April 21, 2006
No. 17 Notre Dame vs. Lehigh
Sunday, April 23 • 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Georgetown Prep • Bethesda, Md.
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The No. 17 Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team will wrap up its four-game road trip this Sunday in Bethesda, Md. with a non-league match-up against Lehigh at Georgetown Prep. Game time is slated for 2:00 p.m. (ET). The Fighting Irish, who are 7-4 overall and 1-2 in GWLL play, will look to rebound after suffering losses to Denver and Air Force last weekend. Lehigh carries a 7-5 record into its Friday game versus Lafayette. Following the game against the Mountain Hawks, Notre Dame returns home for the final two regular season tilts against GWLL foes Ohio State and Quinnipiac.
SNAPSHOT OF THE IRISH: Notre Dame stands at 7-4 overall (1-2 GWLL) … the Fighting Irish are averaging 7.91 goals-per-game, while limiting its opponents to just 7.18, which is the ninth-best mark in the nation … the Irish fell to Denver (8-5) and Air Force (9-8) in GWLL action last weekend … both contests were on the road … Notre Dame has outscored its opponents 87-79 … senior attackman Pat Walsh, a three-time All-America honoree, leads the team with 32 points on 13 goals and a team-high 19 assists … he ranks 13th nationally with 1.73 assists per game … fellow senior Brian Hubschmann has a team-best 20 goals to go along with 11 assists … Hubschmann has seven multiple-goal games this season, including a team-high three hat tricks … senior midfielder Matt Karweck is second on the team with 15 goals … freshman Ryan Hoff is having a solid rookie campaign with 14 goals … sophomore Joey Kemp has started every game in goal and has a 7-4 record … he has allowed 77 goals, while making 111 saves and boasts a .590 save-percentage (13th in NCAA) and a 7.11 goals-against average (11th in NCAA).
ABOUT LEHIGH: The Mountain Hawks enter their game on Friday versus Lafayette with a 7-5 mark overall, including a 3-2 record in the Patriot League … Lehigh clinched a berth in the Patriot League tournament with a 13-6 win over Holy Cross on Sunday … the Mountain Hawks have faced six ranked teams so far this season, posting a 2-4 mark in those contests … Lehigh defeated Army, who was ranked 14th at the time, 8-7 and No. 19 Bucknell 7-5 … Stephen Marino leads the team with 36 point on 18 goals and a team-high 18 assists … he ranks 14th nationally with 1.64 assists per game and 18th with 3.27 points per game … Blake Best leads the Mountain Hawks in goals with 20 to go along with 11 assists … Jeff King is 13th in Division I with 5.58 groundballs per game … John Park has seen the majority of the minutes in goal, posting a 6-3 record … he has a 6.54 goals-against average and a .528 save-percentage … his goals-against average ranks him sixth in the country.
DEFENSIVE BATTLE: Lehigh has the eighth-best scoring defense in the country, allowing just 7.17 goals per game, while Notre Dame is tied for ninth as the Irish allow just 7.18 goals per game.
FACING-OFF: The Mountain Hawks boast a .558 faceoff winning percentage, which ranks them 13th nationally in that category … Tom Weiss has taken the majority of the faceoffs for Lehigh, winning 117 of 214 (.547) … sophomore Taylor Clagett has won 77 of 125 (.616) faceoffs for the Irish, who rank 15th in the country with an overall win percentage of .552.
RETURING HOME: Notre Dame sophomore goaltender Joey Kemp will be returning home for this Sunday’s match-up versus Lehigh in Bethesda, Md. … Kemp was an All-American and a four-year letterwinner in lacrosse at Georgetown Prep … he was also an accomplished hockey and football player for the Hoyas.
ND-LEHIGH SERIES NOTES: The Irish and Mountain Hawks have only met once on the lacrosse field, with Notre Dame claiming the 10-8 victory in University Park, Pa. during the 1989 season.
