BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10-3, 5-3) extended their winning streak to four straight wins on Saturday afternoon as they defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies (8-7, 2-6) in a 13-9 victory in Blacksburg.
Junior Kate Timarky had herself a day as she scored six of Notre Dame’s 13 goals, just one goal shy of her career-high seven goals. Timarky’s six goals led all players today as she’s second in the ACC with 46 goals and fourth with 58 points so far this season. She was followed by freshman Charley Bacigalupo who finished with two goals and two assists for four points on the day, along with two ground balls.
Sophomore Madison Rassas scored a goal, dished out an assist, and recorded one ground ball as she’s now third in the ACC with 40 goals so far this year.
Freshmen Maura Irish and Grace Maroney each recorded a goal in the win, as well. Irish also recorded an assist, a draw control, and three ground balls, while Maroney dished out two assists, grabbed one ground ball, and forced a turnover.
Junior Meghan O’Hare recorded a goal and four draw controls in the win, surpassing the 100 career draw control milestone as the midfielder now has 102 career draws.
Senior Emma Murphy also scored in the win, finding the back of the net on a free position shot.
Freshman Uma Kowalski finished with a team-best seven draw controls, as the draw control specialist has also surpassed the 100 career draw control milestone with 106 draw controls in her first Irish season.
Freshman goalkeeper Ceci Patterson finished with seven saves on the day. She’s third in the conference with a goals against average of 7.78, fourth with a save percentage of .445, and is eighth in the ACC with 73 saves so far this season.
The Irish offense had the hot hand in the first quarter as they scored five straight from five different goal scorers (O’Hare, Bacigalupo, Rassas, Timarky, Irish). The Hokies were finally on the board with a free position goal at 2:45, but the Irish would score one more goal in the period as Timarky converted on the free position shot.
The Irish outscored Virginia Tech 6-1 in the first period for a five-goal advantage heading into the second.
While Virginia Tech scored first in the second quarter, the Irish responded with a 4-0 run. Bacigalupo would score first to make it 7-2, but Timarky couldn’t be stopped as she put away three straight goals to make it 10-2 with 6:41 left in the half.
The Hokies scored one last goal in the half to make it 10-3 as Timarky led all players with five goals in the first two quarters of play.
It was a slower offensive period in the third for both teams as the Irish outscored the Hokies 2-1 with goals from Maroney and Murphy.
With the Irish leading 12-4 heading into the fourth quarter, the Hokies and Irish swapped goals to start the period to make it 13-5 with just under 10 minutes left.
Virginia Tech scored four straight to close it out and bring it within four, but the Irish would ultimately hold off the Hokies to secure the 13-9 win.
UP NEXT
The Irish are back in action on Monday as they’re set to play at Liberty (4-8, 2-2) at 1 p.m.