On a breezy Saturday here in South Bend, Ind., the No. 8 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team took on the Pittsburgh Panthers. The Irish, who earned the lacrosse world’s attention after defeating perennial powerhouse Boston College, were seeking to bounce back from their loss against Virginia Sunday. Pitt came into town with a 3-1 record and a marquee win over Duke.
The opening few minutes of play highlighted what has become a theme for Notre Dame this year: the remarkable success of its freshman class. Freshman midfielder/draw specialist Uma Kowalski won the opening draw for the Irish, and after one empty possession by each team, fellow freshman midfielder Maura Irish found the back of the net.
On the Panthers’ next possession, it was truly time for Notre Dame’s defense to start shining. The Irish frequently pressure or even double-teams ball carriers well outside of the 12-meter arc. The pressure paid off as Maura Irish caused a turnover, and Notre Dame completed a beautiful transition that ended in a goal from sophomore midfielder Madison Rassas, her 14th of the season, assisted by junior attacker Kate Timarky. Moments later, after Pitt won the next draw, senior midfielder Franny O’Brien caused another turnover to the Irish stat line, and yet again, Notre Dame capitalized on the transition opportunity. This time, the goal came from senior attacker Emma Murphy, off a free-position attempt.
After a little bit of scoreless back-and-forth, a testament to the defense of both teams, Timarky earned a free-position opportunity of her own and scored to make it 4-0 Irish after just over 10 minutes of play.
However, Pittsburgh was not to be counted out. The Panthers redefend relentlessly against opposing clear attempts, and eventually their sophomore midfielder Lainey McGonagle caused Notre Dame’s graduate defender Julia Carr to lose possession, and Pitt drew a green card to go man-up for a minute. Freshman attacker Emily Clemens of Pitt notched her team’s first goal of the afternoon on the man-up opportunity.
Notre Dame’s Grace Maroney, another standout freshman, and Pitt’s Kaitlyn Giandonato each scored to make it 5-1 Irish at the conclusion of the first quarter.
As the second quarter began, Pitt looked as though it might take the momentum it started to gain at the end of the first and run with it. Notre Dame started with possession, but Pittsburgh quickly caused a turnover and cleared to the other end. To the relief of the Irish, Pitt’s shot went wide on that possession, and Notre Dame was able to stop what might have been a key turn in Pitt’s favor.
Within just a minute and a half, freshman midfielders Charley Bacigalupo and Maura Irish racked up two more goals, showing once again how dominant this freshman class has been. Both Bacigalupo and Irish fall within the team’s top five scorers thus far in the season.
The second-quarter goal Pitt had been waiting for came at the 10:50 mark from Clemens. After that, though, a yellow card on Pitt’s Megan Sheridan gave Notre Dame another man-up opportunity. Rassas took advantage to make it 8-3 Irish.
In the stretch that followed, though, Pittsburgh went on the run it had been awaiting all quarter. The Panthers notched the next three goals, which certainly put some pressure on the Irish. After the third of those goals, Pitt grabbed the next draw control as well, giving itself a chance to make this a one-goal game. Maura Irish had other plans. She dispossessed Pitt’s Avery Moon, secured the ground ball and helped clear it successfully to Notre Dame’s offensive end. There, the talent of the Irish’s top offensive duo was on display as Madison Rassas connected with Kate Timarky, who finished a goal with 36 seconds remaining. That goal was critical in ensuring that Pitt could not take the momentum of its 3-0 run into halftime.
The beginning of the second half saw more of Maura Irish shining bright: The freshman phenom racked up another two goals in the first three minutes after the break. Avery Moon of Pitt and Emma Murphy of Notre Dame joined the second-half scoresheet. But in the second half of the third quarter, both offenses were silent.
Pitt fired seven shots in the remainder of the third quarter, but many were from a low angle or heavily contested thanks to the impressive Notre Dame defensive unit. A team defense that collapses well on drivers and forces errant shots is the kind of thing that does not show up anywhere in a lacrosse statbook except for the Irish’s remarkably low opponent scoring rate. Heading into Saturday, they averaged just 7.00 goals against per game, tied for ninth best nationally. Ceci Patterson, the goalkeeper who is a true headliner of the outstanding freshman class, saved the few shots that Pitt did manage to get on goal. Overall, despite a huge time-of-possession disparity in Pitt’s favor, Notre Dame held the Panthers scoreless for the final 11:23 of the quarter.
The fourth quarter, likewise, was not an offensive masterclass by each side. The Irish, finally having the ball in their own offensive end, quickly had three shots saved by Pittsburgh’s goalie Molly Cain. Notre Dame limited Pitt’s chances, though, thanks to a caused turnover by Rassas, a ground ball by Bacigalupo, and a caused turnover by Maura Irish, keeping the ball largely with the Irish offense. With 10 minutes remaining, Pitt’s sophomore attacker Gigi Leonzi snapped a nearly 14-minute overall scoring drought to make the score 12-8, with Notre Dame in front. Two minutes later, after another Notre Dame shot landed in the stick of Cain, Pitt’s Giandonato added another goal for Pitt and triggered an Irish timeout.
The final eight minutes of play would be completely scoreless. Julia Carr secured a couple of critical ground balls in Notre Dame’s defensive end to help prevent Pitt from completing their comeback. Indeed, Pitt only got one more shot off in the game thanks to the all-around defensive effort from the Irish.
Despite going nearly 26 minutes without a goal to end the game, the Irish hung on to win 12-9, and this ranked Atlantic Coast Conference win should help the Irish rediscover their rhythm heading into a stretch of road games against Clemson, Elon and Stanford.
