No. 8 Duke Secures 15-12 Victory Over No. 14 Notre Dame

Saturday, March 26

South Bend, Ind.

1 PM

Duke University

11-1

Notre Dame

4-6

Duke

Notre Dame

No. 8 Duke Secures 15-12 Victory Over No. 14 Notre Dame

3/26/2022 5:23:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The eighth-ranked Duke women's lacrosse team's balanced offensive effort sent it past 14th-ranked Notre Dame, 15-12, Saturday afternoon in Arlotta Stadium at South Bend, Ind.

With the victory, the Blue Devils improve to 11-1 overall and 3-1 in conference play and have won five consecutive. Duke's 11-1 record is tied for the best start in 12 games since 2015 when Kerstin Kimel's squad reached the NCAA semifinal game.

The Blue Devils were led by graduate student Catriona Barry with seven points off of six goals and an assist. She also tallied two ground balls, two caused turnovers and a draw control in her all-around performance. Barry has tallied at least one goal in every game this season and now owns 173 career points.

Duke's offensive power overwhelmed Notre Dame as eight different scorers put on a show in South Bend. In addition to Barry, Olivia Carner added three points while Maddie Jenner and Abby Landry each notched two goals.

Senior goalkeeper Sophia LeRose was stellar between the pipes for the Blue Devils today, tying her season-high of 11 saves for a .478 save percentage. She also picked up four ground balls.

Barry had a hand in two of Duke's three goals in the opening frame as the Blue Devils held a 3-1 lead after the first 15 minutes of action. Barry notched her first goal of the contest at 11:30 before she found redshirt junior Veronica Hineman for her eighth goal this season. With a one-goal lead (2-1), junior Olivia Carner connected on her sixth free-position goal to run the clock out in the first.

Duke was quick on the attack as Maddie Jenner scored in less than 60 seconds into a second on a man-up opportunity, extending Duke's lead to 4-1. DeSimone found Abby Landry for a nice dish to the goal for a four-point Duke lead, 5-1. The Fighting Irish responded with two goals in 30 seconds to make it a 5-3 contest, but Duke was not rattled. Barry showed she's not just an offensive threat as she caused a Notre Dame turnover near midfield. Duke quickly got in transition and kept the Fighting Irish on their heels as Carner found Eva Greco for a nice feed inside to extend the Duke lead back to three, 6-3.

Barry turned defense into offense once again with her second caused turnover and went one-on-one with her defender and breezed the ball past Notre Dame's goaltender for a four-goal lead (7-3) with five minutes left in the half. Notre Dame tacked on two goals to close out the half. At the half, Duke led 7-5. LeRose tallied six saves between the pipes as Duke outshot Notre Dame 22-18.

DeSimone found the back of the cage at 11:10 in the third quarter to push Duke's lead to 8-5 before Notre Dame answered with a goal of its own (8-6). Following the media timeout, the Fighting Irish made it a one-point game, 8-7, with 5:37 remaining in the third. Barry tallied her third goal this afternoon giving her a hat trick in each game this season. She dodged from behind the cage as time was expiring on the shot clock and buried a shot to give the Blue Devils the two-goal advantage. Both teams connected on free-position attempts in the final minute, headlined by Landry's second goal of the game for a 10-8 lead heading into the final 15 minutes.

The one-two punch was on display to start the fourth as DeSimone found Barry for her fourth goal today before another quick score by Barry to give Duke a four-goal lead (12-8) with under nine to play. Jenner lost her defender at the top of the circle and tallied her second goal of the afternoon as Duke captured its biggest lead of the outing, 13-8. Notre Dame converted on four of the next five goals but the Blue Devils never let the Irish get any closer en route to the 15-12 triumph.

Duke's defensive unit came up huge in the final few minutes of the contest as Notre Dame was banging on the door. LeRose picked up her 11th save of the day as Notre Dame got two good looks at the back of the net, but couldn't find an answer.

Notre Dame was led by Madison Mote with seven points, while goalkeeper Bridget Deehan picked up nine saves.

Duke has a quick turnaround for a Tuesday contest at Liberty. Opening draw is set for 3 p.m., on ESPN+ in Lynchburg, Va.

For more information on Duke women's lacrosse, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "DukeWLAX.

#GoDuke