Good Afternoon, Irish Fans!  There will be a lot of pre-game articles that will talk about stats, and keys to a National Championship, but there are aspects of the game that go beyond statistics. That aspect is character.

How Did They Show Character?

After a season long journey with this team, I see a group of transformed men. Freshmen are essentially sophomores, sophomores are juniors, and seniors are about to graduate. During the mid-season 16-game winning streak, Coach Jackson said “We don’t discuss [the streak] all. All I keep talking about is we need to get better. We are far from a perfect hockey team.” Not once did this team take this season for granted.

The postgame press conferences were consistent and were delivered with the same message. “Our goalie and the defensemen are right now the foundation of our team. The positive thing is we are getting some timely scoring. Some key goals and we make it interesting every night. It always seems to be a tough game in the end. It’s not [like] we are winning these game going away. Every game is a battle and we are fighting through it. Going through these two games and tough experiences are probably good for us.” These were Coach Jackson’s words after a close win over Michigan back in early February.

This team has character. They play for the love of the game. They play for each other. They play for the love of Notre Dame. This is where the heart of this team lies.

They don’t play for the name on the back of their hockey sweaters. They play for the name on the front–Notre Dame.

Character is built. Character is what you are judged on. The character of this team is one of a champion. You don’t need to receive trophies, hats, or t-shirts for that. You receive respect and admiration. That is what life is all about.

Notre Dame Hockey, best of luck today! The National championship will be on ESPN at 7:30pm ET.

#GoIrish #BeatBulldogs

The post Notre Dame Hockey: Pre-Game Thoughts appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

They were hungry for the ultimate ‘prize’ in NCAA Division I women’s basketball. The Fighting Irish wanted to win a National Championship. This team knew what needed to be done to accomplish the mission. They needed to play for each other, they needed to play for the love of the game, and they needed to play for their love of Notre Dame.

What they went through and experienced this entire season is what set this team up for the NCAA tournament and ultimately the National Championship. Game after game, week after week, practice after practice, the hard work of playing with a short bench and building up the endurance of playing extra minutes is what brought home that hardware. Most basketball teams would have just cashed the season in and said “we will get back at it next year.”

The tournament, like the regular season, is about the battle of the fittest. Only the strong survive and move on. This team was the fittest despite not having three of their scholarship players. The attitude of “focusing on what we have, instead of what we don’t have” made them mentally stronger as well. Those words did not just come from Coach McGraw, they came in interviews with Marina Mabrey, Jessica Shepard, and Jackie Young. This team is truly committed to the course that has been charted by Coach McGraw.  That commitment was displayed in each of the last three games this team played.

Photo Courtesy of Erin Locascio

The Championship Game

Let’s talk about Sunday’s game. The National Championship game was a combination of games we had already seen during the regular season. During the beginning of the first quarter the Irish set the tempo of the game. A stifling defense, an offense that was scoring as the opportunities presented themselves, along with an offense that was also showing some dominance. The Irish didn’t score in the final 1:10 of the first quarter. They also didn’t score until 3:08 left in the second quarter, and scored only three points in ten minutes of play.

That’s the moment in which I was reminded of a post game press conference in which Coach McGraw said “we went down to Louisville and got our ass kicked in and we really needed to respond, and I think we had something to prove tonight.” That was the press conference following the game in which Notre Dame came back from down 23 points to beat Tennessee.

Watching the team come out in the third quarter was like watching a team that just had just been refocused and pointed back in the direction of their goal. To win a National Championship, the team was going to have to come out with a fire in their belly. They needed to find the ability to pass the ball better, commit to play better defense, and play a lot looser. These were going to be the keys to an Irish  victory. The Irish came back to their top form. The defense was causing turnovers and scoring on the opposite end. The team was also scoring with the clock not running. The Irish were not going to let this game slip away. The entire team was contributing and doing their part. The Irish closed out the third quarter on a 10-0 run that lasted 3:30, and tied the game at 41-41 on a jumper by Jessica Shepard.

Quarter number four was about sustainment of defense.  Coach McGraw was rotating Kathryn Westbeld and Kristina Nelson in and out. Guarding Tearira McCowan was not an easy task. The 6’7″ Center was not having her way in the fourth quarter. Keeping fresh bodies on her gave the Fighting Irish an advantage. McCowan was not dominating as well as she had been earlier in the game and could not keep pace. She missed her last three jumpers. The Irish had worn her out. At 1:11 she committed her fourth foul and with :03 left in the game, she fouled out. That set the stage for the next play for the Irish. The steal by Jackie Young, that led to McCowan fouling out, allowed the Irish to call time out and set up one more play. With :03 remaining, the ball goes to Ogunbowale, and she dribbled and drained a game winning three pointer.

