History may not repeat itself, but it surely does rhyme. The No. 25 Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team found out the hard way, losing in heartbreaking fashion, yet again, in its road clash against Pittsburgh, echoing a frustrating trend for the young team. The 13-12 loss marks the Irish’s fifth ACC defeat by two goals or less, an astonishing mark that has been the catalyst to Notre Dame’s 1-7 record in the conference.
Pitt jumped out to an early 5-2 lead in the second quarter. However, their fiery run was extinguished by Notre Dame’s impressive five-goal scoring run. The flurry of goals was inspired by the brilliance of sophomore attacker Kate Timarky. Timarky capped the Irish’s run with back-to-back goals and finished with a team-leading three on the day — stepping up in the absence of leading goal-scorer Madison Rassas.
Notre Dame’s momentum was short-lived, however. Pitt stormed back with a five-goal scoring run of its own, ranging from the late second quarter to the early third. Throughout the Panthers’ impressive offensive run, sophomore Paige Telatovich scored one goal, her third of the game. Meanwhile, fellow sophomore Avery Moon and senior Emily Coughlin netted two apiece.
From there, Telatovich kept up her rampant success. With two and a half minutes on the clock in the second, Telatovich’s dodge inside was interrupted by Notre Dame defender Grace Weigand. Weigand, a senior leader for the Irish, was called for a foul. Telatovich’s free-position shot slipped past Irish goalkeeper Isabel Pithie to extend the Panthers lead to 11-9.
Although the Irish fought back to make the game 11-11 through fourth-quarter goals courtesy of senior Fran Frieri and sophomore Meghan O’Hare, Pitt was not to be reckoned with. With 6:56 left to play, senior attacker Jenna Hendrickson scored her second of the day off a clever dodge inside, marking her 44th goal of the season — a new single-season record at Pitt. Two minutes later, Pithie made an impressive kick save for Notre Dame, but the ball bounced back into play and into the pocket of Telatovich’s stick. Telatovich took full advantage of the opportunity, providing the Panthers with a comfortable 13-11 lead.
Pitt was able to hold its advantage for just shy of four minutes. Notre Dame eventually broke through with Timarky completing her hat trick, but there wasn’t enough time left in the game to surmount Pitt.
The game is a momentous victory for Pitt, marking its first win over a ranked opponent in program history. For Notre Dame, the game effectively eliminates it from ACC Tournament contention. As evidenced by their tightly-contested losses, the Irish have shown they can compete with just about every team in the gauntlet of the ACC, providing a feeling of untapped potential for coach Christine Halfpenny’s team. However, the learning experiences picked up by the youthful squad along the way will serve to be invaluable as they move forth into next season.
Notre Dame will look to grow its ACC record to 2-7 and overall record to 7-8 when it hosts Louisville in the season finale on Thursday at 3 p.m.
