The No. 8 Irish (9-4, 2-1 Big East) found out the hard way why the top-ranked Northwestern Wildcats are three-time defending National Champions and are now riding a 33-game winning streak.
The host Wildcats (12-0) scored the game's first 15 goals in a dominant 16-2 effort to end Notre Dame's winning streak at four games. Senior attack Heather Ferguson and freshman midfielder Jackie Doherty scored the only two Irish goals, as Northwestern successfully shut down Notre Dame's high-powered offensive attack.
Junior Jillian Byers, who broke the Irish all-time scoring record in her last outing, and senior Caitlin McKinney, who owned a program-best 51-game point streak, were both victims of a high-pressure Northwestern defense that the Irish prepared for but couldn't answer.
The Irish were able to keep the game scoreless for the first seven minutes, but within a span of two minutes, the Wildcats scored three times to take a 3-0 lead. Ten minutes later, Northwestern went on another run, scoring five goals in two minutes to blow it open at 8-0.
The Wildcats entered the half up 11-0 and added four more goals before Ferguson finally put one home with under 18 minutes to play. Northwestern scored once more before Doherty's goal with just over two minutes left to finish the scoring at 16-2.
The Irish will look to rebound when they close out their five-game road swing at Big East rival No. 7 Georgetown.