Photo Courtesy of Erin Locascio

The shot was heard around the world! Clutch cannot even begin to define what Ogunbowale did at that moment in time. It was a team win, coupled by a group of individuals who refused to lose. That is what happens when you stare adversity in the face and accept its challenge. You win a National Championship! The icing on the cake is the fact that Coach McGraw won her 800th game as a Head Coach.

Photo Courtesy of Erin Locascio

Your box score:

Jessica Shepard 19 points (8-10 from the  field, 3-3 on free-throws)

Arike Ogunbowale 18 points (6-21 from the field, 1-3 from three-point range 5-7 on free throws)

Marina Mabrey 10 points (3-9 from the field , 1-4 from three-point range, 3-3 on free throws)

Cheers & GO IRISH!

The post Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Mission Accomplished! appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Photo Courtesy of Erin Locascio

Notre Dame versus UConn, a tale of two foes from the Big East matching up in an unlikely place. Their two worlds collided at the Final Four in Columbus Ohio. The Final Four is the 48th time that Notre Dame and UConn have done battle on a basketball court. Going into Friday evening, UConn led the series 36-11. In NCAA tournament play against each other they are at three wins apiece. There is no other way to get the National Championship than watching the two teams settle the score on a basketball court.

UConn came into the basketball game with a 36-0 record on the season and the overall #1 seed. Notre Dame came into the evening with a 33-3 record and the #1 seed coming out of the Spokane region. The Huskies had not lost a game since last year’s match up against Mississippi St. Notre Dame had lost to UConn earlier in the season at Storrs, and to Louisville twice. Notre Dame basketball had the hardest road to get to this point. Playing without three scholarship players the entire season, and their starters having to put in longer minutes as the bench developed through the season. Certainly adversity had stared in the face of this team all season.

Adversity is defined in the Oxford dictionary as: “a difficult or unpleasant situation.” Coach McGraw talked about the adversity all season. The one message constantly delivered was “we are focusing on what we have, not on what we don’t have” It’s those words that delivered this team to this point. The team on the floor Friday night was preparing for this moment all season.

It was no surprise that UConn started out very strong in the beginning moments of the game. That is what UConn does. Impose their will early and it is over for their competitor before it even starts. that lasted for a brief moment. The Fighting Irish defense was stifling. Shutting down the mighty Huskies by playing great defense early and controlling tempo on the offense. The question for the Fighting Irish was, who is going to step up and be the difference maker? The answer to the question came into focus early as Jackie Young was unstoppable. Scoring 11 of the 24 points by the Fighting Irish. Defensively the Irish played as a solid unit and holding the tenacious Huskies to 14 points. The Huskies were stunned by the energy of the Irish. ND won the first quarter 24-14.

The Huskies play at a level in which Coach Auriemma sets for all his teams. That level is losing is just not acceptable. Year after year, team after team, the players from UConn buy into his method of coaching and are very successful in his style of teaching. The second quarter showed just that. UConn opened up the quarter with a 13-0 run and the Irish appeared confused as to what had happened. Jackie Young stopped the run as the Irish were now trying to climb out of the deficit that had been created. The Irish had only a handful of baskets in the quarter as UConn set its own form of tempo to hold the Irish to 10 points across 10 minutes. The Huskies scored 27 points and won the second quarter with a score of 27-10 and a score of 41-34.

At the half social media blew up. ND fans were concerned with the previous quarter was the image of quarters to come. Being mindful and understanding this team, I remarked “Coach McGraw will get the team into the locker room and reset the offense and defense. I also reminded them that this team had come back from 23 down against the Volunteers and if anyone could come back it was this team.”

The third quarter was a quarter of resurgence. The Irish fought back. The defense tightened up and the offense went back to work. Arike Ogunbowale, Marina Mabrey and Jackie Young all contributed with points from beyond the arc. While the defense didn’t completely shut UConn down they limited the Huskies to just 19 points, the Fighting Irish starters contributed 22 points which led them to winning the quarter and down 3 points with the score of 60-57 to end the third quarter.

Photo Courtesy of Erin Locascio

To start the fourth quarter, I remembered a quote from Coach Brey earlier in the season. “The one-quarter you don’t want to lose is the fourth quarter.”

UConn was pressing on as they worked towards earning yet another trip to the National Championship game. Crystal Dangerfield was not going to let ND get back in the game as she drilled a three-pointer to put the Huskies up by eight with 6:49 remaining in the game. That was not going to stop the Irish. Ogunbowale went on her own personal run of 5-0, cutting again into the Huskies lead. The Irish pulled within two with a score of 69-67.

