Box Score SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio -- The Notre Dame Falcons put up a season high, 23 goals on Thursday afternoon, and came away with a victory in their home opener, defeating Ursuline, 23-16, at Normandy Field.
For the Falcons (1-3) the victory marks the second time in the last three years that they've won their home opener, and was their fourth in a row at home, while the Arrows (0-4) have now lost four in a row to start the year.
Notre Dame got out to a great start, beginning the contest by scoring five of the first six goals, in the first four minutes of the contest. While Notre Dame never trailed at any point of the contest, they had to withstand a late Ursuline run in the opening half before pulling away in the second.
The aforementioned 5-1 run to start the game was highlighted by
Brooke Czarnecki, who scored three of those five goals, and led the Falcons with a season best, eight goals on the afternoon.
Ursuline would not allow the Falcons to get comfortable in the opening half, as they won a number of draw controls in the later stages of the opening half, which gave them more opportunities at the offensive end. They outshot NDC, 22-18 in the first half.
Notre Dame held a 9-4 lead after an
Allison Merten goal with 6:54 to play in the first period, before the Arrows came storming back. Ursuline score the next three goals to come within two, and they closed out the half on a free position goal as time expired, trailing just 11-9 halfway through.
Ursuline scored first in the second half to narrow the deficit to one (11-10) and they remained close, trailing by just a goal (13-12) with 27 minutes left, before the Falcons hit their stride offensively, and they scored the next eight goals to pull away. Five different Falcons scored during that stretch, and
Darbie Barkman was at the center of it, scoring four of those goals to help NDC pull away.
On a night where six Falcons scored at least once, the Falcons had five score multiple times, and Czarnecki led the way with eight goals. Barkman wasn't far behind with six goals, while both
Emilia Ferrara and
Halie Taylor scored a trio of goals. Merten added a pair of goals and
Amber Sa'ad scored one as well.
Lauren Ragsdale had a nice day in net for the Falcons, as she turned away 17 shots to score her first victory of the season.
The Falcons are in action again next Friday, March 27, when they play host to Urbana in their Mountain East Conference opener at Normandy Field. The contest is scheduled for a 4 p.m. start.
