After a nail-biting, 11-10 loss to No. 1 North Carolina, the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team travelled to Chestnut Hill, Mass. this weekend for the first in a two-game series against No. 5 Boston College. The first game of the series was played on Thursday evening, with the Eagles (10-1, 6-1 ACC) emerging victorious by a score of 19-11. The loss dropped the fourth-ranked Irish to 6-4 overall and 3-4 in the ACC.

Boston College claimed the dominant win with four goals apiece from Belle Smith and Charlotte North. Caitlynn Mossman also recorded four assists for Boston College.

The Eagles scored less than 90 seconds into the game and never looked back. They had expanded their lead to 6-0 before Notre Dame finally got on the board with sophomore attack Madison Ahern’s goal with 13:40 left in the first period. Courtney Weeks and Jenn Medjid both scored in the last minute of the first half for Boston College, expanding their lead to 11-5 at halftime.

The lead continued to build for Boston College in the second period, as three straight Eagle goals caused the lead to balloon to 14-5. Notre Dame did not get much closer the rest of the way, and Boston College cruised to a 19-11 win despite three Notre Dame goals in the final 10 minutes of the game.

Senior midfield Andie Aldave led the way for the Irish with three goals. Ahern and graduate student midfield Savannah Buchanan each recorded two scores for Notre Dame. No Notre Dame player recorded more than one assist in the contest, and sharing the ball to create more scoring chances will likely be a focus for the team going forward.

Erin Fennessy | The Observer

The loss is the second in a row for the Irish. It is the second two-game losing streak of the season for Notre Dame, who lost two in a row back in March to Syracuse. The Irish gave top-ranked North Carolina everything they could handle last Saturday, before eventually falling 11-10 to the Tar Heels in heartbreaking fashion. UNC scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal with 7:11 remaining in the game, breaking a 10-10 stalemate. Notre Dame senior goalkeeper Bridget Deehan matched her career-high with 14 saves against UNC, but it was not enough for Notre Dame to pull out the victory.

This was not the case on Thursday, as the Irish were thoroughly outplayed by Boston College from start to finish. Lucky for Notre Dame, the “Holy War” is not over just yet. The teams will play again at Boston College on Sunday, April 18 in the second game of their series. The game will face-off at 11 a.m. and can be seen on ACC Network Extra.

For the Irish, a bounce-back win would keep them near the top of the national rankings and give them they momentum they need ahead of their last two regular season games. Following the series against Boston College, Notre Dame will host Virginia Tech and Louisville in the last two games of the season ahead of the NCAA Championship beginning May 28.