The Marquette women’s lacrosse team was back in action Monday afternoon at Valley Fields hosting No. 18 Notre Dame, looking to keep its perfect record at home alive.
However, the Fighting Irish had other plans as they defeated the Golden Eagles 19-10.
“We played a good second half,” Marquette women’s lacrosse head coach Meredith Black said. “We did a nice job on defense in the second half. The stats were so much more even than the first half was. So it was great that our team was able to come back and fight, but I’d love to see our team play a full 60 minutes.”
Both teams found the back of the net early on in the match. Senior midfielder Lydia Foust scored the Golden Eagles’ goal while junior midfielder Kasey Choma had the goal for the Fighting Irish.
From there, the Fighting Irish took the lead and never looked back as Choma’s goal sparked a 5-0 run for Notre Dame. Senior attacker Shea Garcia ended a scoreless drought at the four minute mark of the frame for the Golden Eagles with her 33rd goal of the season.
Madison Ahern and Mary Kelly Doherty scored two goals in the final minutes of the frame to send Notre Dame into the second quarter leading 9-2.
Junior midfielder Emma Soccodato ended a 7-0 Notre Dame run with her 20th goal of the season to bring the deficit within 11 with 3:43 left in the first half.
For the first time in three games, Marquette entered halftime in a deficit as Notre Dame led 15-3 after the first 30 minutes.
Coming out of halftime, the Golden Eagles found some momentum as junior attacker Mary Schumar and graduate student attacker Kyra Lamotte scored back-to-back goals.
Lamotte’s 38th goal of the season brought the game within single digits for the first time since the 2:51 mark of the first quarter.
Marquette’s defense held Notre Dame’s offense to just two goals in the third quarter. Meanwhile offensively, the Golden Eagles narrowly outscored the Fighting Irish in the frame.
The Golden Eagles went into the fourth quarter trailing 17-6 after Garcia scored her second goal of the match at the 2:22 mark of the period.
Marquette continued to chip away in the fourth but it was not enough as Notre Dame’s 12 goal halftime lead sealed the road win for the Fighting Irish.
Notre Dame graduate student goalkeeper Bridget Deehan made three goals while allowing nine goals on the afternoon.
Graduate student Amanda Rumsey and first-year Brynna Nixon split time in net for the Golden Eagles. Rumsey combined for three save while allowing nine goals meanwhile Nixon finished with two saves and allowing 10 goals on the afternoon.
Foust finished with two goals and two assists for four combined points on the afternoon.
“It felt really good,” Foust said. “I wish I could have put a couple more pass this goalie but again she was good. We just have to learn how to shoot around a good goalie like that.”
Garcia and Soccodato also finished with two goals in the match. First-years Meg Bireley and Lily Dietrich along with Schumar and Lamotte all had a goal a piece.
Meanwhile Notre Dame was led in scoring by Ahern’s six goals. Jackie Wolak followed with three goals and four assists on the afternoon.
Marquette (7-8, 2-1 BIG EAST) will remain home to host Georgetown for a Sunday matinee at Valley Fields.
This article was written by Kelly Reilly. She can be reached at [email protected] or found on Twitter @kellyreillyyy.