AIR FORCE RECAP: Air Force used a five-goal effort from Conrad Lochocki to capture a 9-8 Great Western Lacrosse League win over No. 9 Notre Dame at Cadet Lacrosse Stadium on Sunday, April 16 … attackman Brian Hubschmann notched his third hat trick of the season and his classmate Pat Walsh dished out four assists and scored a goal for the Irish in the loss … Air Force held a 6-5 lead entering the fourth quarter, however Matt Karweck netted the equalizer for the Irish less than a minute into the final period on an assist from Walsh … the Falcons gained a two-goal advantage with 12:24 remaining on scores from Lochocki and John Smith just 22 seconds apart … Notre Dame closed to within one at 8-7 when Walsh scored on a pass from Karweck with 11:14 left on the clock … the Falcons responded on a Justin Kuchta score at the 6:02 mark to make it a 9-7 contest … the Irish would not go away as freshman Ryan Hoff netted his second goal of the game, on a Walsh assist, to make it a one-goal affair with 2:51 remaining … the Fighting Irish got a few looks at the net in the final minutes, yet could not get the tying goal in the hard fought and intense league contest … Hubschmann spearheaded the Irish surge in the first quarter with two goals in the first five minutes of play … he took a pass from Drew Peters and sent it in with 1:22 elapsed in the contest and then found the net again at the 10:27 mark on a dish from Matt Ryan to give Notre Dame a 2-0 lead after the first quarter … the first period shutout marked the eighth shutout in a quarter for sophomore goaltender Joey Kemp this season … Kemp made 10 saves on the day for the Irish … the Fighting Irish would extend their run to 3-0 as Karweck took a pass from Walsh and deposited it with 6:39 left in the first half to collect one of his four points on the day … the Falcons then responded with a 3-0 surge of their own on goals from Lochocki, Will Meister and Griffin Nevitt to make it a 3-3 game at halftime … both teams came out firing in the second half as they traded two goals apiece in the first five minutes of play … Lochocki netted a goal 59 seconds into the half to give the Falcons their first lead of the game at 4-3 … Hoff then tallied a man-up goal, with the assist going to Walsh, at the 12:38 mark … following another Lochocki goal, Hubschmann completed his hat trick with an assist from Karweck to knot the game at five with 10:32 left in the third period … Lochocki struck again with just eight seconds remaining in the quarter to establish a 6-5 advantage … Air Force held a 34-26 advantage in shots, while each team picked up 30 groundballs … sophomore Taylor Clagett went 12-20 in faceoff attempts for Notre Dame.
ON THE ROAD: Notre Dame is set to wrap up its longest stretch away from home since the 2002 season when the Irish also played four straight contests away from home … the Irish began that trek with three straight victories over Denver, Air Force and Butler before dropping the final contest to Army … Notre Dame is 1-2 so far on this year’s trip, with a win over Butler (9-8) and losses to Denver (8-5) and Air Force (9-8).
GWLL HISTORY: Notre Dame is 45-9 all-time in GWLL play with nine league titles in 12 seasons … the Irish went 3-2 in conference play last season to finish third.
SECOND QUARTER SCORING: Notre Dame has outscored its opponents 29-12 during the second quarter this season.
NCAA RANKINGS: Joey Kemp is 11th in Division I with a 7.11 goals-against average and he is 13th nationally with a .590 save percentage … Kemp led the nation with a .652 save percentage last season … Pat Walsh is averaging 1.73 assists per game, which places him 13th in the NCAA this season … as a team, Notre Dame is tied for ninth in scoring defense nationally as the Irish are allowing just 7.18 goals per game … the Irish are 11th in man-down defense (.769) and 15th in faceoff winning percentage (.552).
HAT TRICKS: Three different Irish players have notched hat tricks this season … Brian Hubschmann leads the team with three hat tricks on the year … Hubschmann had a career-high tying four-goal effort against Villanova and along with three-goal efforts versus Hofstra and Air Force … Pat Walsh scored three times against Butler … that was the 10th hat trick of his Notre Dame career … freshman Ryan Hoff netted the first hat trick of his college career in the 11-5 win over Brown on March 29 … the last Irish freshman to register a hat trick prior to Hoff was current sophomore Michael Podgajny in the 2005 regular season finale at Ohio State …
HUBSCHMANN BACK IN ACTION: Senior attackman Brian Hubschmann, who is back in the Irish lineup after missing all of last season to injury, is leading the team with 20 goals and is second in points with 31 … he has notched seven multiple-goal games this season, including a career-high tying four-goal effort versus Villanova on March 14 … for his career, he has seven games with four or more points … he also netted a hat trick against Hofstra and Air Force … Hubschmann was a 2005 Inside Lacrosse preseason honorable mention All-America selection … as a sophomore in 2004, he totaled 29 points on 18 goals and 11 assists and copped all-GWLL second team honors.
SENIOR LEADERSHIP: Seniors occupy the top three spots on the Irish point-leaders list … Pat Walsh leads with 32 (13 G, 19 A), while Brian Hubschmann is right behind his classmate with 31 (20 G, 11 A) and Matt Karweck is third with 19 (15 G, 4 A) … the fourth person on the list is freshman Ryan Hoff, who has 14 points (14 G).
STREAKING: Brian Hubschmann is riding an 11-game point streak … Notre Dame has won its past four games at Moose Krause Stadium, including 10 of its last 13 … senior attackman Pat Walsh has started all 48 games during his Fighting Irish career.
GOING FOR TWO: Notre Dame has had two players score multiple goals in 10 of 11 games this season … the only game in which the Irish did not have two players score at least two goals was against Denver.
