Notre Dame Women’s Lacrosse: Undefeated Irish Zoom Past Louisville

If Boston College, North Carolina and Syracuse are potential roadblocks to Notre Dame’s success in women’s lacrosse this season, fellow ACC foe Louisville is more like a speed bump.

The Cardinals’ approach Saturday at Loftus Sports Center was more physical than finesse, but did little to slow down to nation’s best scoring offense. Seven different Notre Dame players scored Saturday in a dominating 16-4 win in which the Irish (6-0, 1-0 ACC) lead for almost the entire 60 minutes.

Sophomore midfielder Andie Aldave again proved her worthiness for the Tewaaraton Award watch list by accumulating six points, including a goal just 49 seconds in the game. Senior attack Samantha Lynch matched Aldave’s four goals, and added a “how did she do that?”-type score to extend the Irish lead to 5-0.

Sophomore midfielder Maddie Howe netted a hat trick, and leads the team in points with 27 through the first six games. Attack Mollie Carr continued her impressive freshman campaign with two goals, including one when the Irish were one woman down following a yellow card on Howe midway through the first period.

The Irish’s 10-1 lead at half would have been even more lopsided if not from some early solid play by Louisville redshirt sophomore goaltender Rachel Florek. Notre Dame had a 4-to-1 advantage on shots, 2-to-1 on draw controls and 2-to-1 on turnovers.

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The Cardinals (1-5, 0-1) committed 26 fouls in the game, as opposed to nine for the Irish. Notre Dame was 3-for-8 in free position attempts, with both Tewaaraton Award watchlist recipients — Aldave and junior midfielder Savannah Buchannan — netting goals.

Irish goaltenders Samantha Giacolone and Bridget Deehan saved five Cardinals shots each, with the sophomore Deehan having a clean sheet.

“This was another awesome team win today and I thought defensively we played with great energy for a full 60 minutes,” said senior Hannah Proctor of the nation’s stingiest defense.

The Irish have trailed for just 3:14 this year, which represents less than 1 percent of game time.

Notre Dame has an extended break before playing at 4 p.m. March 13 in Richmond against Virginia Commonwealth (2-1).