Feb. 14, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A six-goal performance from freshman attackman Mikey Wynne propelled the No. 2 University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team to a 14-12 win over Georgetown on Saturday afternoon inside the Loftus Sports Center.
Sophomore midfielder Sergio Perkovic chipped in three goals and two assists for the Fighting Irish, who have won their last 13 season openers.
With the score deadlocked, 11-11, early in the fourth quarter, goals from Perkovic and Wynne eight seconds apart gave the Fighting Irish a 13-11 lead with 12:20 remaining. Georgetown’s Reilly O’Connor sliced the Irish advantage to one with just under 10 minutes left and neither team scored for the next nine minutes.
The Fighting Irish had possession with the shot clock on in the final minute of regulation when Perkovic found Wynne who deposited his sixth goal of the afternoon with 29 seconds left to play. The six goals were one shy of tying the program record.
“Mikey’s (Wynne) a goal scorer and the guys around him know that,” Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said. “Everybody is looking for him now and he does a great job. I couldn’t be more excited for him. He’s a great kid.”
Georgetown’s only lead of the day came when Bo Stafford netted the game’s first goal. Notre Dame responded with three straight tallies from Wynne and another from Perkovic. The Hoyas halted the surge with a Stephen Quinzi goal to make it 4-2 at the end of the first quarter.
Georgetown scored three of the first four goals of the second period to knot the game up 5-5 with 8:27 left in the half. Will Corrigan put Notre Dame back on top, 6-5, but Stafford evened the contest once again with just under five minutes remaining in the stanza. A man-up goal from Wynne and a laser shot from Matt Kavanagh that found the back of the net with four seconds remaining gave Notre Dame an 8-6 lead at halftime.
A Stafford goal trimmed the Notre Dame lead back to one early in the second half, but scores from Conor Doyle and Jack Near pushed the Irish advantage back to three (10-7) with 10 minutes left in the third quarter. Georgetown answered with a 4-1 run to make it 11-11 in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. The only Irish goal during that stretch came from Nick Ossello.
“I don’t think we played that well fundamentally,” Corrigan said. “That’s a big part of who we are and it was very disappointing on that front. I thought we made a lot of overly-aggressive mistakes. Guys were excited and wanted to make plays and maybe not playing with the poise that we expect.”
The Fighting Irish outshot the Hoyas 43-35, while Georgetown held a slight edge in faceoffs, 15-14. The Irish converted on two of their three man-up chances and Georgetown was 1-of-2.
Notre Dame senior Conor Kelly started in goal and played the opening 36:11 and made five saves while allowing eight goals. Sophomore Shane Doss played the remainder of the contest and had three stops. Nick Marrocco had 12 saves for the Hoyas.
The Fighting Irish return to action next Saturday with a visit to Michigan. Faceoff is slated for 1 p.m. (ET) inside the Oosterbaan Field House in Ann Arbor, Mich.
February 14, 2015
Loftus Sports Center – Notre Dame, Ind.
Georgetown (0-1) – 2 4 4 2 – 12
#2 Notre Dame (1-0) – 4 4 3 3 – 14
— Sean Carroll, Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director
–ND–