May 14, 2014
ALBANY (12-5)
vs.
#6 NOTRE DAME (10-5)
NCAA Championship Quarterfinal
Saturday, May 17 – 2:30 p.m. (ET)
James M. Shuart Stadium – Hempstead, N.Y.
TV/INTERNET
ESPN2
WatchESPN
LIVE STATS
SETTING THE STAGE
– Sixth-seeded Notre Dame (10-5) will face unseeded Albany (12-5) Saturday in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship. Faceoff is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. (ET) at James M. Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, N.Y.
– The game will be aired on ESPN2 and WatchESPN. Eamon McAnaney (play-by-play), Quint Kessenich (analyst) and Paul Carcaterra (reporter) will be on the call. Live stats will be available via Gametracker on UND.com.
– Notre Dame downed Harvard, 13-5, in the first round, while Albany defeated No. 3 seed Loyola, 13-6.
– The Irish are riding a season-best four-game win streak.
– The winner of the Notre Dame-Albany contest will take on the winner of Saturday’s first quarterfinal between Maryland and Bryant in the national semifinals on May 24 in Baltimore, Md.
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 seasons.
– 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.
FIGHTING IRISH IN THE QUARTERFINALS
– The Fighting Irish are 3-5 all-time in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Championship. This is Notre Dame’s fifth straight quarterfinal appearance and the ninth trip overall in program history.
– After falling in its first two quarterfinal appearances, Notre Dame has gone 3-3 in the last six trips to the quarterfinal round.
– Notre Dame fell to Duke, 12-11, last season in the quarterfinals in Indianapolis.
THE ALBANY SERIES
– This will be the second meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Albany. The Fighting Irish topped the Great Danes 7-6 during the 2008 campaign in the Loftus Sports Center. Irish midfielder Peter Christman scored the game winner with 23 seconds left in regulation.
A LOOK AT THE GREAT DANES
– Albany is 12-5 overall and the Great Danes finished America East regular-season play with a 5-0 mark before winning the league tournament.
– Albany leads the nation with a 16.1 goals-per-game average. The Great Danes are surrendering 11.2 goals per game.
– Miles Thompson (Sr./A) leads the country in goals (79), while Lyle Thompson (Jr./A) ranks first nationally in assists (74) and points (122).
– Sophomore Blaze Riorden has started all 17 games in goal. He has an 11.1 goals-against average and a .552 save percentage.
– Last season, Albany went 13-5 (5-0 America East) and fell at Denver (19-14) in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
– Head coach Scott Marr is in his 14th season at Albany.
IRISH AGAINST THE AMERICA EAST
– Albany will be the first America East Conference school Notre Dame has faced since a 13-7 win over Vermont on March 21, 2009 in Dallas, Texas.
– The Fighting Irish are 9-3 all-time against teams currently in the America East. That figure includes seven straight victories. Notre Dame’s last loss to an America East squad was a 13-7 setback at UMBC on March 11, 1992.
COMMON OPPONENTS
– Notre Dame and Albany have three common opponents this season (Syracuse, Harvard, Penn State).
– The Irish split two meetings with Syracuse (W, 15-14; L, 11-10) and topped Harvard (13-5). Notre Dame fell to Penn State (8-7).
– The Great Danes defeated Harvard (14-8) and Penn State (17-10) and lost at Syracuse (17-16 ot).
IRISH HANDLE HARVARD
– Notre Dame opened the game on a 7-0 run and never looked back en route to a 13-5 win over Harvard on Saturday in the first round of the NCAA Championship.
– The Fighting Irish offense was spearheaded by a four-goal performance from John Scioscia, while Matt Kavanagh added two goals and three assists. Goalie Conor Kelly made a career-high 17 saves for the Irish.
– Notre Dame kept Harvard off the scoreboard for the opening 23:45 of the contest. The five goals allowed tied a season-low total for the Fighting Irish and it also matched the least amount ever surrendered by Notre Dame in an NCAA tournament game. The eight-goal margin of victory was the largest ever for the Fighting Irish in an NCAA tournament contest.
NOTRE DAME IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
– This is Notre Dame’s ninth straight appearance in the NCAA Championship (a program record) and 19th trip overall. Notre Dame owns a 13-18 record in the tournament. Every appearance has occurred under head coach Kevin Corrigan.
