Matt Kavanagh is first nationally in assists per game (3.3) and seventh in points per game (5.3).

#3 Fighting Irish Visit #4 Denver On Saturday

March 6, 2015

Notre Dame Game Notes Get Acrobat Reader

#3 NOTRE DAME (3-0)
vs.
#4 DENVER (3-1)

Saturday, March 7, 2015 – 1 p.m. (MT)
Barton Stadium – Denver, Colorado

TV/INTERNET
DenverPioneers.com (pay)

LIVE STATS

SETTING THE STAGE
– A top-five showdown is on tap for Saturday when No. 3 Notre Dame (3-0) visits No. 4 Denver (3-1). Faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. (MT) at Barton Stadium.
– The game will be streamed on DenverPioneers.com (pay) and live stats will be available via Gametracker on UND.com.
– The Fighting Irish are coming off a 20-5 win over Dartmouth, while Denver fell at North Carolina, 12-10, in its last outing.
– Notre Dame is looking to open a season 4-0 for the first time since the 2011 campaign when that Irish team began 10-0.

IRISH HAVE SUCCESS VERSUS TOP-FIVE FOES
– Notre Dame is 7-5 versus top-five opponents since the start of the 2012 season.

PLAYING THE PIONEERS
– Saturday will be the 19th meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Denver and the Irish hold a 14-4 advantage in the series.
– The Fighting Irish are 5-1 in the last six showdowns with the Pioneers. Denver topped Notre Dame, 10-7, last season in Costa Mesa, Calif.
– The last four meetings have been decided by a combined six goals.
– Notre Dame has won the last three meetings in Denver. The Fighting Irish are 7-1 all-time at Denver.
– The two teams have met every season since 1998. Notre Dame and Denver were together in the Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL) from 1998-2009.
– Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan is 14-4 all-time versus Denver.

A LOOK AT DENVER
– Denver opened the season with wins over Duke (17-13), Air Force (16-6) and Furman (10-5) before falling to North Carolina (12-10).
– The Pioneers are averaging 13.3 goals per game, while allowing 9.0 per contest.
– Connor Cannizzaro leads Denver in goals (12) and assists (12). Ryan LaPlante has all four decisions in goal and he carries an 8.72 goals-against average and a .553 save percentage.
– Last season, Denver posted a 16-3 record (6-0 Big East) and fell to Duke, 15-12, in the semifinals of the NCAA Championship.
– Head coach Bill Tierney is in his sixth season at Denver.

HEAD COACHES HEAD-TO-HEAD
– Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan is 4-2 all-time against Denver head coach Bill Tierney. Corrigan and the Irish are 4-1 versus the Pioneers since Tierney came to Denver in 2010. Tierney’s Princeton squad bested Notre Dame, 6-4, in 1995.

HOMECOMING FOR OSSELLO
– Notre Dame senior Nick Ossello is a native of Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Ossello has three goals and two assists this season from Notre Dame’s first midfield line. He also is 21-of-45 (.467) in faceoff attempts.

FIGHTING IRISH GETTING OFFENSIVE
– Notre Dame’s 51 goals are the most ever for the Fighting Irish through the first three games of a season.
– Notre Dame is second nationally in goals per game (17.0).
Matt Kavanagh is first nationally in assists per game (3.3) and seventh in points per game (5.3). Mikey Wynne ranks second nationally in goals per game (4.3) and 11th in points per game (4.7).

MANNING UP
– The Fighting Irish are 5-of-7 (.714) in man-up opportunities this season. Mikey Wynne has scored four of Notre Dame’s five man-advantage goals.

A CLEAR(ING) ADVANTAGE
– Notre Dame is holding opponents to just a 68.7 conversion percentage (46-of-67) on clears. The Fighting Irish have converted 40 of their 49 clear attempts (.816).

FACING OFF
– After going 14-of-29 in the season opener, Notre Dame is 36-of-56 (.643) in faceoffs in the last two games.
P.J. Finley is 23-of-30 (.767), while Nick Ossello is 21-of-45 (.467) and John Travisano, Jr. is 6-of-9 (.667).

SPRING BREAK
– Following Saturday’s game, the Fighting Irish will remain in Denver until Monday and then travel to Baltimore. The Irish will do a variety of activities in Baltimore before heading to Charlottesville, Va. on Thursday to open ACC play against the Cavaliers on Saturday.

IRISH DOWN DARTMOUTH
– Notre Dame used the program’s largest offensive output in nearly 10 years to topple Dartmouth, 20-5, last Saturday inside the Loftus Sports Center.
Matt Kavanagh registered two goals and a career-high five assists, while Mikey Wynne, Sergio Perkovic and Cole Riccardi all produced hat tricks. Sophomore Shane Doss started between the pipes and made six saves, while allowing just three goals, in 42 minutes of action.
– The 20 goals were the most for Notre Dame since a 22-6 win over Butler on March 19, 2005.

