Mandy Laddish scores in the 83rd minute to lift Notre Dame past Ohio State.
View full sizeOhio State goalie Katie Baumgardner (0) and Cassie Dickerson (13) are unable to stop a goal by Notre Dame's Mandy Laddish (not shown) during Friday's semifinals of the NCAA Women's College Cup in Cary, N.C.Laddish scored her second goal of the season for the Fighting Irish (20-2-2), who advance to the championship game on Sunday for the fourth time in the past seven years.
Katie Baumgardner made a career-high 10 saves, many of them acrobatic, for the Buckeyes (17-5-2).
Laddish broke through with a long run down the middle of the field. Outracing pursuit, she drilled a left-footed shot from the top of the box into the upper left-hand corner of the net.
The Fighting Irish threatened the Buckeyes with similar runs throughout the second half, nearly scoring on two other occasions after Laddish's goal.
"I know what our Achilles' heel is, and they found it," Ohio State coach Lori Walker said. "Penetrating on the dribble through the midfield was the one thing that if they did that, we didn't have an answer."
Ohio State's best opportunity came in the 89th minute. Paige Maxwell lofted a shot that got past Notre Dame goalkeeper Nikki Weiss, but the ball bounced off the left post.
"I guess it was our turn to get robbed," said Maxwell, the Big Ten Player of the Year from Medina High School.
"They got robbed a few times. The soccer gods were not in our favor on that one."I just put everything I had, all my being, through that ball."
The Fighting Irish dominated possession throughout, particularly in the second half. They outshot the Buckeyes, 15-3, in the half, getting turned away time after time by Baumgardner.
Notre Dame put together a flurry midway through the period. Melissa Henderson rocketed a shot from inside the box that Baumgardner saved, but Henderson threatened again just 10 seconds later.
Henderson hit a left-footed shot from straight on that Baumgardner dived to her right to knock away just before the ball found the bottom corner of the net.
"I guess it was our turn to get robbed," Maxwell said. "They got robbed a few times. The soccer gods were not in our favor on that one. I just put everything I had, all my being, through that ball."
Notre Dame's Rose Augustin generated the best scoring opportunity in the first half. Augustin's blast from the left wing just outside the box in the 24th minute hit the far post near the top of the goal, and the Buckeyes cleared the loose ball.
Augustin also had a header in the seventh minute that Baumgardner saved.
In the other semifinal, Camille Levin scored in the 48th minute and Stanford beat Boston College, 2-0. 'The Cardinal (23-0-2), which reached the championship game for the second year in a row, next plays Notre Dame on Sunday.