April 9, 2003
Notre Dame, Ind. –
Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse Release in PDF Format
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THE WEEK AHEAD ? The Notre Dame men?s lacrosse team will look to rebound from is 11-5 loss to Ohio State on April 6 as the Irish play host to two Great Western Lacrosse League foes Butler and Air Force this week. Coach Kevin Corrigan squad (5-4, 1-1) takes on the Bulldogs (5-4, 1-0) on Thursday, April 10 at 3:30 p.m. and then entertains the Falcons (2-6, 0-1) on Saturday, April 12 at 1:00 p.m. The Irish are ranked 20th in this week?s Warrior/Inside Lacrosse poll and are unranked in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) poll. It marks the first time this season that Notre Dame does not appear in the that poll. With five games remaining in the regular season, the Irish will play four of those contests at home. Following this two-game homestand, Notre Dame trales to Fairfield for a 1:00 p.m. matchup with the Stags on Saturday, April 19. The Irill will play their final two regular-season contests at home against Harvard (April 26) and Maryland (May 3).
FAIRFIELD GAME TIME CHANGE ? The start of the Notre Dame-Fairfield game on Saturday, April 19 in Fairfield, Conn., has been moved to 1:00 p.m. (EDT). The contest was originally scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. (local time).
SCOUTING THE IRISH ? Notre Dame had its two-game win streak snapped against Ohio State on April 6 in an 11-5 setback. The Irish began the season winning its first three game and then lost its next three games. The Irish are averaging 9.89 goals per game, while allowing just 8.74 per contest. Notre Dame has scored 10-plus goals in four games this season, but has been held to under 10 goals in five of its last six games. The Irish?s 89 goals in its first nine games are just 20 fewer than they scored all of last season. Freshman Patrick Walsh (Wantagh, N.Y.) leads the team in scoring with 13 goals and 19 assists (32 points). A starter in all nine games, he has scored at least one goal in all but two contests (Hofstra and Hartford) and has registered at least two points in all nine contests. Junior Matt Howell (Huntington, N.Y.) stands second in the scoring column 12 goals and 19 assists. He has missed Notre Dame?s last two games against Denver and Ohio State after undergoing an appendectomy four days prior to the contest against the Pioneers. He is scheduled to return in the next two to thee weeks. He had recorded at least one point (either a goal or an assist) in all seven games he had played. Junior Dan Berger (Phoenix, Md.) leads the Irish with a single-season personal best of 22 goals. He already has surpassed his goal total of 21 goals froma year ago. Berger has scored at least one goal in every game this season and has scored three-plus goals in five contests. Another Irish rookie, Matt Karweck (Penn Yan, N.Y.), has registered 10-plus points this season as he has scored eight goals and dished off two assists. Eric Simon (Flemington, N.J.), Mickey Blum (Garden City, N.Y.) and Brennan Creaney (Baltimore, Md.) anchor tNotre Dame?s defensive unit. Simon leads the team with 41 ground balls, while Creaney has collected 36. Stewart Crosland (Bethesda, Md.) has started all nine games and played 494 of a possible 540 minutes. He has a .593 save percentage and 8.74 goals against average as he has allowed 72 goals and made 105saves.
SCOUTING BUTLER ? Butler enters the game with a 5-4 record and is 1-0 in GWLL play. The Bulldogs are riding a two-game win streak with victories over Fairfield (8-7) and Wheeling Jesuit (12-3). Those two wins have come after Butler had dropped three straight decisions to Bucknell (10-2), Sacred Heart (15-12) and Maryland (18-9). The Bulldogs other three wins have come against VMI (15-2), Canisius (19-14) and Quinnipiac (12-4). Butlers two main scoring threats are Ryan Ward (21 goals, 19 assists) and Rich Pavlick (19 goals, 5 assists).
SCOUTING AIR FORCE ? Air Force is 2-6 overall and 0-1 in Great Western Lacrosse League action. The Falcons have suffered back-to-back losses to Stony Brook (5-2) and Fairfield (15-8). Air Force?s two victories have been to Siena and Navy with both of those games decided by a final 8-6 count. Greg Dangler leads the Falcons in scoring as he has netted nine goals and dished off nine assists (18 points), while Eric Lederer has eight goals and seven assists (15 points).
