On a snowy Sunday afternoon at Schoellkpoff, seventh-ranked Notre Dame’s women’s lacrosse team took the lead in the opening minutes and never relinquished it again, beating the Red 13-9 in their third match of the season.
Notre Dame had three players achieve hat tricks despite being out shot by Cornell, 26-27. Cornell had a more balanced stat sheet, with seven players getting on the board.
[img_assist|nid=21854|title=Turn the corner..|desc=Turn the corner. Junior attacker Courtney Farrell and the women’s lacorsse team lost to the Irish Sunday afternoon.|link=none|align=left|width=74|height=100]
A key problem in the beginning of the game was fouls, with the Red committing 15 fouls, ten more than the Irish, in the first half. The Irish also won the majority of the draw controls, a key statistic because of its ability to shift momentum and control the tempo of the game.
“You win the draw and you can win the game,” said freshman midfielder Morgan Hale. Hale scored her first goal of the season with less than four minutes left as part of a Red rally, and was voted Star of the Game by her teammates following the match.
The Red played better in the second half, keeping even with the Irish and were only outscored by one point overall.
“In the second half they only beat us by one,” said head coach Jenny Graap. “But they still beat us. They scored the last goal of the half and the first goal of the second half. That’s kind of the nail in the coffin.”
The Irish went into the locker room at halftime with a 6-3 lead, and then scored the opening goal of the second half, making the score 7-3. Although Cornell would continue to fight, the Irish never let them draw close enough to take back the lead.
The Red finished strong, however, with a flurry of goals in the final five minutes to cut the lead, including one by senior co-captain Ashleigh Smith in the final minute.
In the locker room the team reflected on ways to improve.
“We [evaluated] how we did individually and as a unit,” Hale said. “We felt that we had the ability to beat [Notre Dame], but we weren’t clean with our transitions and we needed to be focusing more on the details,” Hale said.
“We set goals for what we wanted to do to improve for next week. It has to be all of us working together,” Hale said.
Graap agreed that there are several things the team could be doing better.
“Obviously we are disappointed. The whole season we are going to be constantly changing and we need to make some adjustments. We need to clean up our execution,” Graap said.
Some of the things, including limiting the number of fouls per game, shot count and shot selection, can be fixed by just practicing them and working to get the details straight. “We need to get a little bit back to the basics,” Graap said.
Confidence is very important in all of these aspects, Graap said, and it’s hard to have confidence after a loss. “Losing attacks your confidence,” she said. “It puts you back on your heels.”
Other aspects of the team Graap said she wanted to work on included leadership on the field during the game.
“We need a clear defensive voice, a clear offensive leader,” she said. “We need to be able t rely on players on the field to fulfill those roles and enforce that position.”
But despite the loss, it is still very early in the season, with the Red scheduled to play 13 more games.
“It’s not the ed of the world,” Graap said. “We just need to make sure we are earning from our mistakes. I honestly believe we beat ourselves more than they beat us. Afterward we talked in the locker room and it hurt. I know we are not satisfied.”
The Red have their next game Sunday, at Hofstra University. It will be a chance to prove themselves. “This is an important week,” said Graap.
There are a lot of things the team is doing well, but they can’t allow themselves to be beat because of mistakes and a lack of effort.
“It’s difficult to win when you are working against yourself,” she said.
“Losing attacks your confidence,” she said. “It puts you back on your heels.”
Other aspects of the team Graap said she wanted to work on included leadership on the field during the game.
“We need a clear defensive voice, a clear offensive leader,” she said. “We need to be able to rely on players on the field to fulfill those roles and enforce that position.”
But despite the loss, it is still very early in the season, with the Red scheduled to play 13 more games.
“It’s not the end of the world,” Graap said. “We just need to make sure we are learning from our mistakes. I honestly believe we beat ourselves more than they beat us. Afterward we talked in the locker room and it hurt. I know we are not satisfied.”
The Red have their next game Sunday, at Hofstra University.
“This is an important week,” Graap said.
She points out that there are a lot of things the team is doing well, but they can’t allow themselves to be beat because of mistakes and a lack of effort.
“It’s difficult to win when you are working against yourself,” she said.