Senior night win sends Belles to postseason

By ANDREW McGUINNESS sports editor

A college team’s final home game is always a special occasion. The chance to honor seniors and celebrate their accomplishments over the previous four (or more) years, as well as the players and people they’ve become, only comes once for each graduating class.

b ut senior night meant a little bit more for this year’s s aint m ary’s lacrosse team.

b efore the game, the b elles celebrated their three seniors — attacker m adeleine b rown and midfielders e rin d otson and m olly m ullett — as well as graduate student midfielder Lindsey h erdsman. b ut after it ended, the b elles celebrated again. That’s because their 11-10 win over Trine u niversity on Tuesday clinched a berth in the m IAA Tournament, adding to the pomp and circumstance of an already celebratory day.

The b elles rode the momentum of the senior celebrations to a tone-setting strong start. For the first time since their m arch 25 clash against e dgewood, s aint m ary’s pitched a shutout in the first quarter. The b elles’ defense led the way. Trine could not get so much as a single shot on goal in the first 15 minutes. d uring that same span, s aint m ary’s put three balls behind Thunder goalie m addy Kasten. m ullett delivered one of the best games of her excellent career. s he scored twice in the first quarter and three times in the opening 16:05. s ophomore midfielder valentina r ubio also found the back of the net in the opening frame. h owever, Trine would not go away quietly. Although m ullett was able to briefly halt the momentum of their two-goal second quarter burst, a late first-half tally by n ikki h ibler gave the Thunder some momentum heading into halftime. m ullett and d otson traded goals with Trine’s b rooke h oag for the rest of the quarter. It ended with the b elles holding a narrow 7-6 edge. b ut s aint m ary’s made what wound up being a game-winning statement to start the fourth. Three goals in a 2:09 span within the moreno said. “I really wasn’t expecting anything more, just to put the ball in play and see if I could help my team throughout the game.” sure enough, he got plenty more, putting the ball out of sight and helping his team to a major upset. moreno’s second solo shot came with two outs and two strikes in the sixth, a no-doubter on a hanging breaking ball. In the eighth, he launched his third round-tripper to left field, once again coming through with two strikes.

Alyssa Keptner, who set up h ibler’s tally, buried a goal just 1:27 into the second half to bring Trine within one.

With moreno setting the tone, notre dame went on to sweep the cavaliers, winning through a saturday postponement and sunday doubleheader.

“I thought we were ready all day [saturday], no matter how long we were waiting at the field,” moreno said. “I think we were more aggressive than they were and we just took that seriously.”

The virginia series wasn’t the first instance of moreno’s work sparking the Irish. Against thenno. 6 Louisville in late march, he hit the game-winning home run on Friday, setting the stage for a series win. A week later, against then-no. 13 north carolina, moreno’s three-run Friday homer wound up being the first of eight bombs hit by the Irish that weekend.

As moreno has picked up the pace, so have the hitters in front of him. Graduate catcher v inny martinez and sophomore outfielder dm Jefferson are on hot streaks. between martinez, Jefferson and moreno, the bottom part of notre dame’s order has strengthened.

“I think all our guys in the lineup are dudes, and we all can hit no matter what,” moreno said. “It’s a great feeling when you have those guys and everybody can rely on each other back to back.”

With 37 games behind him, moreno has already made plenty of waves in south bend. he is notre dame’s first freshman to hit six home runs since active big-leaguer matt vierling (2016). even so, the freshman still has much to prove as the Irish gear up for a potential postseason run.

“my goals are just to keep competing in the box and looking after the guys that I value the most,” moreno said. “I think it’s a great feeling we have — that we have something special if we can stay hot and keep rolling.” moreno and his teammates will look for another big series this weekend against Florida state.

Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu