NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Sophomore Maddie Howe netted four goals and dished out three assists to lead #5/4 Notre Dame to a 15-13 victory over #21 Virginia Tech this afternoon at Arlotta Stadium. With the win, the Irish knock off their third top-25 opponent this season and improve to 11-2 overall (4-2 ACC). Virginia Tech falls to 8-7 overall and 1-4 in the ACC. Sophomore Andie Aldave notched 12 draw controls to break her own single-season Irish record and became the first player in program history to record 100+ draw controls in one season. Aldave currently stands at 200 draw controls in her career, which ranks second in Irish history behind Barbara Sullivan (269). Freshman Madison Mote collected four points (3G, 1A), while Aldave, senior Nikki Ortega and freshman Hannah Dorney each scored twice. Defensively, the Irish caused nine Virginia Tech turnovers with junior Kathleen Roe and sophomore Diana Kelly causing a pair each. Notre Dame also earned a 17-10 edge in ground balls and an 18-12 advantage in draw controls. Senior Samantha Giacolone made 12 saves to earn her 11th victory in goal this season for Notre Dame. HOW IT HAPPENED The Irish opened the contest on a 5-0 run that spanned the first 10:21 of play. Dorney started the streak 2:34 into the contest before goals by Ortega, senior Samantha Lynch, Howe and Aldave staked Notre Dame to a five-goal advantage. After the Hokies got on the board, Roe coasted by a slew of Virginia Tech defenders to score Notre Dame's sixth goal at the 19:02 mark. Howe added two more goals in the opening half to compliment Mote's second of the game to help the Irish take a 9-5 lead into halftime. Dorney netted her second 1:21 into the second half before the Hokies scored two goals to make it a 10-7 contest with 20:36 remaining. Notre Dame responded with its second 5-0 run of the game, which included two more markers by Mote in addition to scores by Howe, Ortega and Aldave, to take a 15-7 lead with 8:52 to play. The Hokies scored the final six goals of the contest, but Giacolone made four key stops down the stretch as the Irish held on for the 15-13 victory. Head coach Christine Halfpenny's thoughts: "I'm really proud of the way we started today. I thought we did an incredible job of coming out fast, playing hard and protecting our home field. Credit to Virginia Tech for playing hard and making it interesting at the end. For our group, I'm happy to see us handle some adversity towards the end of the game and earn our fourth ACC win. Experiences like that against this level of competition, especially at this time of year, will only make us stronger and better moving forward." Maddie Howe's thoughts: "Our success on offense all comes down to team movement. When we get the ball really moving, we work together really well as a team and get the ball where it needs to be. Offensively, we worked as a cohesive unit today to get the ball into the back of the net." Andie Aldave's thoughts: "For me, getting over 100 draw controls this season is really a testament on how hard we work on the draw as a team, on-and-off the field. As a group, we constantly challenge each other everyday in practice to be better on the draw and that's one of the biggest reasons for our high draw-control percentage as a team." NOTABLE NUMBERS The Irish have now beaten three opponents ranked in the top-25 of the IWLCA poll. (March 16 at Virginia, March 31 vs. UNC) Notre Dame improves to 6-0 at home in 2019. Maddie Howe has now collected at least five points in five games this season and has notched a hat trick in eight games. Andie Aldave has 200 draw controls in her career and is the first player in program history to record 100+ draw controls in one season. Today marked the first hat trick of Madison Mote's career. Samantha Giacolone has saved at least 10 shots in three straight games and four of her last five contests dating back to March 16 at Virginia. She currently has a .530 save percentage on the season. UP NEXT The Irish return to action this Wednesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. against Butler. That contest will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra.