GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team stormed out to a record-setting win over Mercer Friday night, 21-6.
The eighth-ranked Irish opened the NCAA tournament with seven individuals finding the cage in their first round victory over the Bears, including Kasey Choma and Jackie Wolak with six goals a piece.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In a return to her home state, Kelly Denes got the scoring started just over three minutes into the game off a feed from MK Doherty to give the Irish a 1-0 lead.
Kasey Choma wasted no time extending the Irish lead following a draw control win from Doherty. The first of the night gave Choma her team-leading 59th goal of the season and made it a 2-0 score.
The Bears pressured the Irish zone, ultimately being awarded a free position but Lilly Callahan made a huge save off the mask to keep them scoreless and set up a play for Choma’s second goal of the night. Following the Bears’ attempt, Ali McHugh caught the rebound and raced up field before finding Choma for the 3-0 tally.
The senior continued her impressive first quarter, netting her 14th hat trick of the season just 7:53 into the opening quarter as the Irish jumped out to the 4-0 lead.
The Irish continued to pour in goals to close out the first quarter, doubling their goal total to hold an 8-0 lead behind additional goals from Jackie Wolak, Madison Ahern and Choma through 15 minutes of play.
Wolak continued the Irish hot streak with her third goal of the night to start the second quarter before Ahern gave ND the 10-0 lead and set the clock to run.
The Bears snapped Callahan’s shutout bid with 2:48 to go in the second but Denes gave the Irish their 10-goal lead back moments later with an unassisted tally of her own to make it 11-1.
Mercer got one back before the end of the half as Notre Dame took an 11-2 lead to the locker room through 30 minutes of play.
Bears score with 2:48 in second to snap shutout bid. Mercer scored twice in second for 11-2 halftime score.
Despite Mercer scoring first to start the second half, the Irish fired back with Choma and Wolak combining on the ensuing two goals to make it 13-3 and give Choma a career-best nine points.
Doherty added to her career night with a goal at 9:00 of the third quarter to tie her career-best in points (four), giving the Irish a 14-3 lead. The junior went on to add three more points to her night, closing the game with two goals and five assists for seven points total.
Wolak added two more goals late in the third to round out her night with a career-tying six goals before Doherty’s final goal of the day ended the third quarter with the Irish up 17-4.
Choma finished off her record-breaking night with her sixth goal, and 10th point, to open the final quarter of regulation. Her classmate, Ahern, recorded her 12th hat trick of the season to tie the program’s single-game NCAA Tournament game goal total at 19.
Abby Maichin and Fran Frieri scored the final two goals for the Irish for the 21-6 final and first round victory.
STAT OF THE GAME
All but one Irish tally in the opening quarter had Kasey Choma’s name on it as the senior scored four goals and assisted three more in the first 15 minutes of play as the team jumped out to an 8-0 lead early Friday night.
The senior midfielder set a new career-best point total, and became the first Irish woman to eclipse 10 points in a single game this season.
ND NOTES
- The 21 goals scored is the most in a single NCAA Tournament game in program history, breaking the previous program-best 19 goals scored in a 19-13 win over Vanderbilt in 2009.
- Seven individuals scored at least one goal in the team’s victory, with two women dropping their stick in celebration on six occasions.
- Kasey Choma’s career-best 10 points was a team-best while Jackie Wolak’s six goals tied Choma for a team-best Friday night.
- MK Doherty set a career-high in points (seven) and assists (five).
- Lilly Callahan made seven saves in the contest, including two off free position attempts to hold the Bears to single digits Friday night in the win.
- With eight draw control wins, Kelly Denes led the team in the circle while causing an additional two caused turnovers. A force on both sides of the ball, Denes added two goals to the mix including the first of the game.
- Hannah Dorney’s three caused turnovers and four ground balls led the Irish in both categories.
- The Irish outdrew their opponent 19-11 while holding the edge in ground balls (19-12) and caused turnovers (13-7).
UP NEXT
The Irish advance to the NCAA Second Round following their decisive 21-6 win over Mercer Friday night and will face Florida at noon ET Sunday, May 14. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.