May 1, 1999
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Steve Bishko’s (West Islip, N.Y.) third goal of the game with three seconds remaining capped a five-goal Notre Dame rally as the 13-ranked Irish men’s lacrosse team defeated Harvard 9-8 in its regular-season finale.
Notre Dame, which won its third straight to improve to 8-5 on the season, rallied from a four-goal second-half deficit for the victory. The 9-8 final was the only time the Irish led all afternoon. The Crimson led 8-4 with 9:58 remaining in the third quarter before the Irish rattled off the game’s final five goals as Harvard its sixth straight contest to fall to 3-9 in 1999.
Roger Buttles, who had two goals in the contest, gave Harvard its biggest lead of the game 8-4 in the third quarter, before Notre Dame mounted its rally. Tom Glatzel (Ellicott City, Md.) scored the first of five unanswered goals for Notre Dame when he took a feed from David Ulrich (Baltimore, Md.) and shot it past Crimson goalie Keith Cynar.
Following a Harvard penalty, Ulrich scored Notre Dame’s six goal of the game to pull the Irish to within 8-6 with 3:30 remaining in the third quarter. The man-up goal was one of four for the Irish who finished four-for-seven in man-up situations.
Notre Dame shut down Harvard in the final 15-minute stanza as the Crimson went scoreless. Todd Ulrich (Baltimore, Md.) had the fourth man-up goal for the Irish on the afternoon when he scored off a Glatzel assist to pull Notre Dame to within one 8-7.
Bishko tied the game on an unassisted score with 2:31 left before netting the game-winner with three seconds left.
Notre Dame outshot Harvard 44-28 in the game. Irish goalie Kirk Howell (Nashville, Tenn.) came up with eight saves in the contest, while Cynar made 18 stops on the afternoon.
Notre Dame fell behind early in the contest and had to play catch-up all afternoon. Harvard took a 2-0 lead on goals by Michael Bailey and Buttles. Chris Dusseau (Columbus, Ohio), who finished with two goals on the afternoon, put the Irish on the scoreboard connecting off a David Ulrich feed.
Lawson DeVries scored the first of his three goals to put Harvard up 3-1 with 1:44 remaining, but John Flandina (West Islip, N.Y.) scored Notre Dame’s second man-up goal of the afternoon with 20 seconds left in the first quarter to trim the Harvard lead to 3-1.
DeVries had two goals in the second 15-minute stanza, while Dusseau and Bishko accounted for the two Notre Dame scores as Harvard held a 5-4 halftime advantage.
Notre Dame will now await word on an NCAA Tournament berth when the pairings for the 1999 12-team field are announced on Sunday, May 9 at 3:30 p.m. (EDT).