NOTRE DAME – Notre Dame (7-5, 2-2 ACC) wrapped up the regular season with a big 12-10 ACC win over North Carolina (7-6, 1-3 ACC) to secure the No. 3 seed in the ACC Championships and earn a spot in the semifinals on Saturday. The Irish will take on No. 2 Duke in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in the tournament.
Senior Brendan Gleason turned in one of the best performances of his career on Senior Day, matching his career high for goals in a game with five. The day had extra meaning for Gleason, as he switched jerseys from No. 9 to No. 40 after the team voted earlier in the week on who would wear the jersey that honors the late Mike Sennett. For more information on the life of Sennett, click here.
Junior attackman Brian Willetts also had a career day with a personal best six points off a career-high four assists and two goals.
The defensive unit put the clamps on Tar Heel attack, holding the visitors to just 26 shots, the second fewest an opponent has mustered against Notre Dame this season. The Irish defense limited Tar Heel attackmen to just two points on the day.
Another notable performance was turned in by junior Charlie Leonard, who once again dominated the X, winning 17-of-25 face-offs and scooping up seven ground balls.
How It Happened
Defense was the story of the first half, as the game was level after the first 30 minutes of play at 4-4. Gleason scored the first two goals for the Irish but the Tar Heels held a 3-2 lead at the end of the first frame. The visitors pushed their lead to two at 4-2 but the Irish responded with goals from Bryan Costabile and Connor Morin in the final minute of play to even the score at 4-4 at the break.
Notre Dame carried its momentum from the end of the second stanza into the third, recording the first three goals of the second half to take its largest lead of the game at 7-4 with just under 10 minutes left in the quarter.
The Tar Heels responded by scoring three of the next four goals to cut the Irish lead to just one at 8-7 with 13 minutes left in the fourth frame. Notre Dame answered with a goal from Costabile and Gleason to push the advantage back to three goals at 10-7 with 10 minutes left in regulation.
North Carolina made one last push, drawing within one goal on two occasions at 10-9 and then 11-10 but each time the Irish stopped any momentum with goals of their own to hold on and win by a final score of 12-10.