Notre Dame prevailed today in a must win battle with North Carolina. The Irish had lost to Cornell last week 9-6 in a game full of malaise and errors. John Haus’ TarHeels had been erratic with an early season record of 2-3 and needed a win over a ranked team. They didn’t get one. Pat Walsh orchestrated the Irish offense, starting with the first goals and then feeding five times for scores. Walsh was vintage today, moving the ball behind and up top, waiting fro a teammate to get the one step on a UNC defender. On the opposite side of the field Irish co-captain DJ Driscoll shows why he is the anchor of the Irish defense, by haggling every ball carrier that acme his way. Driscoll doled out a nice yard sale check on Kyle Henderson (pictured below) stripping him of his stick in a manner that it appeared to be held vertical in the air. The Irish started out with a 3-1 lead and then controlled the game for a lengthy span of almost 22 minutes, from 9:37 in the second quarter to 2:49 in the third quarter, running up a lead of 8-3. Then UNC returned the favor, scoring four goals and holding the Irish at bay until 2:51 at the end. The Irish travel to Villanova on Tuesday, while Carolina travels to Hofstra on Wednesday.

The Irish were not lethargic at all today as they appeared last week. Every ground ball was contested strongly, even though Carolina garnered the edge in that statistic, 44-35. Notre Dame prevailed on clears, being successful in 16 of their 17 attempts, while taking away 6 of the TarHells 16 attempts. Last week, Notre Dame controlled the face off and today, Taylor Clagget was stymied by a hard clamp that Carolina used, and the teams split the faces.

Carolina worked the ball from behind mostly, working around the cage, stopping and then looking for a man 10 yards out on the wing. Kemp had no problem early on stopping those shots as he did against Cornell, deflecting three shots in the first period. Walsh started the scoring for Notre Dame when Brian Hubschmann took a pass from behind, stopped faked and then passed to the left to catch Walsh in stride. Walsh quicksticked the ball past freshman goalie Grant Zimmerman to start the scoring at 8:24. Notre Dame. Worked mostly out of a fouf corners, getting the ball around the cage quickly at least two times and then reversing to catch a slide going the other way. It was an effective offense for Pat Walsh to run, and today he worked mostly out from behind, and that spot was filled by Huibschman. Carolina countered with a goal by Ryan Blair who was fed by Mike Burns. Matt Ryan, who tallied three goals today for the Irish then converted up top off a feed from Hubschmann to lead 2-1 and Walsh then fed Ryan from the left GLE up top about 10 yards out at the 2:51 mark to increase Notre Dame’s lead to 3-1 for the quarter. Ryan took the pass and dipped and used a sidearm shot to beat Zimnmerman.

Carolina opened the second quarter with a quick score by freshman Bart Wagner who was fed by Blair, and who fired an 8 yard quick dump over Kemp’s shoulder. Wagner had passed to Blair behind on the left and then Blair tossed it back up to catch the Irish out of position. Sean Link then added a solo score at 9:37 of the quarter to tie the game at 3-3. Hubschmann then added a solo score, bringing his point total to three for the day and Walsh fed Matt Karweck crossing from right to left on front of the net at 5:53. 5-3. The teams then traded ground ball fights up and down the midfield, with no team getting a distinct advantage and sustained drive. The Irish regained the bal at the 1:46 mark with Driscoll’s yard sale check, and they worked it around looking for an opening. A bad pass forced by Carolina put the Irish on the defensive and ND’s defense took the ball away with about 20 ticks left. They cleared it fast and brought it down where Walsh found Bill Liva at 0:10 for the score to make it 6-3. Liva had had four hard shots prior to this, but he was always shooting with a D-man in his face. This time he was clear and 5 yards off the crease so that Zimmerman had no chance to stop him.

Carolina won the face and lost possession on a failure to advance the ball. Walsh found freshman attacker Ryan Hoff at the 14:04 mark to increase the lead to 7-3. The teams exchanged possessions again and Hoff found Walsh on the left side of net. Rather than shoot, Walsh flipped the bal behind the net across the goal circle to Hubschmann, camping 2 yards out on the doorstep and The Bull converted it for his second goal and fourth point of the day at 11:00. Here is where Carolina picked up their tempo, pushing the Irish out on every possession and not letting Walsh getting any good handles. Carolina middie Nick Tintle beat Kemp on a close solo shot at 2:49 to make the score 8-4 and then Bart Wagner scored for the second time at 1:49 to narrow it to 8-5. Wagner hung out on the left pipe and ran up and curled and shot. The Irish were pressing at the end of the third quarter, but Carolina and the wind, which as strong today, forced a bad pass and Carolina was on the attack. They in turn were stripped of the ball at 0:19, but an Irish feed pass was picked off with 0:02 left to end their scoring for the period.

Carolina controlled the ball well for the first two minutes of the fourth quarter, but Driscoll, Rallo and Dougherty managed to keep them outside at 20 yards or more. The ‘Heels kept moving behind and tried to open a man up off the pipe, but they were well covered by the Irish middies. At 9:52 Carolina invaded the Irish zone and Bart Wagner fed Link who crossed from right to eft at the 15 yard mark. Wagner used a right overhand to beat Kemp. 8-6. At 6:13 the Irish had their second man up opportunity of the day and failed to convert and at 4:44 they had their last opportunity. The Irish were whistled themselves to even up the penalties, and Notre Dame again could not convert. Carolina was able to at 4:09 when Wagner found Ryan Walterhofer to bring the Heels to 8-7 and gave Wagner his fourth and final point on the day. Walterhofer was hanging out 7 yards on the right and caught Kemp before he completed his turn. Notre Dame fought for the ball on the next possession but lost the ball and then regained it. Matt Karweck ran straight to the net and fed Ryan at 2:51on the side for his second goal. Carolina had the opportunity to make it close, but they spent too much time moving the ball up top, rather than working back and up as they had done with success earlier. Carolina is now at 2-4 with a tough schedule before then that includes the likes of Hofstra, Duke Maryland and the Hop and Virgina also. That’s a brutal corner to get painted into. The Irish travel to Villanova and then to Bellarmine, a newcomer to the GWLL and then to Hofstra.

Notre Dame vs. North Carolina

Notre Dame

9

Scoring
Pat Walsh	(1, 5)
Brian Hubschmann	(2, 2)
Matt Karweck	(2, 1)
Matt Ryan	(2, 0)
Ryan Hoff	(1, 0)
Bill Liva	(1, 0)

Saves
Joey Kemp	7 (0.500)

Current Record
Notre Dame	2-1

North Carolina

7

Scoring
Bart Wagner	(2, 2)
Ryan Blair	(1, 1)
Sean Link	(2, 0)
Ryan Walterhoefer	(1, 0)
Nick Tintle	(1, 0)
Michael Burns	(0, 1)

Saves
Grant Zimmerman	9 (0.500)

Current Record
North Carolina	2-4