Coming off a tough home loss to No.1 Northwestern, No. 11 Notre Dame defeated Ohio State 14-11 Sunday at the Loftus Sports Center to improve to 2-1 on the season.
"We always expect a good game from Ohio State, and they were as tough as we expected," Irish coach Tracy Coyne said. "It's early in the season, but we want to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament, so a win over a good regional opponent is important."
Sophomore Kailene Abt paced the Irish with four goals. Sophomore Shaylyn Blaney netted three, as did senior Jill Byers.
Jayme Beard led the Buckeyes to an early 3-1 lead, but the Irish responded at 20:33 with an Abt goal off an assist from junior Gina Scioscia. She tied it up with a score of her own at 16:56 with an assist from sophomore Kaitlin Keena.
Ohio State staged a comeback and tied the game up at 5-5 with an unassisted goal at 6:53. Byers followed seconds later to get the lead back for the Irish. Blaney tallied a goal for a 7-5 lead, but the Buckeyes earned two of their own to tie the game at the end of the period.
Notre Dame opened up the second period with a 5-0 run with goals from Abt, Byers, Scioscia and Blaney in the first five minutes. Ohio State attempted to mount a comeback, bringing the score to 12-9 at?16:42, but sophomore Ansley Stewart notched two goals to secure the win.
"[Blaney] really sparked our offense in the second half," Coyne said. "The run we went on earned a good close game for us."
Senior Erin Goodman earned the win in goal with six saves.
"This showed that we can shake off a tough loss, and come out playing tough soon after," Coyne said. "That kind of back to back competition will be key when we get to tournament time."
The Irish will host the Stanford Cardinal at the Loftus Sports Center Saturday at 2 p.m.
