Something very strange happened to the Irish Friday night - something most of them are completely unaccustomed to as Notre Dame players.
For the second time in their last 49 games, dating back to late 2002, the Irish lost a soccer game.
Traveling to Santa Clara, Calif. for the Santa Clara Adidas Classic, the No. 1 Irish fell 2-1 to the No. 5 Broncos after failing to capitalize on numerous scoring chances.
Notre Dame outshot Santa Clara 14-5, and missed a critical penalty kick in the 39th minute in the loss.
"It just wasn't going our way," Irish defender Carrie Dew said. "We had a lot of really good chances. It was one of those days."
Notre Dame fell behind 1-0 at 20:03 when Megan Snell passed the ball behind her to Jordan Angeli, who ripped a shot into the right side of the net.
Angeli's goal was the sixth time that the Irish have given up a goal in the first half in the previous 32 games.
In the 32nd minute, Kerri Hanks was moving towards the right box when Broncos' defender Michaela Esquivel tackled her from behind.
Senior Annie Schefter took the penalty kick, but it was stopped by Santa Clara goaltender Julie Ryder.
At 37:50, Notre Dame finally scored when Katie Thorlakson found Hanks from the left corner near the net. The ball found its way to the back of goal, and a score that was originally credited to Hanks was afterwards ruled an own-goal.
Santa Clara's go-ahead goal came at 83:05 when Angeli's shot ricocheted off the left post into the goal.
Despite the loss Friday, coach Randy Waldrum was not terribly upset when viewing the loss in the context of the season as a whole.
"[Waldrum] said that it's a long season, and we'll be fine," Dew said.
Notre Dame was without junior defender Kim Lorenzen, who was out with an injury.
Despite this, Dew did not think her absence was the reason for the loss.
"It didn't really hurt us not having her in there," Dew said. "We still have a lot of depth."
Sunday afternoon was a different story, however.
Notre Dame returned to its winning ways, defeating Gonzaga 4-1 in the second game of the Santa Clara Adidas Classic.
Leading the Irish were familiar faces Thorlakson, Hanks and Amanda Cinalli, who all scored goals in the win.
All four goals were scored in the first half, as Notre Dame did everything in its power to erase the memories of the loss two nights before.
Thorlakson got the Irish started on the right foot when she scored on a penalty kick at 12:14, and then assisted on a goal at 16:19 when Annie Schefter headed her corner kick to Jen Buczkowski who put the ball in the back of the net.
At 32:14, Hanks scored her second goal of the game, and No. 11 of the season, when she beat Ryder with a shot in the left side of the net.
Cinalli scored the final goal at 34:56, capping off a four-goal first half.
Notre Dame will play next Friday at home against DePaul at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday against Michigan at 1 p.m.
