SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 11 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-2, 0-1) opened up ACC play on Saturday night in a close battle with the No. 19 Clemson Tigers (4-0, 1-0), falling 12-11 in the final minutes of play.
Coming off back-to-back five-goal performances inside of Loftus, Madison Rassas delivered a hat trick on Saturday while also winning five draw controls.
Kate Timarky recorded a hat trick as well, followed by Kristen Shanahan with two goals. Wynter Jock, Kathryn Morrissey, and Fran Frieri also dished out two assists apiece tonight. Meghan O’Hare recorded a team-best seven draw controls.
HOW IT HAPPENED
While Clemson claimed an early 3-0 lead, Rassas fired home the first Irish goal of the night at 7:12 in the first quarter.
Morrissey recorded her second assist in the game on Conley’s first goal as she found her crossfield on the backside to bring the Irish within one at 3-2 heading into the second quarter.
Just 33 seconds into the second period, the Tigers extended their lead back to two at 4-2. They scored three unanswered goals for 6-3 advantage before Conley found Murphy on a cut to the net to score Notre Dame’s fourth goal of the night.
Clemson scored their last goal of the half at 2:28, but the Irish responded with the final goal of the half. With 10 seconds left, Timarky grabbed the ground ball off the rebound from a save to bring the Irish within two heading into the second half.
With the Tigers up 7-5, Jock found a cutting Rassas on a dive to the goal for her second goal of the night and the Irish scored again shortly after on miscue at the net to tie it up.
The Irish extended their run to four straight goals, which was capped off by a Shanahan goal off a feed from Frieri for Notre Dame to take their first lead of the night at 8-7.
After the Tigers responded with a free position goal to end the Irish run, Notre Dame answered. Jock would find Rassas yet again and Rassas beat the Clemson goalie to complete the hat trick and give Notre Dame the 9-8 lead.
The two squads continued to trade scores as another Clemson goal evened the slate at 9-9 heading into the fourth.
O’Hare found Timarky in transition to put the Irish up 10-9 with 10:57 remaining, but the Tigers answered with back-to-back free position goals to take the lead 11-10.
The Irish refused to go away, as Shanahan knocked down her second goal of the night at 3:58 to make it an even ballgame at 11-11.
The Tigers took a 12-11 lead with 1:04 on the clock and regained possession from an Irish turnover.
With eight seconds left, the Irish forced a Clemson turnover with four defenders swarming. Shanahan scooped the ground ball and found Morrissey in transition to the goal. The ball found the back of the net with just four seconds left, but was called back after the refs called the Irish for offsides.
UP NEXT
The Irish are back in action next Friday for their first road game since the season opener as they take on Duke at 2 p.m. in Durham. The Irish will spend the weekend in North Carolina as they travel to Elon on Sunday for an 11 a.m. matchup.