The Irish were not done. Late in the fourth quarter the Irish went on a 6-0 run, throttled by Ogunbowale and Young and the Irish took the lead 79-74 with 21 seconds remaining. That much clock left in a game is an eternity in basketball. After a three-pointer by Napheesa Collier, Kia Nurse got the ball back after an ND turnover and tied the game at knotted at 79.

Kia Nurse once again a factor to start overtime, drained a three-pointer that gave the Huskies a lead once again. The adversity that ND had faced all season came to a climax. The Irish had their own run of 9-2, that powered them to the lead. But the juggernaut that is the Huskies responded with a three-pointer by Dangerfield, to the game at 89. In a season of buzzer beating shots, Ogunbowale delivered the shot heard around the world. She drains the two-pointer to launch the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to the National Championship. UConn was denied again an opportunity to return to the National Championship game.

Photo Courtesy Erin Locascio

Jackie Young put the team on her shoulders and carried them to victory. Her points while the clock wasn’t running was the key to the game. She was 10-11 from the line, which was also a career best. While shooting 10-15 from the field including 2-4 from three-point range. Silently Young scored a career best 32 points enroute to the National Championship game. Arike Ogunbowale scored 27 points on 9-21 from the field including 3-6 from three-point range.

Photo Courtesy of Erin Locascio

The Irish will play for the National Championship on Sunday evening at 6 PM EST against Mississippi ST on ESPN.

Congratulation ND Women’s Basketball on your win and best wishes in the National Championship game against Mississippi ST.

Cheers and Go Irish!

The post Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Through Adversity To The “FINAL” appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

On the run

They say you can’t hit a moving target, and the same rule applies in basketball. Quick ball movement leads to chasing the ball and not covering players. Nova forced the Irish to do just that in the first quarter. The Irish were chasing the ball, which lead to scoring opportunities for the Wildcats. That style of play caused the Irish defense to give up four three-pointers in the first quarter. On the other side of the ball the Irish were spreading the wealth. Arike Ogunbowale brought Purcell Pavilion to life as she drained the first three-pointer of the game. The Irish continued to spread the wealth and make quality shots; which set up Jessica Shepard nicely. She was uncontested on most of her shots in the first quarter. Eight of Shepard’s ten points were in the paint. The Irish won the first quarter 19-18.

As the Notre Dame Women’s Basketball team moved into the second quarter, they picked up on a piece of the Villanova game plan. Coach Perretta commented about his game plan. “The goal of the game was to make a lot of threes, because we knew they were going to make a lot of twos.” And the Irish made a lot of twos. The twos were either by lay-up or by a jumper. Twelve points in the paint is a lot to give up. On the Nova side of the ball, their three-point shooting was taking off. Adrianna Hahn had two; and Jannah Tucker, Megan Quinn, Kelly Jekot, and Alex Louin all contributed with a single baskets from beyond the arc.

The Irish were also scoring points at will from the free throw line. A key to the Lady Irish’s success is to score when the clock is not moving. The Irish were quite successful in that stat. Ogunbowale made five free throws and Jackie Young would contribute two as well. Marina Mabrey was drawing much of the Nova defense and was not allowed to shoot the ball from deep as she normally does. Then opportunity knocks and Mabrey was obliged to answer it. With the score tied 31 all, Mabrey makes the three and Purcell Pavilion erupted in celebration. Everyone loves a buzzer beater. They love it even more when you are the walk-on. Kaitlin Cole ended the half as she laid it in for an easy two at the buzzer, as she brought the score to 45 all.

A story of two halves

The third quarter started on a high note for the Irish. Kathryn Westbeld had checked into the game after sitting out the first half. Westbeld made her presence known on the floor. Her first play was a defensive rebound, that brought the Irish faithful to their feet. And at that point, the tempo of the game switched. The Irish dominated the third quarter. The game turned into a game of runs. The Irish had an 8-0 run over the time span of a minute and a half, and a second run of the same amount of points in the last two and a half minutes.

A couple of highlights from the quarter included a Mabrey steal in which she then she threw a touchdown pass to Young who scored an easy two. As Ogunbowale was not going to be out done by her teammate, she rebounded the ball from the defensive glass and took it coast to coast and laid it in for two. Nova had only three baskets and two free throws in the third quarter. Compare that to seven missed shots, which included a three-pointer and eight missed free throws. By the end of the quarter, the Irish had built up their lead to twenty points, allowing only eight points by the Nova offense.

