After a 12-4 regular season with a 6-4 Atlantic Coast Conference record, the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team enters the ACC tournament as the No. 6 seed. Eight teams from the ACC qualified for the single-elimination tournament. In the latest bracketology report from USA Lacrosse, the Irish were rated as a “last four in” team. Twenty-nine teams go on to make the NCAA tournament, and the Irish were ranked No. 27 in RPI. The Irish could really use a good performance this week as they attempt to journey through a tough ACC tournament.
This season, Notre Dame is No. 14 in the country in goals per game but No. 5 in goals allowed per game. Junior attacker Kate Timarky and sophomore midfielder Madison Rassas have been the leaders for a potent Irish offense this season, as they are the top two in scoring for this year, with a pretty wide margin between them and the others. Defensively, Notre Dame is led by seniors Abigail Lyons and Franny O’Brien and graduate student Julia Carr, and that veteran presence has led to them being a top defense in the country.
The Irish started off the year hot, winning their first three contests against ranked opponents. However, they only beat one out of five ranked opponents in their last games to finish the year. They are undefeated against unranked teams, but now that the easy games on the schedule are done, Notre Dame must improve its record with ranked opponents.
Their first game will be against Clemson, currently ranked No. 15 in RPI. The Tigers are an incredibly well-rounded team, as they are fifth in the country in goals per game and 10th in goals allowed per game. The two teams matched up earlier this year in South Carolina, and Clemson came away with a 13-9 victory. Junior attacker Regan Byrne led the way for the Tigers, scoring five goals, and Alexa Spallina, the freshman attacker and sister of Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse star Joey Spallina, also contributed five points, picking up a goal and four assists. Timarky was able to pick up a hat trick in that game, and Rassas scored two, but the Irish’s inability to get goals from other places ended up costing them the game.
If they are able to win, Notre Dame would play the winner of Boston College and Stanford. The Irish beat the Eagles at the start of the year, 12-9. They scored six unanswered points to end the game, and it was Notre Dame’s best win of the year. Timarky and Rassas only combined for four goals, and the freshmen combined for six goals in the game. The Irish lost to the Cardinal 17-11 earlier in the year, the game in which they allowed the most goals this season. The offense in this game again centered around Timarky and Rassas as they combined for five goals in that game. Freshman goalkeeper Ceci Patterson only had a 22% save percentage in that game, by far her worst game of the year. In that loss, defense was the issue.
If Notre Dame were to make the finals, they’d likely match up against the top team in the country, the North Carolina Tar Heels, who have the best player in the country, sophomore attacker Chloe Humphrey. They could also face a rematch against two teams they lost to in Syracuse and Virginia and then hypothetically could face the No. 8 seed Duke Blue Devils, but that scenario is the most unlikely.
As a team already in the playoff picture, a win against Clemson would likely secure Notre Dame a spot in the tournament. However, there are seeding implications still in play, as there are many top seeds Notre Dame would like to avoid in the first round. The clear issue for Notre Dame in their losses, with the exception of the Stanford game, has been an offense that relies solely on Timarky and Rassas. They have been the stars this year, but the key is to spread the offense around and keep defenses guessing. Notre Dame starts ACC tournament play with their game against Clemson Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Charlotte, and they hope to advance to the weekend to solidify their spot as an NCAA tournament team.
