PHILADELPHIA – The rainy skies parted on Thursday just in time for visiting Notre Dame Academy to take the field against Penn Charter.

To say that this game was just your typical Inter-Ac girls’ lacrosse game would be an understatement. With 21 combined scored goals, this game was action-packed from beginning to end, and ultimately resulted in a Quaker 11-10 overtime victory. 

The physical game continued as Penn Charter’s goalie, Hayley Hunt, fouled Notre Dame’s Natalie Hughes, which then led to an open net Irish goal to tie the game 3-3. The tie game did not last long as Fox added three more goals to bring her total to four, Mellor added her second of five, and teammate Emma Wilson scored her first of the afternoon to give the Quakers an 8-3 lead. At the buzzer, Notre Dame’s Caroline Allen scored to cut her teams deficit to four going into the half. 

…And that’s exactly what the Irish did.

With four minutes left in the game, ND’s Julia Dambly scored her third goal of the afternoon to tie the game 9-9. Then sophomore Natalie Hughes had her shining moment and scored her second goal to give the Irish a 10-9 lead with only 35-seconds remaining.

But, the Quakers were not about to let the visitors walk away without a fight of their own. With 22.6 seconds left on the clock, PC’s Macaul Mellor added the tying goal to send both teams into overtime.

About one minute into overtime, Penn Charter sophomore Alexis Joseph scored her first goal of the afternoon to win the game 11-10. With this victory, the Quakers remain undefeated. 

Although the Irish did not walk away with the “W,” they did walk away confidently knowing that they can surly rally after a deficit.

“The name of the game in the second half was draw controls. We really had to fight,” said Notre Dame’s assistant coach Maura Wilson. “Unfortunately, in sudden death they (PC) came up with the last draw control. Leading up to that I think it’s all about being disciplined on attack. We had a game plan in mind and they had to go and execute it. I think that they played a really good game, especially coming back from a deficit. They didn’t give up and they were all over the place. We were really proud of how our girls played today.”

As for the Quakers, the saying goes “There’s no ‘I’ in Team,” and that’s exactly the motto head coach Colleen Magarity said attributed to their victory.  

“I emphasized to them that they won because they played as a team and not individuals, which is my main emphasis for the girls this year,” said Magarity. “My biggest philosophy is one game at a time, one practice at a time. If we are better than we were the day before then we are in a good spot. We never look too far ahead; our next step is our next game…well practice.”

The Irish will have their chance to split the series with the Quakers on Tuesday, May 3rd.

In the meantime, Penn Charter’s next league game is this Tuesday, where they will visit Germantown Academy. Notre Dame will play host to Baldwin on the same day. Both games are scheduled to begin at 3:30.