Playing their fifth game in 14 days, the No. 9 Irish needed an overtime goal from junior midfielder David Earl to top Ohio State 7-6 Saturday.
Both Earl and fellow junior midfielder Zach Brenneman recorded hat tricks for Notre Dame (5-2), providing the offense on a day when the team was off its game, Irish coach Kevin Corrigan said.
"It was great to pull one out like that, but I'm not sure we are playing the way we are capable of playing," Corrigan said. "Though when you're playing your fifth game in 14 days, you are happy to find a way to win."
Corrigan said Earl's play in the win was the difference between the Irish and the Buckeyes.
"David Earl was unbelievable. David was our best player," he said. "He made plays at both ends of the field. He was an absolute warrior."
Of Earl's winning goal, Corrigan said the junior fulfilled his role, and more.
"It was a typical play where we have him in for that situation because they have ball coming out of the timeout and he's in there to play defense," Corrigan said. "He plays defense, gets the ball, clears the ball and scores an unassisted goal. It was a great play by him."
Earl not only scored the winning goal, but also netted Notre Dame's first goal of the game — after Ohio State started the game with a 2-0 advantage — and he scored the tying goal with less than four minutes to play in regulation.
The Irish needed Earl's heroics from the opening minute of the game after the Buckeyes scored just 36 seconds into the contest.
"I'd feel better [about our defense] if I didn't feel we gave them a couple goals," Corrigan said. "It was a very good defensive performance in our settled defense, but we gave them a goal seconds into the game. Those kind of things are disappointing, especially when you end up in overtime because you realize those are the goals that could have cost you the game."
Despite his disappointment in the overall performance, Corrigan said the way the Irish fought through the fourth quarter and overtime was promising.
"I was really happy with the way we scrapped in the fourth quarter to put ourselves in a position to win that game," he said. "Given what it was in terms of how we played to that point, down a couple in the fourth quarter and needing to make plays, I was very happy with how hard our guys fought."
Notre Dame next takes the field when it opens up Big East play Saturday against Rutgers at Arlotta Stadium.
