6 hours Ago By Brendan Connelly
HINGHAM – It was almost stunning, being down a goal to start a game. Despite unique circumstances Tuesday, Emma Connerty and her teammates were unfazed. The University of North Carolina commit sniped five goals to go with two assists, as Notre Dame (Hingham) registered a convincing 16-4 romp of Wellesley at home.
“I rely on all of my seniors that have that experience, that understand just how to gain momentum or change momentum, to make some plays or to take some risks and maybe do something a little bit differently,” said Notre Dame coach Meredith Frank McGinnis. “(Connerty) is absolutely a leader for us. We expect her to make plays.
She expects herself to make plays.” The Cougars (3-0) entered Tuesday’s matchup as the consensus team to beat in Massachusetts. Meanwhile, Wellesley (1-1) was not far behind, sitting at third overall in the Herald’s top 25.
In the game’s early stages, it appeared fans were in for a nail-biter, as Raiders junior Tara Battaglino buried a goal to give Wellesley a 1-0 lead 47 seconds into play. However, Notre Dame answered. Caroline Haggerty and Connerty netted the game’s next four goals in short order, as the Cougars built a 4-1 advantage with 5:39 left in the first quarter.
Wellesley trimmed its deficit to 4-2 when Olivia Comella found twine as the opening frame concluded. The drama carried on into the second stanza, as Connerty completed a hat trick to open the quarter, before Battaglino recorded her second goal 37 seconds later to bring Wellesley back within 5-3 with 9:09 left in the half. Then, the floodgates opened, as Notre Dame proceeded to score the game’s next 11 goals, five of them coming to close the second quarter.
Connerty and Haggerty each scored during the stretch as the Cougars broke things open at 10-3 by intermission. They would never look back from there, milking clock while capitalizing on their opportunities in the second half to seal things. “I think from the start, we knew it was going to be a really competitive game,” Connerty said.
“We had that mindset going in. We don’t let mistakes get us down. We have a ‘goldfish’ mentality, and we just say: ‘Let’s just get the next one.
’” Caroline and Anna Haggerty each registered a hat trick to aid Notre Dame, while Sadie Lopez (two goals, assist) and Ani Woodard (two goals) provided a boost. Battaglino closed the game’s scoring, completing a hat trick of her own for Wellelsey with seconds to play. “It’s definitely a great accomplishment for us,” Connerty said.
“I think that definitely boosted our confidence as a younger team. But I think that this is our expectation. This is what we want to be doing every single game.
We just proved to ourselves that this is our new ability, that we can do this against any team. I think we just set the bar for ourselves.”.