And don’t look back

The fourth quarter was about keeping the foot on the throttle, while not letting Nova get a second wind. The Irish as a group did not allow the Wildcats a single three-point shot in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats were 0-5 the entire second half. The Irish had finally figured out the Nova offense, forcing them into the paint and making them abandon their game plan completely. Instead of making three-pointers, Nova would have to settle for two point scoring and get back to making free throws. Ogunbowale added a little salt to Nova’s wounds as she added a reverse lay-up to her evening game. Overall the Irish played a fantastic game. The team had 48 rebounds, 19 on offense and 29 on defense. With 4:02 left in the game, Westbeld exited the Irish court for the last time. Westbeld waved to the fans in attendance and was greeted by a hug from Coach McGraw.

Jessica Shepard again put in major points in just her second NCAA tournament game.  Shepard scored 25 points: 10-of-12 field goals, 5-of-7 free throws, and ten rebounds. Arike Ogunbowale scored 24 points: 8-of-19 field goals, 1-of-2 from beyond the arc, 7-of-7 free throws, and nine rebounds. But Sunday night would be a career night as Jackie Young. Young had 24 points, 8-of-17 field goals, and 8-for-8 from the free throw line.

Notre Dame Women’s Basketball Post Game

Coach McGraw remarked about the game. “We obviously defended a lot better in the second half. We were very excited to have Kat available for the second half and change the course of the game. We’re just a very different team with her on the floor,” Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said. “Jess was just unstoppable inside. Our game plan was to go inside and she did everything we needed her to do.”

The Notre Dame Women’s Basketball team travels West to Spokane, WA for a match-up against #4 Texas A&M (26-9). The game will be broadcast on ESPN (4PM EST, 1 PM PST.) #GoIrish

The post Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: How Sweet “16” It Is appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The capacity crowd of 5,515 were waiting to see the (24-9-5) OSU Buckeyes go to battle against the (25-9-2) Fighting Irish. The Buckeyes had reached the championship game by defeating the Michigan Wolverines 3-2 in overtime the previous weekend.

Early on in conference play, the Fighting Irish had all the right moves. Crisp passing, good puck handling, great defense, and established control offensively and defensively early in their games. Saturday night’s first period was a reflection of that. The Irish lines were skating hard and fast. They had an objective to complete. The opening moments to the game was more like a “shake the nerves off” period of time. Those emotions changed rapidly. From the glove side of OSU goalie Sean Romeo, Bo Brauer put a laser on net and scored the first goal of the game. Compton Family Ice Arena was alive in a big way. Irish fans love it when the Fighting Irish score first, especially in a big game like this.

Despite taking the lead early, the Irish were defending the lead, another early season trait. But the Irish were not done. At 14:30, Matt Hellickson hit the post and the puck got by Romeo from the glove side on the power play, giving the Fighting Irish a 2-0 lead. The Irish were playing in dominating form.

The anticipation of those in attendance, cheering for the Irish, was at a fever pitch as they hoped for a repeat of the first period. The OSU fans were thinking the complete opposite. They knew if the Irish continued to play the way they did in the first period, it was going to be a long evening. They started out strong, working on the momentum from the first, but the winds of change started to blow and not in the Irish’s favor. The Buckeyes launched a quick flurry of shots on their offensive end of the ice. At 6:21, Brendon Kearney silenced the arena just enough to hear the cheers of the OSU fans in attendance as he scored the Buckeyes first goal of the game in front of the crease, bringing the Buckeyes within one.

All of a sudden the Irish seemed to go flat, as OSU continued to fire shots on the Irish net minder Cale Morris. The Irish were falling into the spot in which they were in the waning part of the season. Struggling to stay out of the constant defensive mode as if they were on a continuous penalty kill.

The second period was the set up for the third period. Momentum continued to go the way of the Buckeyes. It didn’t take long for the Buckeyes to put the game tying goal on the board. The Buckeyes Matt Miller, put a one timer on Cale Morris to bring the game to all even at 2. OSU continued to dominate the Irish through the remainder of the period. The one thing the Irish had going for them, at that point, was that they never gave the Buckeyes a man advantage, and played penalty free hockey in the third. The Irish seemed to have gotten their legs back late in the third period. That was a good sign because with the game ending in a tie, there was going to be some “free hockey” in the form of “sudden death.”

Coach Jackson addressed the team at the third intermission with these words; “we need to get back to the basics, and get back to do what they did well earlier in the game. They earned the opportunity to play in this game in our building, and it was a tremendous environment. The band again was phenomenal, the crowd was great and they earned the opportunity to play in this game. We work all season long to get the opportunity to get the bye in the first round, play at home in the second round and play at home in the championship, the first year in the B1G. Now you’ve got to take advantage of it.”

