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No. 2 Notre Dame Out-Jousts No. 16 Central Florida 11-3 in National Collegiate Club Championship First Round
DAVIS, Calif. -- Kelly Horner (Sr., Holland, Mich.) scored five goals to earn Player of the Game honors and key No. 2 University of Notre Dame to an 11-3 win over No. 16 University of Central Florida in the opening round of the 2009 National Collegiate Club Championship on the campus of UC-Davis.
The Fighting Irish advance to face host and No. 5-ranked University of California-Davis at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 2 in the second round of the tournament with a berth in the semifinals on the line. UCF will take on Carleton College, a 16-1 loser to No. 3 UC-Davis in other first round action, at 7:30 p.m. tonight (Friday, May 1) in the consolation round of the tournament.
Notre Dame jumped out to an early lead in the game and did not relinquish the momentum until the waning moments of the third period as the Irish led 2-0 at the end of the first period, 7-0 at halftime and 11-0 with 2:17 left in the third period to roll to the opening round win.
Kat Kennifer (Sr., Monterey, Calif.) put the Irish on the board 40 seconds into the game as she whipped in a shot from the outside perimeter at the 6:20 mark for a quick 1-0 advantage. The lead gred to 2-0 by the end of the first period as Horner collected a loose ball in front of the cage and flipped in her first tally of the day at the 2:44 mark.
Emily Harig (Jr., Arlington Heights, Ill.) added to the lead with an exclusion goal with 5:22 left in the second period before Horner registered the eventual game-winner by moving to hole-set, turning and burying a shot over the shoulder of UCF netminder Blaire Martin (Jr., Altramonte Springs, Fla.) to push the margin to 4-0 at the 3:53 mark. She struck again 39 seconds later by repeating the feat to complete her hat-trick and build the lead to 5-0.
Christina Romano (Jr., River Forest, Ill.) closed out the first half with markers at 2:17 and 1:21 off counter attack opportunities as the Irish carried a nearly insurmountable 7-0 lead into halftime.
Notre Dame cushioned the lead further to open the third period as Horner and Harig rattled the cage with scores at 6:13 and 4:28 from set and off a lob shot, respectively. Horner finished off her day with another goal at 3:51 off a counter-attack and Romano completed a hat-trick at 2:17 with a bar-in goal to push the margin to 11-0 and finish off the Irish offense.
UCF broke up the shutout at the 1:46 mark of the third period as Stefanie Clark (Fr., Altamonte Springs, Fla.) rifled in a shot from the outside on an advantage opportunity to slice the lead to 10 goals.
Neither team could score until the 3:19 mark of the fourth period when Nicole Chavez (Fr., Miami, Fla.) put home a tally on a breakaway chance from an exclusion opportunity to pull the Lady Knights to within 11-2. Chavez finished off the day's scoring at 1:20 with another breakaway goal for the 11-3 final score.
In cage, Betsy O'Neill (Jr., Danville, Calif.) recorded eight saves in 21 minutes to earn the win, while Maggie Hyde (Sr., Midland, Texas) completed the game with a save in seven minutes of work for the Irish. For the Lady Knights, Martin stopped four shots.
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| No. 2 University of Notre Dame | 2 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 11 |
| No. 16 University of Central Florida | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
UCF Goals: Nicole Chavez (2); Stefanie Clark
Notre Dame Goals: Kelly Horner (5); Christina Romano (3); Emily Harig (2); Kat Kennifer
Saves: UCF - Blair Martin (4) ; Notre Dame - Betsy O'Neill (8), Maggie Hyde (1)
Ejections: UCF - 9 ; Notre Dame - 7
Sprints: UCF - None ; Notre Dame - 4 (Christina Romano - 1st, 2nd, & 3rd), Meghan Pearl (4th)
