Print Edition of The Observer for Monday, November 6, 2017
Irish hold off late buckeye push
By JACK CONCANNON sports Writer
This weekend, the 10thranked Irish opened up play in the b ig Ten by heading to c olumbus to take on the 16th-ranked o hio s tate b uckeyes in a two game series. After an eight-game home non-conference slate, the matchup with o hio s tate (5-3-2, 1-3 b ig Ten) marked both the first away games for the Irish (6-3-1, 2-0) and the first games in the conference since the Irish moved to the b ig Ten this season. n otre d ame didn’t disappoint, picking up two big wins and returned to s outh b end tied for first in the b ig Ten. Irish head coach Jeff Jackson believed the change in conferences didn’t have a large effect on his team.
“It doesn’t feel much different for me personally, maybe it did for our guys. We’ve played at o hio s tate when we were in the cch A,” Jackson said. “It was a great
environment and a big time environment. That’s what we expected.”
o n Friday night, the Irish came out slow. They were outpossessed and out-chanced by the b uckeyes early, and senior defenseman Justin Wade took a five-minute major penalty that put the Irish into a hard position. b ut the Irish overcame, killing the penalty with some strong defensive play, only allowing one shot on goal during the penalty. The Irish were out-shot 13-4 in the opening frame, but were able to get into the locker room tied 0-0 after a period. Jackson believed that penalty kill was critical in getting the win.
“The penalty kill did a good job over all. We killed that major off which was huge early in that game. It could have been a totally different game if they hadn’t,” Jackson explained. “It was a real positive on the PK side.”
see hocKeY PaGe 10
men’s soccer | nd 1, norTh cAroLInA 0
men’s basketball | nd 88, beTheL 59
Notre Dame relies on defense in victory
By BEN PADANILAM e diotr-in- c hief
e veryone is familiar with the saying, “ d efense wins championships.”
And while n o. 14 n otre d ame has plenty of games to go before it is playing for a championship, it was its defense that won it Friday’s exhibition game with neighboring n AIA foe b ethel.
With 11:25 to go in the second half, the Irish allowed another basket to the Pilots, bringing b ethel’s run to 11-2 and cutting the Irish lead to just nine at 57-48.
A nine-point game halfway through the second half probably isn’t what the sellout crowd at Purcell Pavilion had been expecting to see Friday against the visitors from m ishawaka.
b ut what they saw the next 6:54 probably was closer to it.
d uring that stretch, the Irish proceeded to go on a
Squad gets redemption, advances in ACC play
By MICHAEL IVEY sports Writer
After losing its final regular season game to the Tar heels, no. 21 notre dame (115-2, 3-3-2 Acc) got its revenge sunday, defeating no.3 north carolina (14-3-1, 6-1-1) in the Acc Tournament quarterfinal round at Wakemed soccer Park in cary, north carolina. notre dame took the lead early when a header from senior midfielder blake Townes — after some nice buildup play — ended up in the back of the Unc net to give the Irish a 1-0 lead just over five minutes into the game. north carolina had a couple of opportunities to tie the game, recording four shots during the next 15 minutes. but notre dame graduate student goalie chris hubbard stood firm to keep the Irish ahead, denying arguably the Tar heels’ best chance in the 15th minute after a shot by Jelani Pieters.
nd returns after splitting road trip
Observer Sports Staff
The Irish (17-8, 7-7 Acc ) split their conference road trip this past weekend, losing 3-1 to the d uke blue d evils (178, 9-5 Acc ), before bouncing back 3-2 over the Wake Forest d emon d eacons (11-15, 3-11).
o n Friday against the blue d evils, the Irish got off to a strong start, claiming a 1-0 match lead by winning the first set 25-19. b ut d uke fought back, as the Irish dropped a very close second set, losing 34-32. The set featured a lot of back and forth play between the Irish and the b lue d evils, with neither team being able to dominate the set until d uke capitalized on a service ace late to pull away.
d uke continued the momentum of the second set into the third and went on a 7-0 run to mount a lead that the Irish couldn’t comeback from, and the Irish fell 25-18 in the third set. In the deciding fourth set, the Irish fought
hard to keep the game close, but fell 25-23. Top performers for the Irish included sophomore Jemma Yeadon, who tallied 15 kills and 16 digs, earned her 17th double-double of the season, and junior rebecca nunge and senior s am Fry each contributed 13 kills for the Irish.
hoping to rebound from their loss at d uke two nights earlier, the Irish traveled to Wake Forest to face the d emon d eacons. In another tightly contested affair, the Irish battled Wake Forest in a series of close matches, winning both the first and third match 25-12, but dropping the second and fourth 25-20 and 26-24 to set up a winner-takeall fifth set.
Although Wake Forest jumped out to an early 6-3 lead, the Irish prevailed in a close fifth set 15-13 to improve to 17-8 on the season. Top performers for the Irish included
nd volleyball
PETER ST. JOHN | The Observer
junior midfielder Thomas Ueland focuses on the ball during Notre Dame’s 3-1 win over Michigan on Oct. 10 at Alumni Stadium.
voLLeYbALL PaGe 9
KATHRYNE ROBINSON| The Observer Irish freshman forward D.J. Harvey shoots over two defenders during Notre Dame’s 88-59 win Friday at Purcell Pavilion.
