Elon Lacrosse faced a tough opponent in ranked Notre Dame, showcasing glimpses of tactical brilliance but ultimately fell short with a final score of 8-4 in favor of the Fighting Irish. The game was closely contested in the first half with Elon being down by a goal, but momentum shifted in the second half.

The Phoenix took an early lead with a goal, boosting the team’s momentum. Sammy Fisher, a critical senior for the Phoenix, found her way to the cage and scored the first goal. Fisher stated the importance of scoring first. 


Senior Sammy Fisher dodges a defender to throw a backhand shot on Notre Dame on March 2. 


“Getting the first goal overall as a team is a big momentum boost,” Fisher said. “It lets us know, we can get those points and we can score, and I think against a team like Notre Dame, it was really important to get on early and continue that.”

Despite Elon’s strong start, Notre Dame responded and tied the game in the first quarter at one apiece. Head coach Josh Hexter said the team’s mindset is to be present in the moment, one play at a time.

“We literally just focus on staying in the moment, play by play, next play mentally,” Hexter said.

As the game progressed, both teams started to get physical and this contributed to five fouls in the first half. Fisher said the team tries to practice how they play to prepare for what they might encounter in a game.  

“It’s definitely hard to handle hard pressure when you’re on attack and especially with heavy pushes from the defense, but we do a good job in practice emulating what the other team does, and our scout team was unbelievable in practice really showing what Notre Dame did,” Fisher said.

Fisher said the importance of the team’s mental game cannot be overstated. 

“It’s something that we’ve been working on in the past week,” Fisher said. “So I think having confidence from this game like we put up a great fight and we held with them until the end.”

Lila Ceribelli attempts to doge a defender to pass in game against Notre Dame on March 2. 

Despite the loss, Hexter praised the team’s efforts, indicating areas for improvement.

“Today was a good showing in a lot of ways. I’m super proud of the effort and the mindset,” Hexter said. “We just have to sharpen up on a few things.”

With this loss, Elon Lacrosse drops down to a 2-3 record and looks to improve against Coastal Carolina at noon March 8 at Brooks Stadium.