This Saturday night, the 11th-ranked Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team will begin conference play in its final home game of February against No. 17 Clemson. At 2-1, the Irish have won each of their last two games since dropping the opener at Northwestern and defeating Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan by 20-7 and 17-7 scores, respectively.
No. 2 overall recruit Madison Rassas has broken out over the past two Irish wins, totaling 10 goals and 13 assists for 23 points on a team-high 18 shots. She scored five goals in each game, leading Notre Dame against both Central and Eastern Michigan. Rassas has factored in other areas, too, collecting three ground balls, six draw controls and three caused turnovers.
Three more Irish players recorded hat tricks in Saturday’s defeat of EMU. Sophomore midfielder Angie Conley has tallied three goals in each of the past two games, ranking second on the team with nine points. Graduate midfielder Kristen Shanahan and sophomore attacker Kate Timarky also each recorded hat tricks on Saturday after doing the same in the season opener. They each stand second to Rassas with eight goals on the year.
Shanahan leads the Irish with 14 draw controls in an area Notre Dame is still working on two weeks into the season. The Irish have captured just 43.5% of the available draws so far, controlling 11 of 27 in Saturday’s win against Eastern Michigan. However, they’ve overcome the pittance by leading the ACC with 45 caused turnovers, sophomore midfielder Meghan O’Hare leading Notre individually with seven takeaways.
The Irish have also balanced out their lack of possession with quality goaltending. Senior Isabel Pithie ranks third in the ACC in goals against average (6.93) and second in save percentage (.548).
Clemson’s third season
Clemson women’s lacrosse played its first ACC game as a Division I program in South Bend almost two years ago to the day of Saturday’s game. The Tigers now return to the Loftus Sports Center at 3-0 to start their third season. Allison Kwolek, a conference champion on multiple occasions at Richmond, has coached Clemson for all three of those years.
The Tigers enter Saturday’s game looking to kickstart what would be their first winning ACC season as a program. Clemson went 12-6 (4-6 ACC) in its inaugural season of 2023, followed by an 11-7 (3-7 ACC) year in 2024. It did win its first ACC Tournament game as a program last season, defeating Pittsburgh in the first round.
To start 2025, the Tigers have defeated Davidson (14-6) and Vanderbilt (20-12) on the road before blasting Stetson (26-6) in Sunday’s home opener. The Stetson game left Clemson with program records in shots, shots on goal, goals and points. With the season still young, the Tigers lead the ACC in goals scored (60), ground balls (70) and draw controls (63), as freshman midfielder Kira Balis won a program-record 18 draws in her third collegiate game on Sunday.
Sophomore attacker Kayla MacLeod, Clemson’s third-leading scorer as a freshman last year, has paced the Tigers with 14 goals. She scored six of them in Sunday’s win, setting a new career high. Graduate attacker Lexi Edmonds, a transfer from Penn, already has a career high of 17 points, which leads the Tigers on 13 goals and four assists. Fellow graduate transfer Lindsey Marshall, from Towson, is Clemson’s third player with double-digit points on nine goals and two assists for 11 points.
After her massive performance against Stetson, Balis leads the ACC by a wide margin with 38 total draw controls and 12.67 per game. She entered the season as a top-50 recruit according to Inside Lacrosse, one of four Clemson freshmen inside the top 100. Freshman defender Maddie Wrenn leads the group with a No. 22 ranking. Senior Summer Agostino, a former Boston College Eagles, leads Clemson’s defensive group with 10 caused turnovers and is tied for a team high with eight ground balls.
Senior Emily Lamparter handles the goaltending for Clemson. She started her career at Maryland and joined Clemson for its first season in 2023, going 26-13 since with a total save percentage of .470. Last year, she finished as a Second Team All-ACC selection, leading the conference with a .462 save percentage.
The Irish have won all three of their matchups against Clemson, most notably in last year’s ACC Quarterfinals in Charlotte, North Carolina. In that game, the Irish scored seven goals in the second quarter to set up a 14-12 victory. However, it’s worth noting that Notre Dame has just one point from that contest on its current roster. Earlier in the season, the Irish went on the road and beat Clemson in double overtime on a game-winning goal by Mary Kelly Doherty, overcoming a five-goal effort from MacLeod.
Notre Dame and Clemson will square off at 8 p.m. on Saturday night at the Loftus Sports Center.
