March 14, 2002
Notre Dame will play host to third-ranked Loyola on Saturday, March 16, at 1:00 p.m. The location of the game is yet to be determined. If played indoors, it will be at the Loftus Sports Complex. If outdoors, it will be played at Moose Krause Stadium. A decision should be made Friday on where the game will ultimately be played.
SCOUTING THE IRISH: Notre Dame is in the middle of a tough stretch playing its third game in seven days, including its second consecutive game against a team ranked in the top five. The Irish lost a heartbreaker to Virginia on Tuesday night, 7-5, falling to 1-3 on the season. The 1-3 start is the worst start for an Irish team since Notre Dame started 1-3 in 1995.
Notre Dame is led by sophomore attack Dan Berger, who leads the Irish with nine goals and 11 points this season. Berger has scored eight goals in his last three games, including a career-high four against Penn. Senior John Flandina is second on the Irish in points with seven, followed by Kyle Frigon, senior Devin Ryan and freshman Brian Giordano with six points. Giordano has scored four goals in his last two games for the Irish.
Nick Antol has started the last two games in goal for the Irish, after taking over for Stewart Crosland midway through the Penn game. Antol has given up 15 goals on the season and has a goals-against average of 6.00.
SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS: Loyola, ranked third in the nation, is 3-0 after beating third-ranked Duke 11-9 on Saturday, March 9, at Curley Field in Baltimore. The No. 3 ranking is Loyola’s highest ranking since May 1, 2000, when they were also ranked third.
Besides its two-goal game against Duke, all of Loyola’s games have been close this season. The Greyhounds defeated No. 21 Delaware 17-12 to open the year, and followed that with a 8-7 win over No. 10 Hofstra.
Loyola is led by its big five as senior Michael Sullivan, sophomore Stephen Brundage, and juniors Chris Summers, Jim Fink and Joey Case have combined for 30 of Loyola’s 36 goals and 16 of Loyola’s 20 assists this season. Sullivan and Brundage lead Loyola with 13 points (Brundage has nine goals in ’02).
Junior Mark Bloomquist is 3-0 in goal this season for Loyola with a 9.05 goals-against average and a .578 save percentage.
SERIES RECORD: Saturday’s matchup will be the 13th meeting between the two teams with Loyola leading the series 10-2. Loyola won the first 10 games of the series from 1982-2000, before the Irish rebounded to win the last two contests. Notre Dame is 0-3 against the Greyhounds in South Bend.
LAST YEAR VS. LOYOLA: In ’01, Notre Dame exploded to a 7-3 halftime lead and held on in defeating the Greyhounds 10-7 at Curley Field. Irish attack Tom Glatzel scored four goals, while David Ulrich had two goals and an assist and Steve Bishko recorded two goals.
Notre Dame was outshot 42-28, but coverted five of eight man-up opportunities. Goalie Kirk Howell has 16 saves for the Irish.
IRISH REWIND VS. VIRGINIA: The Irish battled Virginia before giving up two late goals and falling 7-5. Notre Dame and Virginia were locked in a 5-5 tie before Cavalier junior midfielder Billy Glading scored his second goal of the game with only 1:45 remaining in the contest. Virginia’s Brenndan Mohler scored an insurance goal with 52 seconds remaining to secure the victory for the Cavs.
Virginia opened an early two-goal lead before Notre Dame came storming back in the second quarter as freshman attack Brian Giordano recorded his third goal of the season. Sophomore attack Dan Berger knotted the game at 2-2 with his team-high eighth goal of the year. The tie was short-lived though as Virginia’s A.J. Shannon scored only 70 seconds later. Virginia soon extended the lead to 4-2 seven minutes before halftime on Mohler’s first goal of the afternoon.
Glading then made the lead 5-2 only 32 seconds into the second half. The next 12 minutes were scoreless until Berger recorded his second goal of the game and ninth of the season with 2:23 to play in the third period.
Notre Dame pulled even in the final quarter on goals by junior middie Kyle Frigon and Giordano. Frigon found the back of the net less than five minutes into the period making the score 5-4, before Giordano scored his second goal of the game and fourth of the season with 3:27 to play.
Cavaliers’ goalie Tillman Johnson allowed five goals, while making 10 saves in 60 minutes. Irish goalie Antol made 17 saves, while allowing seven goals. Notre Dame senior John Flandina had two assists in a losing effort.
