Women's Lacrosse: #6 Notre Dame 12, Marquette 5

For a long time in the first half, things looked REALLY good for the Golden Eagles.  Notre Dame didn't even take a shot for four and a half minutes, and it took nine shots over more than first 15 minutes for the Irish to build a 3-0 lead.  Yes, Marquette hadn't scored yet, but you're talking about playing a top 10 team in the country that has three losses on the season, all to other top 10 ranked teams.  Merely stymieing them is a pretty solid effort, and the defense continued to hold.  Notre Dame went on a 10-plus minute scoreless drought, and Marquette busted through with freshman Amanda Bochniak scoring the first Golden Eagles goal of the game.

3-1, late in the first half, #6 team in the country... Pretty good, right?  Sure, if it lasted.  Notre Dame scored twice before halftime to make it 5-1, then scored the first six goals of the second half to take an 11-1 lead.  Bochniak's second goal of the game finally broke a longer than 30 minute stretch without a tally for the Golden Eagles, and at that point, the game was over.  The Golden Eagles would end up outscoring Notre Dame 4-1 over the final 8:35, but that was just a bit of playing out the string.

Marquette was victimized by a well disciplined Irish attack.  Cortney Fortunato, Kiera McMullen, and Caitlin Gargan all had two goals and one assist for Notre Dame, which was a three way tie for the team high in goals, and points.  They were also part of a six way tie for the team lead in assists, as half a dozen players all helped out on one goal each.

Shots in the game were fairly close, with Notre Dame taking a 28-22 advantage.  Liz O'Sullivan made 11 stops in the Irish net, while Sarah Priem made nine saves in the Marquette end.

Up Next: Marquette returns home on Sunday to host Winthrop at noon Central.  The Eagles (3-5) are a second year program just like Marquette, and there will be FREE PIZZA for students and Marquette texting gloves given away as well.