SERIES RECORD VERSUS BUTLER ? Thursday?s matchup will be the 11th meeting between the two schools with the Irish holding a 9-1 advantage in the series. Notre Dame heads into the contest having won the last four meetings between the two schools. Butler?s lone win in the series was a 6-5 victory in Indianapolis on April 5, 1998. The Irish are 5-0 against the Bulldogs at home.
SERIES RECORD VERSUS AIR FORCE ? Notre Dame leads the series 14-1 and is 7-0 against Air Force at home. Irish teams have won 14 straight against the Falcons. The two teams have met continuously since the 1988 campaign. Air Force?s only win in the series came in the first meeting between the two schools in Colorado Springs, Colo., as the Falcons defeated the Irish 14-8.
IRISH HEAD COACH KEVIN CORRIGAN ? Kevin Corrigan is his 15th season at Notre Dame and 17th in the collegiate ranks. The four-time Great Western Lacrosse League Coach of the Year owns a 138-89 (.608) overall ledger and an 128-73 (.637) mark with the Irish. Notre Dame?s contest with Denver on March 30 marked the 200th game he has coached with the Irish. Corrigan has led Notre Dame to 10 NCAA tournament appearances in the last 14 years (including six straight from 1992-97) and 11 (either outright or shared) conference titles. In 2001, he guided the Irish to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Men?s Lacrosse Championship national semifinals. Under Corrigan, Notre Dame has been victorious in the first round of the NCAA tournament on three occasions. He has had 12 different players earn USILA All-America honors. Previous to his tenure at Notre Dame, Corrigan served as head coach at Randolph-Macon during the 1985 and 1986 campaign where his teams compiled a 10-15 mark.
OHIO STATE REWIND ? Notre Dame had its two-game win streak snapped as the Irish dropped an 11-5 decision on the road at Ohio State. The Buckeyes used a strong defensive effort to hold the Irish to just one goal in the second half. Sophomore Brian Giordano (Princeton, N.J.) tallied the Irish?s lone goal of the second half with 12:19 remaining in the third quarter to tie the game for the fourth time at 5-5. Following that score, the Buckeyes netted six unanswered goals to snap a three-game losing streak to the Irish. Dan Berger netted two goals in the loss, while Patrick Walsh finished with a goal and three assists. Rookie Brian Hubschmann (Short Hills, N.J.) and Giordano scored the other two goals. Notre Dame led 3-1 after the first quarter, but the Buckeyes outscored the Irish 4-1 in the second quarter to take a 5-4 lead into halftime. Stewart Crosland (Bethesda. Md.) played all 60 minutes in goal and finished with 17 saves.
IN THE POLLS ? Notre Dame is currently ranked 20th in the Warrior/Inside Lacrosse poll and is unranked in the USILA ranking. Seven of the Irish?s opponents are ranked in either one or both of the polls.
RANKING FILE ? After posting a 1-4 record against ranked teams in 2002, Notre Dame has a 3-4 record. Notre Dame is 10-9 against ranked opponents over the past three seasons.
WHO MAKES THE SCHEDULE? ? Notre Dame has played seven ranked opponents this season ? Penn State, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Loyola, Hofstra and Ohio State. Only one remaining opponent ? Maryland is ranked in the poll week.
ROAD WARRIORS ? Making the first nine games of the season even more difficult has been the fact that the the Irish have played six of those contests on the road. Notre Dame has just one road game remining ? Fairfield (April 19). The Irish will conclude the 2003 campaign with four home contests in the final five regular games. Notre Dame owns a 2-3 record on the road this season and is 1-0 in neutral site contests. Since the start of the 2000 campaign, Irish teams have a combined 20-10 mark (.667) in both away and neutral site contests.
BEFORE AND AFTER ? In the first three games of the season, Notre Dame outscored its opponents 34-22 and the Irish led or were tied at halftime in all three of the wins. During its three-game losing streak, Notre Dame was outscored 32-26 an trailed in each of those three game. In a 17-3 win over, the Irish led 7-2 at the break and against Denver, in the 9-8 victory, the two teams were tied 4-4 at halftime. Against Ohio State, Notre Dame trailed 5-4 at halftime.
