In an Inter-Ac League girls’ lacrosse contest on April 9, Penn Charter breezed past the Irish of the Academy of Notre Dame, 16-6. However, a look at Notre Dame’s overall results this season indicated that the first PC-AND clash was an anomaly, and that the Quakers should be prepared for a more serious challenge in last Friday’s rematch in Villanova.

Notre Dame led Friday’s contest, 3-2, after the opening period. Penn Charter moved ahead and opened up a four-goal lead, but the Irish rallied to narrow the gap to a single point in the fourth quarter. Scoring twice in the last two minutes, PC prevailed, 11-8, raising its record to 5-1 within the Inter-Ac and 14-2 overall.

Notre Dame, which only lost by an 11-9 score to undefeated league leader Episcopal Academy three days earlier, went into the weekend at 2-5, 10-6.

Senior Harbor Campbell and junior Claire Cho each scored a hat trick for the Quakers, and senior goalie Maeve Magarity came away with 13 saves. Notre Dame received a game-high four goals from junior Riley Davis (who also had one assist), and junior goalkeeper Madyn Arata made eight saves.

The first “save” came in the opening minute, when Notre Dame’s first shot was blocked by the body of Charter sophomore Makenna Myers. After PC was slapped with a yellow card with 10:06 remaining in the first quarter, the Quakers were actually the first team to move the scoreboard, at 8:24. The high rebound of an initial PC shot was plucked out of the air by Cho, who scored from close to the crease on the right.

The junior notched her second goal in a man-down situation with 6:07 on the clock, receiving an assist from junior Lila Marciniak. The Irish recovered from this 0-2 shortfall late in the period, starting with a goal by junior Abby Sims with 2:15 left on the clock.

Senior Emma Anthony, who will play college lacrosse for Rutgers University, set up a goal by sophomore Lila McGrath with 46 seconds remaining. Notre Dame then went ahead, 3-2, when Anthony earned another assist by helping out on Davis’ first goal with 23 seconds to go.

Davis has made a verbal commitment to play for Penn State, as has Penn Charter junior Mia DiBenedetto.

In the second minute of the second quarter, the first goal of the day by Campbell brought Penn Charter even at 3-3. Penn Charter went ahead for good with 4:45 remaining in the first half, when Cho drove in from the left to complete her hat trick.

At 3:22 junior Cate Wall reinforced the Quakers’ lead, but half-a-minute later Davis countered for the host team to make it 5-4. Early in the final minute, Campbell was near the Notre Dame crease when she caught the rebound of her own shot and stuffed the ball into the cage to give the guests a 6-4 lead at the intermission.

The Irish controlled the draw that began the second half, and they went right down the field to have Anthony score off an assist from freshman Charlie Holloway. A few minutes later, Notre Dame had a chance to tie the match on a free position, but Magarity made a stop to preserve the PC lead.

In response, Quakers senior Molly Dougherty scored on a free position on the left side of the arc at the other end of the field with 7:51 left in the third period. Charter came right back down on attack and scored just 29 seconds later, with Dougherty assisting on Campbell’s third goal.

Notre Dame called time out and then stepped up its offensive activity when play resumed.

In goal, PC’s Magarity rose to the threat by stopping a shot from close range, then with one minute left in the third quarter Quakers senior Ana Buckley scored to make it 9-5.

To get back into the game, Notre Dame had to start scoring early in the fourth quarter. That’s just what the Irish did in the first minute of the final round, putting in three goals in a span of 28 seconds. Davis deposited the first two with assists from Sims and Anthony, then she won the following draw and fed the ball to Anthony for a breakaway goal.

The visitors now found themselves clinging to a 9-8 lead with 10:25 left to play. Two minutes later, the Irish once again had a chance to tie the game on a free position opportunity, but once more Magarity kept the cage sealed. After Notre Dame keeper Arata turned away a shot by Cho, the Quakers called time-out with 5:23 remaining.

The Irish soon gained possession of the ball, but they missed with a bounce shot and then saw Magarity foil an attempt by senior Keira McHugh with under three minutes to go.

Back on offense, the Quakers had Buckley earn a free position, and with 1:58 on the clock she scored on a low shot to give her team a little breathing room. Myers won the subsequent draw, and then the Irish were left short-handed when they were hit with a yellow card with 1:44 remaining in the contest.

An extra insurance goal came the Quakers’ way with 54 ticks to go. Starting above the arc on the right side, Dougherty slanted down toward the left side of the goal and successfully placed a low shot. When the ball was scooped up by PC’s Marciniak off of the next draw, the Irish had run out of chances.

Buckley and Dougherty each fired two goals for the winners, with Wall accounting for the other goal. Notre Dame supplemented the scoring of Davis with two goals by Anthony and single strikes by Sims and McGrath.