DOUBLE DIGITS: The Fighting Irish have tallied 10 or more goals twice this season … the first time was in a 10-7 win over Villanova on March 14 … the Fighting Irish had their largest scouring output of the season in an 11-5 win over Brown on March 29 … Notre Dame scored in double-figures in seven of its 11 games one season ago … five of those contests were wins.
RUNNING: Notre Dame has registered runs of three or more goals in 10 of 11 games this season … the Irish used key 5-0 runs in back-to-back hard fought wins over North Carolina and Villanova earlier in the season … another 5-0 run was used to break open the Brown contest, which the Irish won 11-5.
THREE IN-A-ROW: The Fighting Irish have put together two three-game winning streaks this season … Notre Dame has won at least three games in-a-row in 23 of 26 varsity seasons … the only years that the Irish failed to win three consecutive was during the first varsity campaign in 1981 then again in 1983 and 1991.
SECOND HALF SHUTOUT: Notre Dame’s second half shutout against Bellarmine marked the first time a Fighting Irish defense held a team scoreless in a half since the first half against Butler during the 2003 campaign … the Irish would go on to win that contest 9-2 … the two tallies versus Bellarmine were the fewest allowed by an Irish defense since a 12-2 victory over Air Force during the 2004 season.
MOVING UP THE CHARTS: Senior attackman Pat Walsh is currently third all-time in school history with 99 assists … he is one assist shy from second and is 11 assists away from tying David Ulrich’s (1998-2001) program record of 110 … Walsh is also fourth in program history with 174 points coming on 75 goals and 99 assists … he is seven points away from making it into the top-three all-time in school history … Randy Colley (1991-95) is the school record holder with 273 career points (173 G, 100 A).
WALSH POINT-LESS: In Notre Dame’s 8-2 win over Bellarmine, Pat Walsh was held without a point for just the third time in his collegiate career … he was also held point-less in a 9-6 loss at Denver last season and in a 10-4 setback to Maryland in 2003.
FIRST-TIMERS: The Irish have three first-time opponents on the 2006 ledger … Notre Dame defeated Bellarmine, 8-2, in the first-ever meeting between the two Midwest schools on March 18 … the Irish also topped Brown 11-5 in their first-ever clash … Notre Dame will have its inaugural showdown with GWLL newcomer Quinnipiac on May 6.
FRESH FACES: The two-goal performances by Peter Christman and Ryan Hoff against Penn State marked the first time two freshmen had scored multiple goals in a game for the Irish since the 2003 season as current seniors Pat Walsh and Drew Peters both netted three goals versus Hartford … both Hoff and Christman are enjoying solid rookie campaigns … Hoff is fourth on the team with 14 points (14 G), while Christman has seven points (3 G, 4 A) … fellow freshman Regis McDermott has played in all 11 games this season in the Irish defense, while his classmate Duncan Swezey has appeared in 10 contests, collecting two goals and two assists.
CLEARING THE WAY: Notre Dame has a .787 clear percentage, while the Irish have held opponents to a .704 percentage … last season, the Irish had a .763 clear percentage and their opponents had a mark of .771.
FAN SUPPORT: The Irish have played in front of crowds of at least 1,000 people in 11 contests over the past two seasons … the Notre Dame-Cornell game in Lisle, Ill. on March 4, which was technically a home game for the Irish, drew 3,523 fans … … the Notre Dame-Hofstra contest attracted 4,363 fans at James M. Shuart Stadium on March 25 … the Fighting Irish and Bellarmine played in front of 2,700 fans at Trinity High School in Louisville, Ky. on March 18 … Notre Dame and Denver played in front of a packed house of 2,376 at Denver’s Barton Stadium on April 14 … last year’s meeting with North Carolina in the First 4 invitational drew 7,182 fans into the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. … that was the largest crowd ever for a lacrosse contest west of the Mississippi River.
NOTRE DAME IN THE POLLS: Notre Dame debuted in the Lacrosse magazine preseason rankings at No. 10, while the Irish were No. 12 in the Inside Lacrosse/Faceoff Yearbook preseason poll … the Irish are No. 17 in the most recent Inside Lacrosse media poll, which was released on April 17 … the latest USILA coaches poll (April 17) has the Irish 19th.
PLAYING THE BEST: Notre Dame faced defending NCAA champion Johns Hopkins to conclude fall ball and then opened spring exhibition play versus national runner-up Duke and Bucknell in Durham, N.C. … the Fighting Irish have four teams that appear in the latest USILA coaches poll on their 2006 ledger … Notre Dame opened the season with an 8-4 victory over No. 13 Penn State … Notre Dame fell to current No. 5 Cornell, 9-6, on March 4 and current No. 2 Hofstra, 13-5, on March 25 … the Irish dropped an 8-5 decision at No. 15 Denver on April 14.
