Mercer Falls To No. 8 Notre Dame In NCAA Tournament

Friday, May 12

Gainesville, Fla.

7 PM

Mercer University

17-3, 9-0Big South

Notre Dame

14-5, 6-3ACC

Mercer

Notre Dame

Mercer Falls To No. 8 Notre Dame In NCAA Tournament

5/12/2023 11:01:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse

Box Score

Bears finish season with program best 17 wins

MACON, Ga. – A fast start for No. 8 Notre Dame helped the Irish get out in front early as they defeated Mercer 21-6 in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night in Gainesville, Florida.

The Bears finished the season 17-3 overall with Big South regular season and tournament titles. Mercer's 17 wins this year were a program high.

Notre Dame outscored Mercer 8-0 in the first quarter to take control early in the game. Shots on goal were 24-13 in favor of the Irish.

Notre Dame led in draw controls 19-11 and turnovers were mostly even with Mercer committing 14 turnovers and Notre Dame, 11. Each team had two free position goals with Gabby DiVirgilio scoring both for the Bears.

DiVirgilio led Mercer with three goals in the game. The junior closed out the season as one of Mercer's top goal scoring threats as she had a hat trick in seven of Mercer's last eight games of the season.

Senior defender Carly Curran scored her first goal of the season and first goal of the game for Mercer. Seniors Shannon Urey and Kayla Soltys were the other goal scorers for Mercer.

Urey finished the season with 83 goals; second most in a season by a Mercer player to Hailey Rhatigan's 92-goal season in 2022. Soltys led Mercer with eight draw controls on the night.

HOW IT HAPPENED
A 45-minute weather delay pushed the first draw back from the originally scheduled 7 p.m. start time to 7:45 p.m.

Draw controls in the first quarter were 5-4 in favor of the Irish, but seven first quarter turnovers hurt the Bears from getting many scoring chances.

In the second quarter, Carly Curran took it herself running down the middle of the field and firing a shot past the Notre Dame goalie for her first goal of the season and made it a 10-1 game.

Gabby DiVirgilio scored her first goal of the game from the free position with eight seconds to play in the first half and the Bears went into halftime down 11-2. The Bears outshot the Irish 9-8 in the second quarter.

DiVirgilio scored from a tight angle on a free position shot less than two minutes in to the third quarter to open up the scoring in the second half.
With less than three minutes to play in the third quarter DiVirgilio scooped up a loose ball in front of the Notre Dame goal and put a low shot past the Irish goalie for her hat trick.

Soltys and Urey scored in the fourth quarter for the Bears. Abby Soltys had the assist on Kayla Soltys' goal.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Women's Lacrosse, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerWLAX (Twitter) and @Mercerwlax (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.