May 2, 1998
NOTRE DAME, Ind. —- The Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team played its most inspired game of the 1998 season as the Irish snapped a four-game losing streak with a 8-4 victory over ninth-ranked Hofstra.
Freshman David Ulrich scored three goals and added an assist as Notre Dame finished the 1998 campaign with a 5-7 record. The Flying Dutchmen, winners of seven of their last eight, fall to 10-4 on the season.
Notre Dame used a deliberate offensive attack and strong defensive performance to shut down the Hofstra offense, holding the visitors to their lowest season goal output in this season.
Chris Dusseau gave the Irish a 1-0 lead 1:26 into the contest as he took a feed from Todd Ulrich. That was all the scoring there was in the first quarter. Hofstra finally got on the scoreboard when Brian Langtry tallied the first of his two scores off a Brian Spallina with 7:51 remaining in the second quarter.
Notre Dame ended its scoring drought with 3:29 left before intermission when David Ulrich scored off a Burke Hayes feed. Dusseau gave the Irish a 3-1 advantage less than a minute later as he tallied his second goal off Ulrich’s feed.
Langtry scored with 11 seconds left in the second quarter as the Flying Dutchmen trailed 3-2 at the intermission.
Notre Dame outscored Hofstra 3-0 in third period on goals by Jimmy Keenan, David Ulrich and Connor Pett as the Irish led 6-2 heading into the final 15-minute stanza.
Stedman Oakey’s unassisted goal with 11:53 remaining in the game pushed the Irish lead to 7-2. Hofstra finally got on the scoreboard in the second half with back-to-back goals by Doug Shanahan and Jared Testa at the 10:35 and 7:53 marks, respectively. David Ulrich sealed the victory with a goal off an Oakey feed with 4:19 remaining in the contest.
Senior Alex Cade finished his four-year career with his best performance of the season as he made 17 saves in the contest.