And take advantage they did. The Irish came out on fire. They were back to what they looked like at the beginning part of the season. Crisp passes, great defense and crashing the net. That combination all came together at 9:23 in sudden death. Jake Evans drew in the defenders, passed it to Cam Morrison and GGGGOOOOAAALLLLLL!!!! The Irish win 3-2 in sudden death to with the B1G Conference Championship in their inaugural season.

Your three stars 3) Jake Evans 2) Cale Morris 1) Cam Morrison

Along with the B1G Conference Trophy, there were some other awards to give out.

All-Tournament-Team

Cam Morrison, F, ND: Mason Jobst, F, OSU: Tanner Laczynski, F, OSU: Jordan Gross, D, ND: Matt Miller, D, OSU and Cale Morris, G, ND

Most Outstanding Player

Cale Morris, G, ND

Your Fighting Irish will travel to my home state of Connecticut, in which they are the #1 seed, and will take on Michigan Tech at 3 PM on ESPN2.

The post Notre Dame Hockey: B1G Conference Champions appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Notre Dame opened up slow against the Matadors. Channon Fluker of CSUN opened up with the first points of the game. Tessa Boagni got on the board early as well. Two quick three pointers, gave the Matadors a 6-0 run to open the first quarter. A rapid change of events occurred at the 6:51 mark in the first quarter. Kathryn Westbeld went down with an ankle injury on the defensive side of the ball. Coach McGraw on the Westbeld injury, “she will get an x-ray on Saturday, we will know more then. It’s the other one.” Referring to the right ankle injury last season. After the injury, Jessica Shepard scored on a pair of lay-ups, to bring the Irish back even at eight. There are moments in a season that set a team up for the post season. Playing short all season, Notre Dame knew how to respond.

Notre Dame’s pressure defense forced eight turnovers in the first quarter alone. CSUN tried to work through the pressure of the Fighting Irish Defense defense. While the fastball movement can work, it can’t lead to turnovers. The defense wasn’t the only strength for the Irish, their offense wasn’t so bad either. The Irish scored 23 points on 8-18 from the field. The largest lead of the first quarter was nine points with 1:19 remaining.

The Irish know when to put the throttle down and how to open up a lead. The team came alive and started playing the “you’re not getting back in this game” kind of basketball. Shepard was determined to step up and be one of those players that make a difference. Shepard did just that and stepped up with eight points in the paint. Adding to the excitement, was the cardiac kid Marina Mabrey. Mabrey was a perfect three for three. She was not being denied what was hers. Defensively, Notre Dame swiped seven defensive rebounds. This team does not let adversity rule their final outcome. Fluker, on the other hand eluded the Irish. Scoring ten of the sixteen points for the Matadors. The Irish went on to take a 55-32 lead into the locker room. Coach McGraw said that “the second quarter we played as well as we played all year.”

The Matadors came out in the third quarter with something to prove. Coming out and relying on Fluker and Tessa Boagni to lead the way. Boagni contributed 13 points, while Fluker contributed six points as well. Coach McGraw commented on Fluker’s play “everything we talked about trying to stop Fluker, she just went to town on us.” Offensively for the Irish, Marina Mabrey continued to rain down the three-pointers. Mabrey drained three more from deep range to effort the Irish to a 34-point lead late in the quarter. Arike Ogunbowale cannot be forgotten. She is the General on the floor. Ogunbowale’s emotion is the catalyst for this team. Arike contributed 6 points of her own.

The onset of the fourth quarter saw Notre Dame solve the mystery of Fluker. The Irish defense silenced the red-hot Junior and held her to just two points. With the game in hand, Coach McGraw went to her bench and brought in at different points. Kaitlin Cole, Maureen Butler and Nicole Benz; the trio of walk-ons currently on the Irish roster. These three got the love of the team as well as the fans. Cole, who is not afraid to shoot, put a three pointer in that brought Purcell Pavilion alive. Nicole Benz was given the ball on a couple plays late in the quarter, Benz appeared to be a bit nervous and passed on taking a shot despite the encouragement from those inside Purcell Pavilion. Despite losing the fourth quarter, the Irish defeat the Matadors 99-81.

The three players that took command of the game were Ogunbowale, Shepard and Mabrey. Combined they scored 85 of the 99 points the Irish put up on the board. Ogunbowale led the way with 30 points and 5 defensive rebounds. Shepard was next with 24 points and 10 rebounds in her first NCAA tournament game. Mabrey was almost unstoppable from three-point range. Mabrey was 6-8 from behind the arc. Senior Tessa Boagni completed her career with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Channon Fluker had an incredible 25 points and 11 rebounds. Destiny Brooks, a Freshman, had a silent 24 points on 8-13 from beyond the arc.

