The 20th-ranked Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team returned to Arlotta Stadium on Sunday afternoon to take on No. 2 North Carolina. This would be the seventh top 25 matchup and second consecutive top 10 matchup for head coach Christine Halfpenny's young Irish squad following last weekend’s heartbreaking 12-11 defeat in upstate New York to No. 9 Syracuse.
Despite their challenging schedule, the 6-5 Irish have battled top-tier opponents close this year, including a season-opening 13-10 loss at No. 3 Northwestern and a 15-9 loss against No. 1 Boston College. Sunday, however, was much different. The undefeated Tar Heels entered the tilt with six ranked victories on the year, and also ranked second nationally in both goals and assists, only trailing the Golden Eagles.
It was a back-and-forth opening five minutes as both sides connected on their first two shots, before Carolina scored three unanswered goals to end the first quarter with a 5-2 lead. Freshman attacker Katie Mallaber found graduate midfielder Kristen Shanahan for the first Irish goal, before Mallaber found the back of the net herself for the second.
The Irish weathered the initial Tar Heel storm when sophomore midfielder Kathryn Morrissey found fellow sophomore midfielder Meghan O’Hare on a nice feed to trim the lead to 6-3. The defense would unravel from there, however, as the Tar Heels scored the final three goals of the half and outscored Notre Dame 5-0 throughout the third quarter.
Just a minute into the fourth quarter with the score now sitting at 14-3, severe weather forced the game into a delay. Attempts to resume play were aborted as hail, lightning and 70 mph gusts of wind battered Arlotta Stadium throughout the remainder of the afternoon.
The loss dropped Notre Dame to 6-6 and just 1-5 in ACC play. The Irish currently sit in ninth place, just above the cutline to qualify for the 2025 ACC Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Carolina will continue their quest for the school’s fourth national championship next Saturday in Chapel Hill, as the No. 1 Boston College Eagles come to town for the most anticipated matchup of the ACC and NCAA regular season thus far.
The road doesn’t get any smoother for Notre Dame moving forward, as No. 6 Stanford travels to South Bend next Saturday. The Cardinal are currently 10-3, but have lost two of their last three games. Next Saturday’s Senior Day showdown from Arlotta Stadium is set for a 1 p.m. face-off with streaming on ACCNX.