OFF AND RUNNING
– Notre Dame has produced significant runs in each of the last two games. The Irish overturned a 1-0 deficit at Michigan with nine straight goals en route to the 17-8 victory. After Dartmouth tied Notre Dame, 2-2, the Fighting Irish rattled off 14 consecutive tallies in the 20-5 victory.

SPREADING THE WEALTH
– Fifteen different Notre Dame players have scored a goal this season. Five Irish players have netted at least four goals, led by freshman Mike Wynne’s 13 tallies. Sergio Perkovic has eight goals and Matt Kavanagh has scored six.

WHAT A START FOR WYNNE
– Freshman attackman Mikey Wynne has a team-high 13 goals this season. He tallied six goals in the 14-12 season-opening win over Georgetown. The six goals were one shy of tying the school record. He posted four goals and one assist at Michigan, while he deposited three goals versus Dartmouth.

PERKOVIC PICKS UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF
– Sophomore midfielder Sergio Perkovic has registered eight goals and two assists this season.
– Perkovic tied a career-high mark of five points with three goals and two assists against Georgetown in the season opener. He tallied two goals against Michigan and three versus Dartmouth.
– He has 12 multiple-goal games during his career, including four games of three-plus tallies. He has scored two or more goals in eight of the last nine games dating back to last season.
– Perkovic netted 28 goals last season, including five in the national title game.

CONSISTENCY FROM Conor Doyle
– Senior attackman Conor Doyle has a 24-game point streak, which ranks 18th nationally and is the longest on the team.
– Doyle has produced 63 points (40g, 23a) during the streak.

KAVANAGH IN THE IRISH RECORD BOOK
– Junior attackman Matt Kavanagh’s 139 career points (80g, 59a) rank 11th in the Notre Dame record book.
– Kavanagh’s 80 goals are the 12th-most in school history.
– Kavanagh produced Fighting Irish records for points (75) and assists (33) last season.
– Kavanagh’s 42 goals in 2014 were the most for a Notre Dame player since Randy Colley netted a school-record 49 goals in 1995.
– Kavanagh is the only Notre Dame player to register 30 goals and 30 assists in the same season.
– He has 25 multiple-goal games during his career (13 hat tricks).
– Kavanagh matched a school record with seven goals in last season’s win at Ohio State.

FOUR ON TEWAARATON WATCH LIST
Matt Kavanagh (Jr./A), Matt Landis (Jr./D), Jack Near (Sr./M) and Sergio Perkovic (So./M) are among 50 players who recently were named to the 2015 Tewaaraton Award Watch List.
– Kavanagh was a Tewaaraton Award nominee last season.

FIVE PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
– Five Notre Dame players garnered preseason All-America honors from Inside Lacrosse. Junior attackman Matt Kavanagh was selected to the first team, while sophomore midfielder Sergio Perkovic was placed on the second team. Junior defenseman Matt Landis earned a third-team citation and Garrett Epple (So./D) and Jack Near (Sr./M) both were honorable-mention picks.

IRISH BOAST A LOFTY RECORD IN LOFTUS
– Since the beginning of the 2000 season, Notre Dame is 19-3 in games played inside the Loftus Sports Center. The Fighting Irish have won 14 straight contests played in the facility, including wins this season over Georgetown and Dartmouth.

VETERAN TRIO TO CAPTAIN THE IRISH
– Seniors Jim Marlatt, Conor Doyle and Jack Near have been named team captains for the 2015 campaign. Marlatt, a fifth-year senior, is a two-time team captain, while Doyle and Near are in their first year in the leadership position.

KAVANAGH IS CLUTCH
Matt Kavanagh has three overtime game-winning goals during his career. He netted the deciding goal in last season’s triumph over Albany in the NCAA quarterfinals. During his freshman campaign, he scored in overtime against Penn State and North Carolina (3ot).

THREE IRISH PLAYERS PICKED IN MLL DRAFT
– Three Notre Dame seniors – Jack Near (M), Conor Doyle (A) and Nick Ossello (M) – were selected in the 2015 Major League Lacrosse (MLL) Collegiate Draft.
– The Rochester Rattlers picked Near in the first round with the seventh overall selection. Doyle went to the Chesapeake Bayhawks in the sixth round (43rd overall), while the Denver Outlaws picked Ossello in the eighth round (60th overall).

POSTSEASON SUCCESS
– Notre Dame and Duke are the only two schools to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship in each of the last five campaigns.
– Notre Dame and Maryland are the only two programs to earn a spot in the NCAA Championship field in each of the last nine seasons.
– The Fighting Irish are 10-5 in the NCAA tournament over the last five seasons.