Coach Jason Flowers of the Matadors addressed the media after the contest with a few remarks. “First off, hats off to Notre Dame. Obviously they are a really good basketball team. They are 30-3 on the season and the number one seed for a reason. I am extremely proud of our young women for competing, kinda showing people who they are. Obviously adversity showed up as the face of a real good basketball team. Our young women didn’t sulk, they didn’t complain, they should true character.”

Notre Dame will face-off against Villanova, an old Big East foe, on Sunday evening at Purcell Pavilion.

Cheers!! GO IRISH!!

The post Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Westbeld, We Got You! appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

The Keys to Winning

Prior to the start of the game, five items were written down on a piece of paper. It was a “keys to winning” note. These were observations in which, if executed, should lead to a Fighting Irish victory. The keys were: a strong presence around the offensive net, a strong penalty kill, solid use of the check, play their game and do not give into PSU’s ability to draw them into a penalty.

In their previous games against PSU, the PSU offense came out shooting and shot on goal relentlessly. Saturday night, PSU had shot the puck ten times before the Irish even took their first. The Fighting Irish took just three shots before Jordan Gross lit the lamp on the Irish forth attempt at 6:18. One of the struggles late in the season for the Irish defense was protecting the lead. That struggle would make an appearance at 11:43 into the first period, as Nate Sucese of PSU would score on the power play, tying the game at one. If there is one thing that is true about this team, they have the desire to respond in the moment. After the goal by Sucese, the Irish offense came back with fire in their belly. One shot on goal, then four shots on goal, and then the fifth shot found its way into the back of the net. Shot by Andrew Peeke on the power play, at 14:03, to give the Irish a 2-1 lead. PSU has a way of being a spoiler. Brandon Biro wasted no time in scoring the equalizer, to once again silence the packed Compton Family Ice Arena, as he tied the game at 2-2 at 15:43. A note on the last goal.

At the beginning of the second period, both teams appeared to be tense coming out of the locker room. Both teams seemed to be trying to figure out a way to score on each other. Both teams were pressing hard offensively, and defensively the teams were not letting their opponent gain an upper hand. The goalies seemed to have put up a force field as neither wanted to give that go ahead goal for their opponent. Both teams had a bevy of high percentage shots. PSU had attempted 17 shots on goal, of which 13 were on target. The Irish on the other end had 20 attempted shots, of which 14 were on target. The question remained, who was going to blink first.

Cracking the Defensive Zone

After a first period that saw four goals scored, a second period of no goals scored, the third period was just as intense as the previous two. The importance of the third period was definitely obvious on the ice. Teams once again tried to find a crack in the others defensive zone. The Irish offense took an approach of crowding the net and shooting from mostly the center of their offensive zone. The Lions approach appeared to be to shoot from the area around the right face-off circle and to sprinkle in a couple of shots from around the crease. Neither team was going to flinch. Everyone in attendance seemed to be getting ready for some over-time hockey.

At 19:29, Jack Jenkins ripped a shot from the left face-off circle and slipped the puck by PSU Goalie Peyton Jones. Pandemonium erupted at the arena as the red light had finally been lit by Notre Dame. Coach Jackson commented afterwards about PSU. “They’re one heck of a hockey team. They’re a better hockey team today than they were the last time we played them.” Coach followed up on the play of his team, “I thought our defensive core did a really good job. The win is good for our confidence, considering how we finished the regular season. I thought we did a better job than we have in the past, managing the puck against them, and that’s always a challenge.” Coach was asked about the similarity to the Michigan game of trading goals. Coach Jackson’s response “Stay the course. I (Jackson) had talked to them last night, at our playoff dinner, about the importance of focus. This time of the year focus is everything. How you prepare yourself during game day, in between periods, in between shifts; just stay in the moment. Don’t worry about your shift, or your next shift; just worry about what you are doing at that moment.”