– Last season, the Irish earned the tournament’s No. 2 seed (a program best) and defeated Detroit (9-7) in the first round. The Fighting Irish fell to Duke (12-11) in the quarterfinals in Indianapolis.
– Notre Dame’s best performance in the NCAAs was a finalist finish in 2010. The Irish have been to Championship Weekend three times (2001, 2010, 2012).
– This is the seventh time overall – and sixth time in the last seven seasons – the Fighting Irish have earned one of the eight national seeds for the NCAA Championship. The Irish also were seeded for the 2001 (5th), 2008 (6th), 2009 (7th), 2011 (4th), 2012 (4th) and 2013 (2nd) tournaments.
– Notre Dame is 5-1 at home (4-0 at Arlotta Stadium) in the NCAA tournament.
KAVANAGH IS NOTRE DAME’S FIRST 30-30 MAN
– Matt Kavanagh (32g, 30a) is the first Notre Dame player to register 30 goals and 30 assists in a season. He is two assists shy of tying Mike Sullivan’s school record that was set in 1990.
– Kavanagh has eight goals and seven assists in the last three games.
– He is 10th nationally in points per game (4.1) and 13th in assists per game (2.0).
KAVANAGH KEEPS COMPILING BIG NUMBERS
– Sophomore attackman Matt Kavanagh has team-bests in goals (32) and assists (30) this season. The 62 points are the most for a Notre Dame player since Tom Glatzel had 67 (40g, 27a) in 2001.
– Kavanagh matched a school record with seven goals in the win at Ohio State on March 25. The seven tallies tied the program record held by Randy Colley (1993 vs. New Hampshire) and Ryan Hoff (2007 vs. Drexel).
– Kavanagh has nine multiple-goal games this season (six hat tricks).
– He has 20 multiple-goal games during his career (10 hat tricks).
FIGHTING IRISH AGAINST THE FIELD
– Notre Dame faced five of the other seeded teams this season and six programs overall that made the NCAA field. The Fighting Irish went 4-4 against those six squads.
KEEPING IT CLOSE
– Notre Dame’s two wins at the ACC Tournament came down to the final seconds. Matt Kavanagh scored the game winner against Maryland with seven seconds left and goalie Conor Kelly’s save off a Kevin Rice shot with two seconds remaining sealed the victory over Syracuse.
– Conor Doyle scored with 20 seconds left to clinch the win over Army in the regular-season finale.
– The Fighting Irish are 4-2 in one-goal games this season.
GETTING OFFENSIVE
– Notre Dame has combined to score 46 goals in the last three contests. Those are the most goals in three straight outings for the Irish since the 2008 season when they had 51 goals in three games.
– The Irish have scored 15 or more goals in a game five times this season. That’s the most since Notre Dame netted 15-plus goals six times in 2008.
– Notre Dame is averaging 11.9 goals per game this season, which is on pace to be the highest average for the Irish since they had a 12.1 mark in 2008.
HIGHS AND LOWS
– Notre Dame has averaged 14.0 goals per game in its 10 wins, while the Irish have been limited to 7.8 goals per game in their five setbacks.
– The Fighting Irish are allowing 8.6 goals per game in their victories and 11.2 in the losses.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
– Twenty-one different Fighting Irish players have scored a goal this season.
– Notre Dame has five players with a double-digit goal total – Matt Kavanagh (32), Conor Doyle (28), John Scioscia (25), Sergio Perkovic (21) and Jim Marlatt (13).
SCIOSCIA ON A SCORING BINGE
– John Scioscia (Sr./A) has combined to score 10 goals in the last two games. He tied a career-best mark with six goals versus Army in addition to assisting on two scores. Arguably his biggest play of the game occurred in the final minute when he forced an Army turnover, picked up the ground ball and assisted on Conor Doyle’s game winner.
– Scioscia tallied four goals against Harvard. That was his sixth multiple-goal game of the season.
Conor Doyle IS CONSISTENT
– Conor Doyle (Jr./A) is the only Fighting Irish player to notch a point in all 15 games this season. His overall point streak stands at 18 games and he has scored a goal in 17 straight contests, which is tied for seventh-longest streak in the nation.
