The fifth-seeded Duke women's lacrosse team dropped a hard fought 17-16 decision on a hot Wednesday afternoon to fourth-seeded Notre Dame at Dorrance Field in Chapel Hill, N.C. The seventh-ranked Blue Devils (9-7) were led by Catriona Barry with four goals while Maddie Jenner and Olivia Carner each contributed three. Abby Landry (2), Catherine Cordrey (1), Caroline DeBellis (1), Cubby Biscardi (1) and Katie DeSimone (1) rounded out Duke's goals as Gabby Rosenzweig dished two assists to Cordrey's one. Barry's four-goal performance today ties her career high. Duke trailed in the opening frame 12-7 and, much like Friday's contest against North Carolina, used a strong second-half showing to put the Fighting Irish on their heels as the game came down to the wire. Ultimately, Notre Dame's Maddie Howe scored the eventual game winner with 2:59 remaining to advance to the quarterfinals. In a high scoring contest, fifth-ranked Notre Dame (9-5) got hot quick, scoring three goals in under five minutes to take an early advantage. Defender Biscardi picked up a nice victory at the draw circle and took off towards the Notre Dame cage and ripped it past Bridget Deehan for Duke's second goal of the contest (5-2), her first career goal. The two squads would trade the next seven goals as Notre Dame led 9-5 before the Fighting Irish tacked on three additional goals to give them a 12-7 lead heading into intermission. Duke held much of the momentum in the second half, outscoring Notre Dame 9-5. Barry, Carner and Jenner all came up big time in the final 30 minutes as they each notched two goals each. Outscoring Notre Dame 6-2 in the first 16 minutes, the Irish were held without a goal for 15 minutes to allow Duke to knock on the front door, trailing by just one (14-13). Rosenzweig tacked on her 30th and 31st assists of the season on nice feeds to Jenner and DeBellis to help move the offense. Notre Dame's Madison Ahern recorded her third goal of the day at 9:24 to give her squad a two-goal lead before sophomore Carner came in clutch late for the second game in a row to pull Duke within one (15-14) with just over 8 minutes remaining. Fifteen seconds later, Jenner won her eighth draw of the afternoon and took it to the house to tie the game (15-15). Kasey Choma found the back of the net for the third time with 5:55 remaining (16-15) before Barry answered right back in dominant fashion off a free-position goal to once again tie the game (16-16) with 4:19 left. Duke had two man-up opportunities late but it was Notre Dame's Howe to record her fourth goal of the day at 2:59 to put the Irish on top again and ultimately won the game despite a valiant Blue Devil effort. Wednesday's contest was a physical one with 65 fouls and nine cards between the two teams. Goalkeeper Stephanie Zempolich came in big time for Duke off the bench just before halftime and picked up a career-high three saves. She had previously only seen action in two games this season for 12 minutes total. Duke won the battle at the draw circle (20-15) as Jenner led the way with nine, followed by Barry (6) and Carner (4). Defensively, Landry and Jenner picked up three and two ground balls, respectively. The Irish were led by Howe with four goals and an assist for five points. In goal for Notre Dame was Deehan who picked up eight saves. Duke will have two weeks off from competition in preparation for the NCAA Tournament. For more information on Duke women's lacrosse, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "DukeWLAX.