Beavers Ready For Third Clash with Irish

The Beavers will face what is becoming a familiar foe when Notre Dame visits Gill Coliseum on Nov. 19, the Sunday of family weekend in Corvallis. The matchup will mark the third time that the Beavers will play the Fighting Irish, and the second time at home, since 2013.

"I'm super excited, it's the game I've been most looking forward to," said senior center Marie Gülich. "It'll be awesome to have them back here in Gill with Beaver Nation having our backs."

The last time the Beavers faced off against the Fighting Irish it was in South Bend as both teams battled down to the wire, the No. 3 Fighting Irish coming out on top of a 62-61 thriller. Katie McWilliams, a freshman at the time, played a crucial role in that game - starting in at point guard with Sydney Wiese sidelined due to injury. She will now help lead the Beavers into this year's matchup at home.

"I'm little less nervous this time around," McWilliams said with a laugh. "Freshman year I kind of got thrown to the wolves moving to point guard. But we played that game down to the wire so I kind of feel like this game coming up is a little bit of a revenge game. I know Gill is going to be crazy and we're going to battle to the end."

But two years before the Beavers' trip to South Bend in 2014, Oregon State hosted the Irish in a milestone contest for the program. OSU battled then No. 2 Notre Dame down to the closing minutes, and although the Irish ultimately came away victorious, the contest showed that the Beavers were ready to compete with the best.

"That game against Notre Dame a few years was a pivotal point in our program seeing itself accurately," said Oregon State head coach Scott Rueck. "We hadn't won yet, we hadn't done much of anything yet besides work hard and try to develop our culture. But that day everyone in this program's eyes were opened. We looked around and saw that we had something special here. From that moment on we competed differently and saw things differently."

"Initially it was a lot of fun to play against a historic program, and getting them scheduled to come out here a few years ago was a huge step for us," said assistant athletic director for women's basketball Eric Ely. "We learned what it takes to be one of the elite programs in the country. Our program showed that we could compete at that level and we've been showing that ever since."

This time around, the Beavers enter the matchup as back-to-back-to-back Pac-12 champions, with two-straight Sweet 16 appearances and a Final Four under their belts. With six wins over top-10 teams in the last three seasons, Oregon State is ready to take on another highly ranked foe in front of what will surely be an raucous crowd at Gill Coliseum.

"We're excited about Notre Dame," said associate head coach Jonas Chatterton. "A couple years ago we had a fantastic game with them over there, and hopefully Beaver Nation is out and Gill is rocking so Notre Dame gets to experience Gill again. This team will be ready for them, they've been through the battles and are ready to fight."

Tickets to all Oregon State women's basketball games can be purchased at BeaverTickets.com.

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