St. Patrick’s Day Matchup

This Saturday night your Notre Dame Fighting Irish take on Ohio State University. Puck drop will be at 8 PM on Saturday Night, St. Patrick’s Day. Come out and support your #IrishPuckers to a B1G Championship Conference championship. Cheers and #GoIrish

The post Notre Dame Hockey: ND To The B1G Championship appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

On Monday evening, the Notre Dame Women’s Basketball team hosted a “watch party” at the Purcell Pavilion. The watch party was to celebrate the reveal of seeding and region selection for the women’s basketball team. At approximate 7:15 EST, they found out their destiny. The Notre Dame women will play in the Spokane Region and play sixteenth seed CSU Northridge. Yes, playing a sixteen seed means the women earned a number one seed in the Spokane Region. Coach McGraw commented about the seeding. “Playing the nation’s toughest schedule, and getting a number one seed, I am so proud of this group for what they accomplished.” Coach went on to say “It’s been an emotional ride for us, coming off a loss, it feels like it’s a new season, a new opportunity”

Waiting patiently to find out their destiny

The players were available to take questions and I was able to catch up with a couple of them. Jessica Shepard was first. Question to Jessica, “Looking back to the beginning of the season, you were not even sure if you were going to be able to play. Now you are about to play with this team in the NCAA tournament. What does it mean to be with this team this season?” Jessica’s response, “just the opportunity to play for a University like Notre Dame, is something I don’t take for granted. Especially a team like this, we fought through a lot of adversity. We focused on what we do have, we don’t focus on what we lost, it’s about what we do have. We look at the five starters we have, we look at the two players that come off the bench; it’s a tough lineup for any team.”

Next up is Marina Mabrey. I asked her, “with all the adversity this team has gone through this year, what’s the strongest part of this team?” “The competitive nature. The players we have are truly dedicated, and forget what we lost. We have a pretty special group of people. We are pretty talented and are trying to focus on the positives.”

Your Notre Dame Women’s basketball team opens up play on Friday evening at 5 PM at the Purcell Pavilion against CSU Northridge to kick-off the NCAA Tournament. Come on out and support your team as they will need all the energy they can get. Cheers and Go Irish!!!

The post Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: NCAA says “Go West, ND!” appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

On Senior Day, the underclassmen want to send the Seniors off with a win. In order to win, the Irish were going to have beat a 22-6 overall and 11-4 ACC Wolfpack team. And they did just that. The Irish defeated the NC State Wolfpack 86-67 and claimed their fifth consecutive ACC regular season championship. “That’s the first deep breath I have taken since November 1st,” coach Muffet McGraw said. “I am just so proud of this team and all they have overcome. We just kept losing people throughout the year and we never put our heads down and felt sorry for ourselves. They just came back to work every day, and they stepped up individually and as a team. I couldn’t be prouder of any team. That’s the most rewarding championship we have had.”

Arike Ogunbowale started the afternoon with a huge three-pointer to neutralize the previous three-pointer by NC State Kaila Ealey. The Irish were playing with an intensity that stopped the scoring ability of NC State as the Irish went on a 7-0 run. Then there was a shift in play, as NC State countered with their own 5-0 run, which triggered big emotions out of Jackie Young. Young was driving to the hoop, when the mask she had been wearing for the last couple months to protect her broken nose, broke from the force from her opponent’s forearm. Jackie took the mask and threw it under the hoop and resumed play. That moment, was a moment of transition for her. Marina Mabrey finished the quarter with a three-pointer that capped a 17-16 Irish first quarter.

The second quarter was quite like the end of the first quarter. The Irish defense applied a significant amount of pressure to the Wolfpack offense that forced them to turn the ball over four times in two-and-a-half minutes and a total of five in the second quarter. The Irish offense took advantage of the turnovers, and they went on an 8-0 run in that time frame. The two main contributors to the Irish second quarter scoring were Young and Ogunbowale. Ogunbowale had ten points, two defensive rebounds and one offensive rebound. Young had six points, one steal and one defensive rebound. Young and Ogunbowale were setting the pace to make sure the Seniors were leaving on high note.

The Wolfpack, however, were not going to just roll over and let the Irish have their way with them. The Wolfpack came out with a point to prove. Ealey opened up the quarter with a big three-pointer. The Wolfpack would apply some of their own pressure and they came within two points of the Irish at 6:08 remaining in the third quarter. The Wolfpack opened up with a 12-6 scoring drive in that time period. But, Ogunbowale was not going to let this team fall behind. Ogunbowale nailed a three-pointer that ended the scoring the surge of the Wolfpack. From that point the Irish never looked back.  Ogunbowale drilled a three-pointer just before the buzzer sounds to end the quarter. Ogunbowale finished the quarter with eight points, two steals, an offensive and a defensive rebound. Young contributed six points, and one offensive rebound.

With the end in sight, the Irish poured on an extra layer of pressure. Mabrey started the offensive pressure of a 7-0 run, of which she had five of them including a crowd rousing three-pointer. Young also continued to contribute through the fourth quarter. They contributed twelve of the twenty points scored by the Irish in the quarter.