IRISH O: Notre Dame boasted the nation’s fourth highest-scoring offense last season (11.91 goals-per-game) … All-American attackman Pat Walsh is back for his senior season after leading the Irish in scoring his first three campaigns … last year, Walsh posted 43 points on 21 goals and 22 assists … ND did lose leading goal-scorer Jim Morrison (25 G) to graduation, yet the return of senior attackman Brian Hubschmann from an injury that kept him out all of last season should help to pick up the scoring slack … Hubschmann notched 29 points (18 G, 11 A) as a sophomore in 2004 … other factors in the Irish offense will be seniors Matt Karweck (26 pts. in ’05) and Matt Ryan (21 pts. in ’05) … through the first seven games of the 2006 season, Notre Dame is averaging 8.14 goals-per-game.
DRISCOLL AND PETERS NAMED `06 IRISH CAPTAINS: Seniors D.J. Driscoll and Drew Peters have been selected as co-captains for this year’s Fighting Irish squad … Driscoll was named the Great Western Lacrosse League Defensive Player of the Year and was tabbed as a STX/USILA honorable mention All-American last season … he was also selected as a 2006 Inside Lacrosse preseason third team All-American … Peters, a three-time monogram winner, has played in all 48 games during his Notre Dame career … he will help to anchor the Fighting Irish midfield again this season.
IRISH EARN PRESEASON HONORS: Four Fighting Irish players received preseason All-America honors by Inside Lacrosse and Face-Off Yearbook with senior Pat Walsh (A) leading the way as he was tabbed as a second-team selection … fellow senior D.J. Driscoll (D) was selected to the third-team, while sophomores Taylor Clagett (M) and Joey Kemp (G) received honorable mention distinction … Walsh is a three-time All-America honoree … last year, he earned STX/USILA honorable mention All-America honors along with Driscoll … Driscoll was tabbed as the 2005 Great Western Lacrosse League Defensive Player of the Year, while Kemp was named the GWLL Rookie of the Year … Clagett led the Irish with a .612 face-off percentage last season.
WALSH NAMED TO TEWAARATON AWARD WATCH LIST: For the third year in a row, senior attackman Pat Walsh has been listed among the 53 players on the `Watch List’ for the Tewaaraton Trophy, awarded to the top player in college lacrosse at the end of the season … Walsh is the only Irish player ever named the to watch list for the Tewaaraton Trophy, which is in its sixth year, though attackman Tom Glatzel was a finalist for the award in 2001 … Walsh has gone on to be listed as a Tewaaraton Trophy nominee the past two seasons.
IRISH ADD NINE FOR NEXT SEASON: Head coach Kevin Corrigan has announced the commitment of nine student-athletes who will join the program next season … the Irish will finalize their 2005-06 recruiting class during the late signing period in April … log onto und.com for more information.
NAME POSITION HIGH SCHOOL
Sean Callinan Defense Deerfield Academy (Mass.)Matt Ciambella Attack Orchard Park (N.Y.)Mike Creighton Defense Malvern Prep (Pa.)Adam Felicetti Midfield Central Bucks East (Pa.)Neal Hicks Attack Lovett School (Ga.)Grant Krebs Midfield St. Mary's (Md.)Chip Lanser Defense Dulaney (Md.)Kelly McKenna Midfield Penfield (N.Y.)Brett Vecchio Midfield Cold Spring Harbor (N.Y.)
ND ON THE TUBE: The Irish will appear on television five times during the 2006 regular season … Notre Dame’s contest at Hofstra on March 25 was aired on Fox Sports New York … the Notre Dame-Brown game at Moose Krause Stadium on March 29 was carried on Comcast Local as will the Butler tilt on April 8 … the Irish home match against Dartmouth on April 2 was carried by College Sports Television (CSTV) … a road tilt at Denver was broadcast on Comcast-Denver.
FOLLOW ALL ND HOME GAMES ONLINE: All Notre Dame home games will feature livestats available through und.com, the official web site of all 26 varsity athletic programs at the University … simply go to the men’s lacrosse page and click on `Schedule’ at the top of the page and find the game that is being played that day and click on `Gametracker’ to follow the game for free.
NOTRE DAME ANNOUNCES IRISH ALERT TEXT MESSAGE SERVICE: The University of Notre Dame Department of Athletics, in conjunction with Centennial Wireless and Notre Dame Sports Properties, has announced a new service for Fighting Irish fans. Irish ALERT, a text messaging service designed to give fans up-to-the-minute game updates, will cover four varsity sports this spring – baseball, softball, men’s lacrosse and women’s lacrosse … this is a FREE trial program that will run until the completion of each sport’s 2006 season … log onto und.com to sign up.