One day after being named a first-team All-American and Tewaaraton Award finalist, Jackie Wolak dished nine assists to go along with two goals as seventh-seeded Notre Dame toppled Coastal Carolina 24-6 on Friday in South Bend in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The 24 goals were a program record for an NCAA tournament game.
That wasn’t the only history made for the Irish (16-3). Wolak’s nine assists broke a 12-year-old single-game program record previously set by Maggie Tamasitis in 2012.
One of Wolak’s assists was on a Kasey Choma goal with five minutes remaining in the first quarter — the 300th point in Choma’s Notre Dame career. She finished with five goals. Arden Tierney also poured in five goals, while Madison Ahern tallied four goals and one assist.
Coastal Carolina was making its first NCAA tournament appearance after upending Jacksonville in the ASUN title game. It ends the season with a 14-6 mark.
Notre Dame moves on, and it will vie for its second-straight quarterfinal appearance and third in four years against No. 12 Michigan. The Wolverines topped Mercer 18-6 in the second game of the South Bend pod behind a combined 13 points from Kaylee Dyer and Jill Smith.
Dyer did her damage on four goals and four assists, while Smith tallied three goals and two assists. Annabelle Burke chipped in three goals on four shots.
As impressive as the Michigan offense looked, the Wolverines defense, which entered the game first in Division I in goals allowed per game (6.88), unsurprisingly shined. The Bears (14-6) had won 11 straight contests, notching double-digit goals in each and boasting the third-ranked scoring offense in Division I (16.89) before running into Michigan.
The last team to hold Mercer to single-digit goals? The Wolverines’ opponent on Sunday, Notre Dame, in a 20-6 win on March 24.
Notre Dame and Michigan have squared off five times, and the Irish have a 3-2 advantage. But the Wolverines have taken the last two games, both of which came in 2022. The two teams last met in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2022, a 17-11 Michigan win.
Should it continue its streak and beat Notre Dame on Sunday, Michigan would secure its first-ever NCAA quarterfinal berth.
