Irish Fall Short Against #10 Stanford

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 21 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-7, 1-6) fell 7-8 to the Stanford Cardinal (11-3, 5-2) on Saturday afternoon at Arlotta. 

Kathryn Morrissey led the Irish offense with 4 points, scoring 2 goals and 2 assists. She was followed by Meghan O’Hare who also netted a pair of goals for the Irish. Kristen Shanahan, Kate Timarky, and Katie Mallaber each recorded a goal on the day as well. 

The sister duo of Franny O’Brien and Lila O’Brien were great on the defensive end, recording 5 caused turnovers and 4 ground balls respectively. Isabel Pithie was in goal for the Irish, recording 6 saves and 2 ground balls.

The Cardinal posted a 2-0 start over the Irish but the Notre Dame offense started to heat up, scoring 4 straight in the first quarter. Mallaber sparked the offense, putting the Irish on the board at 6:55. O’Brien hit Timarky on the cut shortly after to tie it up at 2-all before a Shanahan goal (assist Morrissey) put the Irish up 3-2. Fran Frieri dished it to Morrissey for a last second goal as the time expired, putting Notre Dame up 4-2 heading into the second period. 

Morrissey recorded her second assist of the day, finding O’Hare for another Irish goal to extend the Notre Dame lead 5-2 at 11:48. The Cardinal responded with a goal of their own, cutting the deficit to 5-3 at the end of the first half. 

The Irish scored just seven seconds into the third quarter as O’Hare took it all the way to the goal after the Irish won the draw, extending the Irish lead back to three at 6-3. Stanford scored again at 12:08 to make it a 6-4 ballgame, with neither team scoring the remainder of the period.

Still a two-goal game to start the fourth, Stanford and Notre Dame traded goals to make it 7-5 with 11:11 remaining. The No. 10 Cardinal would score three more unanswered goals to close it out and take the win 8-7 in South Bend. 

UP NEXT 

The Irish are back in action on Saturday, April 12 as they head to Pittsburgh to take on the Pitt Panthers.