net multiple times.
THREE-HEADED MONSTER
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The attacking trio of Choma, Ahern, and Wolak are combining for 173 points.
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Choma leads the Irish with 41 goals and 10 assists, Wolak has 34 goals and 33 assists, and Ahern has 40 goals and 15 assists.
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Wolak leads the team in points with 67, while Ahern boasts 55 and Choma has 51.
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Choma now has tallied a team-high nine hat tricks in the 2023 season and Wolak has tallied seven.
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Wolak’s game against Virginia saw her set career-high performances in goals (six) and points (eight).
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Choma, Ahern, and Wolak have all been named to the 2023 Tewaaraton Watchlist.
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Choma, Ahern and Wolak combined for 17 points in the win over Brown (03/27/23).
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They combined for 11 of the team’s 21 goals against the Bears.
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The trio combined for 12 of the team’s 17 total points at Virginia to close out March’s conference slate.
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Wolak ranks in the top five in the ACC and nationally for assists per game (2.54).
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Choma tallied a new career high in goals (8) and tied her career high in points (8) in the Virginia Tech game.
SMOTHERING DEFENSE
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The Irish held the nation’s top scoring offense to just nine goals, which is more than 12 below Clemson’s season average when they played the Tigers in February.
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Notre Dame is the first team this season to hold the Tiger attack under a double-digit goal total in a game.
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Mary Kelly Doherty ranks in the top-10 among ACC foes in caused turnovers per game.
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The Irish have held eight of their 13 opponents to single digits.
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Last week, Hannah Dorney was named ACC co-Defensive Player of the Week for her transition play against UNC and Brown.
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Emma Schettig won ACC Defensive Player of the Week after helping the Notre Dame defense hold Duke to just six goals.
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Notre Dame has caused havoc on defense, averaging 9.85 caused turnovers per game, a mark that ranks 15th in the nation and second in the ACC.
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The Irish defense held Virginia Tech to its lowest goal total of the season and tied for its lowest in program history.
CALLAHAN IN THE CREASE
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Callahan made her first double-digit save performance of her career, finishing with 15 saves against Northwestern. This also established a new career high in saves for her.
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She ranks in the top 10 in the country in goals-against average (8.21) and top-20 in save percentage (.490). Her GAA is seventh nationally and third among all ACC goaltenders.
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Callahan earned her first career win in her first career start while holding the San Diego State attack to just two goals .
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The two goals Callahan allowed marked the lowest scoring output in SDSU program history, which dates back to the 2012 season.
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In 45 minutes played Monday against Butler, Callahan held the opposition scoreless, stopping all seven shots faced.
DOMINATING THE DRAW
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The Irish have won the draw control battle in 10 of their 13 games this season.
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Notre Dame currently ranks No. 4 in the country in draw control percentage (.619) and in the top 10 for draw controls per game 17.23.
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Kelley Denes leads the Irish in draws per game (6.38) and is the primary player used at the draw for the Irish. She ranks in the top-20 nationally for draw controls per game and third in the conference.
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The Irish draw control unit held the nations leader on the draw circle to only four draw controls in their matchup against Duke.
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The Irish currently have won the draw control battle on the season by a margin of 224-138.
LEADERSHIP GROUP
- On Dec. 20, the Irish named three team captains for the 2023 campaign: Hannah Dorney, Kasey Choma, and Madison Ahern. Dorney is serving as a team captain for the second consecutive season.
ALL-AMERICAN GIRLS
- Two Irish were named Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-Americans including Kasey Choma (First Team), Madison Ahern (HM).
- Ahern and Choma were also named Preseason All-Americans on February 3. Choma was named to the second team and Ahern to the third team.
- Kasey Choma was named to the USA Lacrosse Magazine Preseason All-American squad, and was also ranked among the top 20 lacrosse players recognized as the game’s biggest difference makers checking in at #19.
- Choma and Ahern claimed silver for the USA Super Sixes team at the 2022 World Games.
TEWAARATON WATCHLIST
- Kasey Choma and Madison Ahern were each named to the initial watch list for the 2023 Tewaaraton Award, the Tewaaraton Foundation announced on February 10.
- Choma has been named to the watch list for the third consecutive season and this is Ahern’s second consecutive watchlist.
ALL STAR STAFF
- Head Coach Christine Halfpenny announced the addition of Associate Head Coaches Adam Sear and Lauren Benner.
- Sear comes to Notre Dame from the University of Michigan. He spent five seasons with the Wolverines. He will assist in coordinating the offensive effort for the Irish.
- Benner joins the Irish after spending a season with Loyola. She will serve as the defensive coordinator and work extensively with the goalie unit.
- The Irish also welcome back Bridget Deehan as a volunteer assistant. Deehan graduated from Notre Dame as a two-time All-American goalkeeper.
NEWCOMERS
- The Irish welcome a 7-member freshman class as part of the 35-player roster, which includes two attackers, three midfielders, two goaltenders .
- Emma Murphy was named No. 5 in the IL Women Top 100 Freshman Power Rankings and Jaclyn Marszal was tabbed No. 42 in the IL Women Top 100 Freshman Power Rankings.