SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Milwaukee women's soccer team made it a one-goal game in the 59^th minute, only to see nationally-ranked Notre Dame score three unanswered times the rest of the way to prevail in opening-round NCAA Tournament action Friday night at Alumni Stadium.
 
A score by Jenni Andjelic made it a game for the Panthers (12-7-2) at 2-1, only to see the No. 13 Fighting Irish (12-3-4) pull back momentum with a huge goal just four minutes later and tack on from there.
 
A phenomenal defensive effort by Parker Donahugh in goal ended with a career-high 13 saves – the most in a game for an MKE goalkeeper in over 25 years.
 
"They are an extremely talented team; this Notre Dame team is exceptional," head coach Kevin Boyd said postgame. "I am quite proud of the way we played the first half. Second half, we came out having to chase it and unfortunately, we gave one up and it became 2-0. We did a great job getting a goal and we were back in the game, but then we gave up the third one and after that, it gutted us going down two goals and we knew it. I do not think the score reflects the quality of the game. Parker was really good; I thought we got really good play from a lot of people. But we were playing a really formidable team at their place and this is what you are going to face at this time of the year."
 
Donahugh set the tone early, making a strong save just 56 seconds into the match. A wide-open game from the start, the Panthers nearly broke through first when Kristina Karlof just missed a header off a free kick from Lainey Higgins at the 8:26 mark.
 
The MKE defense withstood numerous attacks by the home side and again nearly had the opening tally in the 26^th minute when Molly O'Regan found Zoey Pagels in the box. Pagels' one-timer was well-placed, but a final ND defender knocked it off-line and kept the match scoreless.
 
The Irish kept up the pressure and Donahugh continued to shine. She made an outstanding save on a breakaway opportunity in the 35^th minute and was again up to the task in the 38^th, only to catch a tough break. Donahugh knocked away a close-range ND attempt in the box, but the rebound went right to a teammate at the far post who was there to punch it in for the 1-0 lead at the 37:07 mark.
 
"I was really happy with our first half," Boyd said. "I thought we battled well; I thought we attacked the way we wanted to attack but we didn't connect the final-third ball, which is the one that would get us a goal and we were just missing a little bit on that final pass, either the timing or the pace of it. And I thought we defended pretty well but then it got to the end of that first half and we started giving up too many shots from distance and then gave up one late. We were down 1-0 going into half, but I was quite pleased with the half. I thought we played really well."
 
The Donahugh show continued, making an impressive save of a 25-yard free kick in the 49^th minute when she leaped high to knock the laser shot up and over the crossbar. The lead was then extended to 2-0 in the 54^th minute, on a goal where the backline was expecting an offsides call that never came.
 
Milwaukee kept pressing and broke through on a corner kick. Senya Meurer placed the ball perfectly in front, with a touch by the keeper sending it to the far post where Andjelic was waiting to pounce and make it a game at 2-1 at the 58:58 mark.
 
The next goal would be the biggest of the game, and Notre Dame got it on a nifty backheel touch from Izzy Engle for her 17^th of the season at the 62:28 mark. The Irish would go on to find two more goals to finish out the 5-1 decision. For the game, the Irish grabbed advantages of 31-8 in shots and 18-3 in shots on goal. Kayla Rollins paced the MKE offense with four shots.
 
The 2024 season concludes with the team advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the seventh consecutive season. The Panthers finished 9-0-1 in league play to claim their fourth straight regular-season crown and ninth in the past 10 years. The senior class of Parker Donahugh, Stephanie Recinos, Cate Cullison, Elizabeth Reece, Lainey Higgins, Josie Kelderman, Molly O'Regan, Kayla Rollins, and Senya Meurer finished their four-year careers with an overall record of 55-16-10 (.741 winning percentage) and a sparkling 34-1-6 (.902 winning percentage) in conference matches.
 
"We played really good teams in our non-conference schedule – it was ranked in the Top 10 nationally in strength of schedule difficulty," Boyd said. "We did that to challenge us and prepare us for these moments. In many ways, it did – we weren't afraid of them, we weren't nervous, it's not something we hadn't seen before. The intent was to teach us and for us to grow and to learn. And the great thing about this team is we grew and learned the whole time and got into conference and we were unstoppable. I am really proud of this team … we accomplished many of our main goals and on top of that, we wanted to try and get an incredible result and big upset and we just didn't get it. That still doesn't change the fact that it was a great season."