EXTRA-MAN EFFICIENCY
– Notre Dame boasts the nation’s second-best man-up offense. The Fighting Irish have scored on 34 of their 63 man-up opportunities this season (.540).
– John Scioscia has a team-best 10 man-up goals, including two in Saturday’s win over Harvard. Sergio Perkovic has nine man-up tallies, while Conor Doyle and Eddy Lubowicki both have five.
– The Irish also have three man-down goals this season. Matt Kavanagh and Liam O’Connor scored seven seconds apart in a man-down situation against Ohio State, while Scioscia netted a man-down tally versus Duke.
NEAR COMING UP BIG FOR NOTRE DAME
– Jack Near (Jr./SSDM) currently has a career-best five-game point streak.
– He had two assists, including the one on Matt Kavanagh’s game winner with seven seconds left, in the 6-5 win over Maryland in the ACC semifinals. He scored what proved to be the game winner in Notre Dame’s 15-14 victory over Syracuse in the ACC title game.
– Near tallied a career-high two goals against Army in the regular-season finale. He scored one goal versus Harvard on Saturday.
– Near has nine goals, four assists and 21 ground balls this season.
KELLY IN THE CAGE
– Conor Kelly (Jr./G) has started each of the last five contests. He has a 4-1 record in that span to go along with a 10.6 goals-against average and a .535 save percentage.
– Kelly made a career-high 17 saves against Harvard on Saturday. He has registered a double-digit save total four times in the last five games.
– Kelly played a major role in Notre Dame winning the ACC title. He stopped 12 Maryland shots in the semifinals and had eight saves against Syracuse in the final.
– Overall this season, Kelly is 5-2 with a 10.4 goals-against average and a .500 save percentage.
– Freshman Shane Doss has started seven contests and carries a 5-3 record with an 8.5 goals-against average and a .479 save percentage. He stopped a season-best 11 shots at Syracuse on March 29.
FIGHTING IRISH CLAIM ACC TITLE
– Notre Dame bested Syracuse 15-14 to claim the ACC Tournament title in its inaugural appearance. The Irish exploded with a 6-0 run in the third quarter to claim a 13-8 lead. Notre Dame survived a late rally from the Orange and the game was sealed when Irish goalie Conor Kelly saved a close-range shot from Kevin Rice in the final seconds.
– Matt Kavanagh, the tournament MVP, paced the Irish with four goals and two assists. Jim Marlatt had three goals and one assist, while Conor Doyle posted two goals and three assists.
– The Irish had six different players score all six of their goals in the 6-5 win over Maryland in the semifinals.
– It was the third conference tournament title for the Irish in their fifth appearance in such an event. Notre Dame won the only two Great Western Lacrosse League Tournaments ever held (2008 & 2009).
ACC ACCOLADES
– Matt Kavanagh (So./A) and Stephen O’Hara (Sr./D) were selected to the 2014 All-ACC Men’s Lacrosse Team. The Fighting Irish standouts were among 18 players named to the all-conference squad, which was voted on by the league’s six head coaches.
– Kavanagh (MVP), O’Hara, Conor Doyle (Jr./A) and Conor Kelly (Jr./G) were selected to the ACC All-Tournament Team.
STATE OF AFFAIRS
– Notre Dame has played in eight states this season (California, Florida, Indiana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin). The Irish competed in seven different states during their first nine games of the season.
O’HARA A SENIOR CLASS AWARD FINALIST
– Notre Dame team captain and standout defenseman Stephen O’Hara has been named one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award in the men’s lacrosse division.
– To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities.
– Finalists were chosen by national media from the list of 20 candidates announced in February. Nationwide fan voting begins immediately to help select the winner. Fans are encouraged to vote on the Senior CLASS Award website through May 12. Fan votes will be combined with media and Division I head coaches’ votes to determine the winner. The Senior CLASS Award winner will be announced during the 2014 NCAA Lacrosse Championships in Baltimore May 24-26. For more information on all the finalists, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.
– O’Hara is the fifth Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse player to be named a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award. Ryan Hoff (2009), Scott Rodgers (2010), Kevin Randall (2012) and Matt Miller (2013) also were among the final 10 student-athletes in contention for the award, which was first presented in 2007.