As the game drew to a close,  the moment of frequent sub-in and sub-out started. Each senior getting her own moment of coming off the floor for the last time. Kathryn Westbeld was first. Her day ended with sixteen points, 2 offensive rebounds, 4 defensive rebounds and 4 assists. Coach McGraw commented about Westbeld’s performance. “I would play Senior Day everyday if Katie Westbeld played like that, she was unbelievable; just a great game by Kat.” Next was Kristina Nelson. Her day ended with four points, five defensive rebounds, one offensive rebound and four assists.

Jackie Young was the stand out of the day. Jackie led all Irish scorers with 22 points, just short of her career high. She also had four offensive rebounds and two defensive rebounds in 37 minutes of play. From the moment the mask broke early in the first quarter, Jackie was on a mission. Coach McGraw commented on a question about the Jackie’s mask breaking and it being cast aside. ” She was actually cleared to play without it and was going to wear it anyway. She played well and I think she likes playing without it.” Arike Ogunbowale was next with 21 points, 2 offensive rebounds and four defensive rebounds.

#GoIrish

“

The post Notre Dame Women’s Basketball: Young Steps Up To Send Off Seniors appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Unfortunately, the Irish feel short of this on Friday night in a 4-2 defeat to Michigan.

First Period

Physical play is one way to establish control of the game and Michigan definitely established that style of play in the first period. The Wolverines established control on their offensive end of the ice with eight shots on goal in the first seven minutes of the period. Cale Morris stood tall and was once again seeing the puck, stopping the continuous attempts. The Irish drove the puck at the Wolverines goalie, Hayden Lavigne as well, but were stymied to just three in the same time frame.

A few minutes later, Adam Winborg, put the puck in the net from the front of the crease to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead. A few moments later, the Wolverines once again put a shot on Cale Morris and Dexter Dancs from netted the goal at 15:40 from the left side, and put the Wolverines up 2-0.

At 17:41, the Irish got their first opportunity to go a man up on the power play, but it was short-lived as Andrew Oglevie was sent to the penalty box for hooking. During the 4-on-4, Michigan once again established control on their offensive end to the point that it seemed the Irish were on a self-induced defensive penalty kill.

In an effort to create some offense, the Irish pulled Morris for an extra attacker as the period ended with a delayed Wolverines penalty that was enforced at the start of the second period.

Second Period

The Irish came out of the first intermission with something to prove. The Irish cut their deficit in half at 1:27 when Joe Wegwerth found the back of the net. Just when the majority of the 5,993 in attendance thought the Irish were taking control of the game back with some increased pressure of their own, Tony Calderone buries the puck in the net at 4:27 to put the Wolverines up 3-1.

At 5:30, Bo Brauer was sent to the penalty box for hooking, but the Irish killed the penalty, one of six killed on the evening.

After the successful penalty kill by the Irish, they ended up with their own power play at 8:20. Once again, the Irish power play failed to capitalize on the man advantage. That wouldn’t be their last opportunity on a power play in the second period. That power play did not last long, as, eight seconds into the power play, Bobby Nadella ripped a one-timer from the blue line and scored to bring the Irish back within one at 3-2 at the end of the period.

Third Period

Similar to the second period, the Irish were putting shots on the Wolverines goalie, but nothing was going in. At 8:08, Michael Pastujov, assisted by his brother Nick, added an insurance goal that put the Wolverines up 4-2. From that point forward, the Wolverines went into defensive mode and Lavigne was not phased by the Irish attack, turning away 14 shots on goal in the period.

The Wolverines avenged their previous two losses to the Irish back in January, defeating the Irish fall at home 4-2.

Coach Jackson Post Game Conference

Discussion on continued low-level of play by the team spilling in from last weekend:

“A little bit, I feel we played much better after the first period. We made some bad plays defensively, defense-men getting trapped up the ice, and a few bad turnovers that led to goals. These are plays you can’t make against Michigan, especially their top two lines. We are playing play-off hockey, we are just not playing the way we were playing, and we need to get back to that. Cale made some big saves for us, one of my biggest concerns going into the playoffs, is giving up odd-man rushes. Over the last couple games we have given up more than our fair share and we have to clean that up. When we were playing well, were not giving up those odd man situations.”

Discussion on the Irish puck handling and second guessing themselves:

“Michigan puts a lot of pressure on you with their speed. they skate really well and you have less time to make a play. You have to move the puck quickly, in order to do that you need to have good puck support. The Morrison turnover–he threw it across the ice under pressure and they came right back up the ice and scored. The speed of the game creates turnovers, and that’s where we have to a better job of making safe plays when we are under duress. We just have to smart with the puck and our puck decisions.”

The post Notre Dame Hockey: A Rough Road Continues appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.