EVANSTON, Ill. – The No. 13 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (0-1) fell 13-10 in a hard fought battle to the No. 2 Northwestern Wildcats (1-0) in Ryan Fieldhouse on Friday night in the 2025 season opener.
The Irish offense was led by three standouts on the night; Kate Timarky, Kristen Shanahan, and Kathryn Morrissey. The trio each recorded a hat trick, each tying their respective career highs. Timarky also recorded three ground balls. Emma Murphy was the fourth scorer of the night, notching her first career goal in the season opener.
Abby Lyons, Meghan O’Hare, and Julia Carr each finished with team-highs of three caused turnovers a piece.
Isabel Pithie finished the night with a career-high 12 saves and led the Irish with four ground balls.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Wildcats came out hot in front of their home crowd at Ryan Fieldhouse as they were able to take a 7-0 start in the first quarter.
The Irish continued to battle as Timarky would score the first Irish goal of the season, putting Notre Dame on the board at 12:24 in the second quarter. She was followed by Shanahan, who was able to pick it up after it hit the post on a free position shot and send it home to make it 8-2 with 11:09 left in the half.
While Northwestern responded with a goal of their own, Morrissey answered right back as she knocked down the free position shot. The squads continued to swap goals as the Wildcats scored another before Wynter Jock found Shanahan on hard cut. Shanahan’s behind the back goal made it 10-4 heading into the second half.
The Irish would go on to outscore the Wildcats 2-0 in the third quarter. Timarky sent home her second goal of the night just 1:42 into the period to cut the deficit to five. Angle Conley found Murphy on the wing with a quick shot at the goal to bring Notre Dame within four heading into the final period.
The Wildcats responded with a 2-0 run to open the fourth quarter, making it 12-6 with 9:53 remaining. The Irish would close out the game on a 4-1 run as Morrissey knocked down another free position shot and Conley recorded her second assist on a goal from Timarky, her third goal of the night.
Shanahan followed with a free position shot to complete the hat trick and Morrissey capped off the Irish scoring with her third goal of the night as well.
Though the Irish outscored the Wildcats 4-3 in the final period, Northwestern would take the season opener 13-10.
UP NEXT
The Irish will open up at home on Sunday, Feb. 9 inside of Loftus Sports Center as they take on Central Michigan at 1:00 p.m. in the program’s Morgan Message game. The goal of Morgan’s Message is to spread awareness about the importance of mental health and to try and end the stigmatization surrounding asking for help, particularly as a student-athlete.