Charleston, W. Va – In their last regular season contest of the year, the Golden Eagles would face a tough test in the Notre Dame Falcons at home. Notre Dame came into the matchup fresh off a heartbreaking loss to the Frostburg State Bobcats, their second loss to the team this season. Charleston in their last game had defeated West Virginia Wesleyan by a comfortable margin of 20-2. 
 
The Basics
Location: Welch Athletic Complex
Score: UC 11, NDC 13
Records: UC (8-9, 7-3 MEC), NDC (9-8, 8-2 MEC) 
 
How it Happened
In front of a Senior Day crowd, Charleston seemed to have all the momentum coming into this matchup with three wins under their belt, including a major upset victory over Frostburg State at home just a week prior. It was the Falcons, however, that came out in the first half with everything clicking for them. They would go on to score the opening three goals in the first quarter within five minutes to take a quick 3-0 lead. Gianni Blundell's goal at the 8:56 mark would cut the lead to just two scores, but the Grace Nickoloff would score on two more goals to end the period and complete the hattrick to extend the teams' lead to 5-1. The second quarter would entail a similar story as Notre Dame would score the opening three goals of the quarter once again to take a large 8-1 lead over Charleston on Senior Day. The Golden Eagles were able to find two scores from Sydney Verlinghieri and Antonia Martinez, but the Falcons took a 9-3 lead into the locker room. 
 
After the break, Charleston came out with a different sense of urgency, taking the opening score of the quarter as Martinez would find her second of the game. Despite Piper Hammond's goal 20 seconds after, Charleston would score on back-to-back goals from Madison Partridge and Colleen Ryan to make the score 10-6 in the Falcons' favor. The fourth quarter would electrify the crowd as the Golden Eagles would go on to score four consecutive goals, with three of them coming from Madison Partridge and a solo goal from Destiny Jackson to force a timeout out of Notre Dame with the lead cut to just two. Kendal Johnson would kill the momentum with a goal at the 1:49 mark to extend their lead to 13-10. Blundell would find one in the closing stages of the game, but there was not enough time on the clock for Charleston's dramatic comeback as Notre Dame took the 13-11 victory back to Cleveland, OH. 
 
Up Next
Charleston will face the Falcons once again on Wednesday at Mueller Field in the opening semifinal round of the Mountain East Conference Tournament on May 3^rd at 3:00 PM.