SOUTH BEND, Ind. – After a dominant all-round weekend for the Irish, the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse program ranks second nationally, as announced by the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Monday morning.
The Irish kicked off the weekend with a convincing win over then-top ranked Northwestern, snapping the Wildcats’ 22-game unbeaten streak with the 14-10 triumph. After falling behind early in the opening quarter Friday night, the Irish regained control of the game in the latter half of the first to tie it back up 3-3 through 15 minutes played. The two sides traded goals throughout the majority of the contest before the Irish rolled out five unanswered goals to lift the home team to victory. The win over No. 1 Northwestern was the first in program history against a top-ranked team.
In addition to outscoring the Wildcats, the Irish held a convincing edge in nearly every statistical category Friday night inside Loftus Sports Center. At the draw, Kelly Denes boasted as many draw controls individually as the entire Wildcats team combined while the final draw control count leaned in favor of the Irish, 20-8.
Ground balls favored the home team by a narrow 17-15 margin with the team’s lock-down defense causing 13 turnovers. Lilly Callahan made four saves in the cage, including three huge stops in a pivotal third quarter to keep the Irish chances alive heading into the final frame.
The Irish followed up their Friday night performance with their biggest offense output of the season thus far, topping Butler 25-3 to improve to 4-0 on the season for the first time since 2020.
The Irish jump six spots in the ILWomen/IWLCA Division I poll this week and have No. 7 Syracuse on deck. The second top-10 matchup in as many weeks inside Loftus is set to be one of the most anticipated battles of the season as the Irish open ACC play with the Orange on Saturday, February 24 at noon.