?HOWELL? OVER IT? Matt Howell?s return to the lineup in 2003 has certainly paid off for the Irish. The junkior attack missed all but three games of the ?02 campaign with an injury after scoring scoring four gaols and dishing off an assist. This season, he is second in the Irish scoring column with 12 goals and 19 assists. Howell missed the Denver and Ohio games after undergoing an appendectomy and is expected to miss the next two to three weeks. He had six assists in the Hartford game on March 23, one shy of the school record.
BERGER KING ? Sophomore Dan Berger started the season where he left off a year ago as Notre Dame?s leading scorer (21 goals, 4 assists). Berger has 22 goals and and has started all nine games. In 2002, Berger started 13 games after playing in just six games during his freshman year in which he scored just one goal. He had six multiple-goal games in 2002, including a personal-best four goals in a 7-6 loss at Pennsylvania on March 2. Prior to the Fairfield game (the 11th game of the season in 2002), Berger had scored a goal in the first 10 games of the season. Against the Stags, he did manage to dish off an assist to keep his streak alive of contributing either a goal or an assist in all 11 games. That streak ended though the next game in a loss to Harvard. Overall, Berger has scored in 21 of his last 22 games for the Irish (13 of 14 in 2002 and all nine contests in 2003).
GETTING SOME MATT-I-TUDE: The Irish scoring punch has been coming from guys named Matt this season as Matt Howell stands on the team in scoring with 12 goals and 31 points this season, while freshman Matt Karweck (Penn Yan, N.Y.) has eight goals and two assists and freshman Matt Ryan ( Ridley, Pa.) has three goals and three assists. Sophomore Matt Malakoff (Bay Shore, N.Y.) has an assist on the season.
FRESHMAN FINESSE: The freshman class has made an immediate impact for the Irish in 2003 as D.J. Driscoll (Downington, Pa.), Brian Hubschmann, Matt Karweck, Drew Peters (Babylon, N.Y.), Matt Ryan and Patrick Walsh have all seen valuable minutes for Notre Dame. In fact, Walsh is the leading scorer for the Irish this season with 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists) in his first nine games. In his first game in an Irish uniform, Walsh recorded a goal and an assist and then followed that with two goals and two assists against Penn. He has scored at least one goal in in his first five games of his career, including two goals against then top-ranked Virginia. He did not score against Hofstra , but did record two assists, before registering his first career hat trick against Hartford. Walsh had a personal best seven points against Denver with two goals and five assists. He finished with a goal and three assists in the loss to Ohio State. Karweck has eight goals and two assists on the season and is fourth on the Irish scoirnglist in scoring while Ryan has six points and Hubschmann and Peters each have three points.
THE SIGN OF THE CROSS: Irish goalie Stewart Crosland has been impressive in goal this season. Crosland has given up 72 goals in eight games this season for a 8.74 goals-against average and .593 save percentage.
PRESEASON HONORS ? Senior longstick midfielder John Souch and senior defensman Eric Simon were both tabbed as preseason honorable mention selections by Inside Lacrosse Face Off Yearbook. So far in 2003, Souch has, the Irish top player at his position, has collected 12 ground balls, while Simon leads the team in that category with 41.
HOME SWEET HOME ? Notre Dame owns a 94-31 (.752) mark in home games since 1981 and is 2-1 in 2003. Since back-to-back 5-0 campaigns at home in 1994 and 1995, Irish teams own a 41-13 record for a winning percentage of 75.9 percent. Since ?94, Notre Dame has been undefeated at home four times.
LOOKS FAMILIAR ? Notre Dame?s 2003 schedule features 11 opponents the Irish faced a year ago ? Penn State, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Loyola, Hofstra, Denver, Ohio State, Butler, Air Force, Fairfield and Harvard.
ALL IN THE FAMILY ? Craig Bishko, a freshman midfielder on this year?s Irish lacrosse team, is the brother of former Notre Dame standout Steve Bishko, a 2001 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) third-team All-America selection and three-year starter. The Bishkos are the fourth brother tandem to play lacrosse at Notre Dame. The others are Todd (1992-96) and Joe Bialous, Jason (1992-94, ?95) and Connor (?98) Pett and David (1998-2001) and Todd (1998-2001) Ulrich.
ALL IN THE FAMILY II ? Notre Dame?s men?s and women?s lacrosse teams are represented by members of the Simon family as defenseman Eric Simon?s sister, Meredith, is a junior on the women?s lacrosse team.