Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/17/26
From Press Releases
Notre Dame freshman midfielder Maura Irish (Episcopal Academy) and Pitt junior midfielder Kaitlyn Giandonato (Great Valley) shared Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Week honors, while Clemson freshman defender Teagan Scott and Notre Dame freshman goalkeeper Ceci Patterson notched ACC Defensive Player of the Week laurels for games played from February 9-15.
Nine ACC women’s lacrosse teams are ranked among the top 25 teams in the latest IWLCA poll, the most among all conferences. North Carolina tops the poll again this week and is followed by No. 2 Stanford, No. 5 Notre Dame, No. 6 Boston College, No. 8 Clemson, No. 13 Syracuse, No. 20 Duke, No. 24 Virginia and No. 25 Pitt. The Panthers earned their first national ranking in program history.
CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF WEEK – Maura Irish, Fr., M, Notre Dame (Episcopal Academy/Berwyn, Pennsylvania)
• Helped guide the Irish to two ranked wins with a win at No. 3 Boston College on Friday and at No. 25 Harvard on Sunday as the Fighting Irish improved to 4-0 on the season with three ranked wins under their belt.
• Finished the weekend with three goals, five assists and eight points, and also totaled seven draw controls as well as four ground balls and five caused turnovers.
• Finished with two goals and two assists for a career-best four points and four draw controls in the 12-9 win at No. 3 Boston College.
• Recorded a goal and career highs of three assists, four ground balls and four caused turnovers in the 10-7 win at No. 25 Harvard.
CO-OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF WEEK – Kaitlyn Giandonato, Jr., M, Pitt (Great Valley/Malvern, Pennsylvania)
• Scored four goals and added two assists for six points as the Panthers topped No. 13 Duke, 17-10.
• The win over the Blue Devils was the highest-ranked win in Pitt program history.
• Also added three ground balls, a draw control, and four caused turnovers.
• Two of the goals were highlights of the night: one with Giandonato faking a pass to a teammate to confuse two Blue Devil defenders before dashing to the net for the score and another where she sent a defender to the ground with a stop-and-start before scoring a backhand shovel goal.
Temple’s Martin, Culp (Cardinal O’Hara) earn honors
Sabrina Martin & Lexi Culp (Cardinal O’Hara) earned weekly honors from The American Conference following the Owls’ wins over Saint Joseph’s and American University. Martin was named Midfielder of the Week and Culp received an Honorable Mention.
Martin registered five goals across the two contests, including her second hat trick of the season. She currently leads the conference and ranks ninth nationally in caused turnovers per game (10) and is a perfect 3-for-3 on free-position attempts this season.
Culp recorded her third consecutive hat trick and posted a career-high four goals in the win over Saint Joseph’s. She leads the conference in goals (10) and points (16) and ranks fourth in assists (6). Nationally, Culp sits 12th in goals and ninth in points. Two of her goals against American came in the second half, when Temple outscored the Eagles 8–3.
