Irish Leave Columbus With 9-8 Victory
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish came away with a 9-8 road victory on Sunday afternoon in Columbus against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Irish used a strong stretch in the fourth quarter to come away with the win.
Brendan Gleason, Mikey Wynne, and Ryder Garnsey tallied two goals each as the Irish improved to 5-2. Coach Kevin Corrigan recorded his 300th career victory with the win. The Buckeyes dropped to 5-4 with the loss.
The Irish finally broke their scoreless stretch on a goal by Garnsey early in the fourth quarter to tie the game at six. It was the first goal of the second half for the Irish. The Irish kept it going with a faceoff win and a goal by Gleason (his second of the game) to take their first lead since the first half.
After a bad turnover by the Buckeyes, Mikey Wynne took advantage and scored his second goal of the game as the Irish opened up a two-goal lead with ten minutes to play. The Irish were faced with a man down situation, but a nice defensive play by John Sexton gave them possession with about seven minutes to go.
The Buckeyes took the ball back and scored to cut the lead to one on a missile from J.T. Bugliosi. Garnsey gave the Irish another two-goal lead with his second of the afternoon with just four minutes remaining.
Jack Jasinski cut the lead back to one after a nice assist from Tre Leclaire with just two and a half minutes left.
The Irish held a 17-4 advantage in faceoffs which allowed to control the game especially late.
The Irish opened the second half with a faceoff win but were unable to capitalize as they turned it over after a deflected shot. Both defenses settled in very quickly early in the second as neither team had any great scoring chances. John Kelly finally broke the scoreless stretch with a goal to give the Buckeyes a 6-5 lead late in the third quarter. The quarter ended as it remained a one-goal game.
After not scoring in the third quarter, the Irish outscored the Buckeyes 4-2 in the final quarter.
The Irish took control of the opening faceoff and nearly took advantage, but Bryan Costabile was denied by Buckeye goaltender Josh Kirson. The Buckeyes scored on the ensuing possession on a goal by Bugliosi. Brendan Collins tied the game up for the Irish on nice shot moving to his left with about ten minutes to go in the first quarter.
On the next Irish possession, Costabile fired in his 16th goal of the season, giving the Irish the lead. A couple of big saves by Kirson kept the Buckeyes in the game, and they finally capitalized with a goal by Leclaire to tie the game at two with under four minutes to go in the quarter.
The quarter ended with the score still knotted at two as both teams started to settle in. The Irish took advantage of a Buckeyes penalty as a goal by Brian Willetts gave them a 3-2 lead early in the second quarter. Gleason extended the Irish lead with an accurate left-handed shot as the Irish took their first two-goal lead.
The Buckeyes cut into the lead with a nice shot by Jackson Reid, his 11th of the season. The game started to open up as big saves by both goaltenders resulted in end to end action. Leclaire tied the game with a beautiful bounce shot for his second of the game with 7:45 to play in the quarter.
Wynne cashed in off a nice transition by Sexton, giving the Irish the lead back at 5-4. Leclaire answered right back as he completed his first half hat trick to tie the game with 3:25 remaining. The half ended with the game tied at five.
Player of the Game: Leclaire. The Buckeye sophomore tallied five points including a hat trick but was held without a goal in the second half as the Irish defense tightened up.
Unsung Hero: Sexton. He may not have found the back of the net, but he came up with a bunch of clutch ground balls especially late in the game which helped the Irish seal the win.
Up Next: The Irish travel to Syracuse, New York next Saturday to take on the Orange at the Carrier Dome.
