2008-’09: Won the Midwest championship at Ohio University with a convincing win over Grand Valley State University13-6. We received an automatic bid to Nationals and were paired to play the University of Central Florida in the first round (#16 in the country going into the tournament). We were ranked number 2 going into the tournament, tied for our highest ranking of the year. In our win over Central Florida all 19 players who made the trip to Nationals played in the game. After the come from behind victory over the host and #5 nationally ranked UC Davis team, we beat the University of Oregon for the second time this season. In the 8-1 victory all 6 starters scored including a hat trick for Ali Durkin. In the Championship game we lost a hard fought battle to #1 Cal Poly. After spotting them a 0-3 lead in the first 5 minutes of the game, the team responded remarkably and gave Poly all they could handle. The score was 1-3 after the first, 3-4 at the half and 4-5 in the third before the final score of 4-6. Notre Dame finished ranked 2nd at the National Championship Tournament and in the final national poll of 2009. Kelly Horner and Betsy O’Neill were both named 1st team all tournament and Kat Kennifer and Cristina Romano were named to the 2nd team. Coughlin was named Outstanding Coach of the Tournament/National Coach of the Year as voted on by the coaches. Kelly Horner, Cristina Romano and Betsy O’Neill were named first team All-Midwest. Kat Kennifer , Kristen Harchut and Ali Durkin were named second team. Kelly Horner was the unanimous choice as Midwest Conference MVP. Coughlin was named Midwest coach of the year (6). We also had 4 players named All American: Kelly Horner and Betsy O’Neill 1st team, Cristina Romano 2nd team, and Ali Durkin, Honorable Mention. Kelly Horner was also named National Player of the Year. The 08-09 team had the highest winning percentage and final ranking in the history of the program. We were 4-2 against Varsity competition and 29-3 against club teams. Team Captains were Kelly Horner, Kristen Harchut and Betsy O’Neill.
January 31-February 1 CWPA Midwest Division Regionals, Jenison HS (GVSU Hosted), Jenison, MI
- ND 10 Miami, OH 4 (W 1-0)
- ND 5 Grand Valley St. (#11) 3 (W 2-0)
- ND 15 Ohio University 5 (W 3-0)
- ND 13 Washington Univ . 0 (W 4-0)
February 7-8 Spartan Invitational, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
- ND 9 Ohio State 2 (W 5-0)
- ND 9 Spartan WP (MW Zone) 4 (W 6-0)
- ND 7 Green Wave (MSU Alum) 6 (W 7-0)
- ND 4 Michigan (#8) 3 (W 8-0)
February 27-March 1 Irish Invitational at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN
- ND 8 Michigan State (#8) 3 (W 9-0)
- ND 15 Penn State 6 (W 10-0)
- ND 9 Lindenwood Univ. 3 (W 11-0)
- ND 7 Univ. of Illinois (#11) 4 (W 12-0)
March 6 Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL
- ND 15 Wheaton 8 (W 13-0) Var.
March 8 CSU San Bernardino, San Bernardino, CA
- ND 5 CSU San Bernardino 12 (L 13-1) Var.
March 9 UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
- ND – UCLA –
March 10 Azusa Pacific University, Glendora, CA
- ND 9 Azusa Pacific 3 (W 14-1) Var.
March 11 Cal State Poly, San Luis Obispo, CA
- ND 6 Cal Poly 8
March 12 CSU Monterey Bay, Monterey, CA
- ND 7 CSU Monterey Bay 8 (L 14-2) Var.
March 14-15 San Jose Invitational at Foothill Junior College, San Jose, CA
- ND 7 University of Oregon (#1) 5 (W 15-2)
- ND 10 Cal Maritime 1 (W 16-2)
- ND 7 Foothill College Club 4 (W 17-2) Masters
- ND 3 Cal Poly (#4) 5 (L 17-3)
March 21 Irish Mini Tournament at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN
- ND 10 Carthage College 4 (W 18-3)Var.
- ND 15 Eastern Michigan 1 (W 19-3)
- ND 11 Wheaton College 5 (W 20-3)Var.
March 27-29 Miami Classic, Miami University, Oxford, OH
- ND 13 Grand Valley State “B” 4 (W 21-3)
- ND 8 Michigan State (#8) 2 (W 22-3)
- ND 6 Michigan (#6) 5 (W 23-3)
- ND 7 Cal Poly (#2) 11 (L 23-4)
April 4-5 Michigan Invite, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
- ND 9 Michigan State (#7) 5 (W 24-4)
- ND 14 Grand Valley State (#12) 5 (W 25-4)
- ND 12 Eastern Michigan 5 (W 26-4)
- ND 11 Michigan (#5) 7 (W 27-4)
April 18-19 CWPA Midwest Championships, Ohio University, Athens, OH
- ND 15 Washington University 2 (W 28-4)
- ND 15 Ohio University 3 (W 29-4)
- ND 13 Grand Valley State (#7) 6 (W 30-4)
May 1-3 CWPA National Collegiate Club Championships, University of CA Davis, Davis, CA
- ND 11 Univ. of Central Fla (#16) 3 (W 31-4)
- ND 3 UC Davis (#5) 2 (W 32-4)
- ND 8 University of Oregon (#6) 1 (W 33-4)
- ND 4 Cal Poly (#1) 6 (L 33-5)
