Notre Dame women lose at buzzer to Michigan
SOUTH BEND — The game played might have been lacrosse, but it felt more like a heavyweight boxing fight between Notre Dame and Michigan on Sunday.
The Fighting Irish landed a left hook to the body first, only for the Wolverines to throw a strong righthanded jab. Both teams kept working each other after that, trying to wear the other down with a spot in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals on the line.
And in the final round of this proverbial title fight, Jill Smith landed the knockout blow.
The Michigan junior whipped a shot past Notre Dame goalie Lilly Callahan as time expired, clinching a 15-14 victory for the Wolverines at Arlotta Stadium. It’s the first time the Wolverines have advanced to the quarterfinals in program history.
“Honestly, I blacked out,” Smith said. “This team is just something special. The stops (on defense) … we’ve just worked so hard to get here. I have no words right now. I’m just so happy and proud of this program. Shoutout to all the alumni in past years who have helped pave this way for us to get here.”
It was a gut punch for Notre Dame. Thirty-one seconds prior to Smith’s heroics, Irish graduate senior Jackie Wolak tied the game at 14 with her 56th goal of the season. It was one of
eight times the game was tied.
“We were right there,” Notre Dame coach Christine Halfpenny said. “Everything was right there, and we were responding all game. My heart breaks right now for this group. I'm just so proud of them, and I love them so much. Everything that they learn here serves them the rest of their life. … You don't lose that in a one-goal game with zeroes on the clock.”
No. 7 Notre Dame (16-4) looked like it'd run away with the game early, scoring the first three goals. The last of those came from Wolak, which made her the program's all-time leading scorer.
Michigan (16-3) regrouped after a media timeout, though, scoring three goals of their own to tie the match at the end of the first quarter.
The runs of three's continued in the second, with the Irish firing three shots past Wolverine goalie Erin O'Grady. Goals from Kathryn Morrisey, Madison Ahern and Kasey Choma pushed the Notre Dame lead to 6-3 midway through the frame.
Once again, though, Michigan had a response. While it didn't score three in a row, it had three of the last four tallies of the first half. Fortunately for the Irish, a shot from Morrisey found its way in during that time to keep them ahead, 7-6, at halftime.
That advantage didn't last long, as the Wolverines tied it 50 seconds into the third quarter. The teams would alternate goals before back-to-back tallies by senior Abby Maichin pushed the Irish lead to 11-9 with 5:07 left in the third.
Once again, though, there was Michigan battling back. It scored the next three goals, the last by Julia Schwabe to give the game its only official lead change. Notre Dame tied it at 12 a minute later before the teams exchanged goals once again to tie it at 13 and 14.
Maichin, Morrisey, Choma and Ahern all finished with three goals each for the Irish, with Wolak scoring the other two. Wolak also had five assists, giving her 341 points for her career. The graduate senior trio of Wolak, Ahern and Choma all finished with more than 300 points for their Notre Dame tenure. “I'm just so proud of the team,” Halfpenny said.
“I'm proud of my 5th years, the seniors, the juniors, the sophomores, the freshmen. They've absolutely made fundamental changes in how this program is viewed, and they've taken us to another level with all of the historical firsts in this season. It's just a cruel way to have to end.”