EVANSTON, Ill. - Sophomore Katherine Gjertsen scored four times and junior Mikaela Watson added a hat trick, but Stanford women's lacrosse fell to Notre Dame, 15-9, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night at Martin Stadium.
Watson had all three of Stanford's first-half goals, while Gjertsen scored the next four, and sophomore Ali Baiocco added the last two to reach her 100th career goal.
Stanford finishes the 2019 campaign at 13-6. The Cardinal reached the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in the last 10 seasons and has won at least 11 games in all but one of the 11 years under head coach Amy Bokker.
How It Happened
Notre Dame scored first, but Watson quickly answered to tie the game at 1-1 just three minutes into the game.
Defenses dominated the next 20 minutes, but the Irish snuck a few into the cage before Watson scored again to pull within 4-2 at the 5:26 mark.
Watson added another to make it 5-3 with 3:52 left, but the Irish had the last tally of the first half to take a 6-3 lead into the break.
Gjertsen took over the second half with the first four goals for the Cardinal. After her second, Stanford was within 8-5 with 19:09 remaining.
However, Notre Dame scored four in a row to take a commanding lead before Gjertsen scored again to make it 12-6 at the 9:43 mark.
Stanford was never closer than five down the stretch as Baiocco scored the final two for the Cardinal. In the closing moments, Baiocco scored her 100th career goal with five seconds to play.
By the Numbers
Gjertsen added an assist and finished with five points.
In her final game as a Cardinal, senior Julia Massaro led the team with four ground balls and three caused turnovers, and added a pair of draw controls.
Baiocco and junior Kyra Pelton each contributed three ground balls and three draw controls.
Notre Dame outshot the Cardinal, 33-28, and won 18 of 25 draw controls. The Irish also held a slight edge in ground balls, 23-22.
Up Next
Notre Dame advanced to play the host and fourth-seeded Northwestern in the second round on Sunday.
#GoStanford
