BUCKHANNON, W.Va. – On Friday afternoon, Notre Dame College led for the final 23 minutes of the second half and held West Virginia Wesleyan College scoreless in the final 11 minutes of the game, in an 11-9 NDC victory. Notre Dame picks up their first conference victory since 2016.

West Virginia Wesleyan jumped out to a 2-0 advantage, but as the Falcons have done many times this season, they stormed back to tie the game, quickly. Senior Taylor Henderson scored a goal, following a yellow card on WVWC. The Falcons grabbed possession on the next draw control and freshman Katie Wendell put her first goal into the net.

Six minutes later, Wendell gave the Falcons their first lead of the day, scoring on a free position shot. In the final 11 minutes of the first half, the teams went back-and-forth. Sophomore Abigail Plewes scored a goal to put NDC up two, before West Virginia Wesleyan's Madeline Gorzka netted the ball.

With 9:03 remaining, Henderson scored again, on a free position shot. Then, over a four minute span, the Bobcats tied the game at five with back-to-back goals. Wendell was successful on her second shot of NDC's final possession, scoring with 18-seconds remaining, and giving the Falcons momentum, going into the second half.

Wendell had three of the Falcons' six first half goals and Henderson added two.

West Virginia Wesleyan's Lauren Bolen tied the game at six, less than two minutes into the second half. NDC did not score their first goal until the 23:02-mark, when freshman Danyelle Hardy scored her first goal of the game, with an assist by sophomore Bridie Schmalz. The Falcons led, 7-6, and would not give the lead back to the Bobcats.

Hardy scored again and sophomore Selena Carter scored twice as Notre Dame put together an 4-0 run, giving them a 10-6 lead with 19 minutes to go in the game.

Later, the Bobcats looked like they were poised to go on a long run, taking advantage of a couple Notre Dame turnovers. WVWC scored with 16:43 remaining, with 15:13 to go and with 11:35 left in the game. They closed within one point, 10-9, but then the Falcons stopped the bleeding and put the pressure back on the home team. That made head coach Pam Jenkins very happy.

"I'm proud of our team's mental toughness today," Jenkins said. "We could have easily fallen apart when WVWC was making a comeback, but we didn't. This team is so coachable and keeps improving. It was a great team effort today."

NDC did not allow West Virginia Wesleyan to score in the final 11:34 of the game. WVWC had five turnovers in the final 11 minutes, and in that time, they only took two shots.

Notre Dame put the final goal in the net with 6:05 to go as freshman Leslie Diaz was resilient, taking a shot that went off the post and then getting the ball back to score and put NDC ahead by two goals.

Wendell had a season-high three goals, while Carter, Hardy and Henderson all had two goals. Freshman Victoria Eiland picked up six groundballs and caused one turnover. Freshman goalie Ellejanna Cicione saved five shots.

For Wesleyan, Duvall had three goals, while Lovely Ordonez-Lopez added two goals. Paige Harrison led the team with two caused turnovers.

The Falcons travel to play Shepherd University on March 24. The game is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m.