IRISH FACE TOUGH STRETCH: Saturday’s game against Loyola concludes a seven-day stretch where the Irish have played three games, including contests against No. 4 Virginia and the third-ranked Greyhounds.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Irish as they host nationally-ranked Hofstra at Moose Krause Stadium on Saturday, March 23, at 1:00 p.m. Notre Dame then travels to Denver on Saturday, March 30.
HEAD COACH KEVIN CORRIGAN: Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan is in his 14th season directing the Irish. Corrigan has a 119-64 record at Notre Dame and an overall record of 129-79 in 16 seasons. Corrigan has led Notre Dame to the NCAA Tournament 10 times during his tenure, including a trip to the 2001 NCAA Semifinals.
RELOADING THE OFFENSE: After losing six of its top seven scorers from ’01 (Tom Glatzel, David Ulrich, Jon Harvey, Todd Ulrich, Steve Bishko and Chris Young) to graduation, the Irish are trying to find someone to pick up the offense in ’02. Last season, Notre Dame averaged 11.81 goals per game, while the Irish are only averaging 7.75 goals a contest this season.
Senior John Flandina is the only Irish player from the top seven that returns to the roster this season. Flandina recorded 20 goals and seven assists in ’01 and is currently second on the team in scoring with one goal and six assists.
Sophomore attack Dan Berger currently leads the Irish with nine goals and two assists for 11 points, while senior Devin Ryan, junior middie Kyle Frigon and freshman attack Brian Giordano are tied for third in scoring with six points each.
BERGER KING: Sophomore Dan Berger has come out of nowhere to lead the Irish in scoring this season with nine goals and two assists. Berger has scored two or more goals in three games this season, including a career-high four goals versus Penn. Berger also had two goals against Rutgers and Virginia.
Last year, Berger saw action in only six games, scoring one goals and scooping up five ground balls.
GIORDANO GETTING NOTICED: Freshman Brian Giordano has come on strong in the last two games scoring the first six points of his career. Against Rutgers, Giordano recorded two goals and two assists. He then followed that game with another two-goal effort against Virginia.
BETWEEN THE PIPES: Junior goalie Nick Antol made the first two starts of his career against Rutgers and No. 4 Virginia, giving up only 13 goals in the two games. For the season, Antol has made 27 saves, including 17 against Virginia on Tuesday. He has a goals-against average of 6.00 in ’02. Antol replaced sophomore Stewart Crosland between the pipes midway through the Penn contest.
Last season, Antol saw action in eight games backing up starter Kirk Howell, giving up six goals in more than 70 minutes of action.
HOME SWEET HOME: Notre Dame was undefeated at home last season as the finished with a 6-0 mark. Since back-to-back 5-0 campaigns at home in 1994 and 1995, Irish teams own a 38-9 record for a winning percentage of 80.8 percent. Notre Dame has an all-time 91-28 (76.4 percent) home record since the program’s inaugural season in 1981. Since the ’94 campaign, Notre Dame has been undefeated at home four times.
LOOKS FAMILIAR: Notre Dame’s 2002 schedule will feature the same 13 opponents it did a year ago. The Irish finished with a 12-1 record during the regular season, its only blemish was an 11-10 overtime loss to Hofstra. The Irish will look avenge that loss to the Pride this season when Hofstra pays a visit to Moose Krause Stadium on March 23.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Craig Bishko, a freshman midfield 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 both the Simon and Shearer families. Junior defenseman Eric Simon’s sister, Meredith, is a sophomore on the women’s lacrosse team, while freshman midfield Will Shearer’s sister, Danielle, also plays for head coach Tracy Coyne’s squad.
MAKING THE GRADE: Senior Owen Asplundh was recognized at the Academic Excellence Awards Dinner in the spring of 2001 by Notre Dame’s Office of Academic Services for Student-Athletes as the men’s lacrosse player with the highest cumulative grade-point average. Asplundh, who is enrolled in the College of Arts and Letters and is majoring in English and Afro-American studies, owns a cumulative 3.52 GPA following seven semesters.
GREAT WESTERN LACROSSE LEAGUE INTACT: In 2001, the Great Western Lacrosse League welcomed Fairfield to its league membership. The League once again will be comprised of six teams: Air Force, Butler, Denver, Fairfield, Notre Dame and Ohio State. Notre Dame has won the GWLL five of the last six seasons, including three straight conference crowns.
IRISH LEADERS:
- Dan Berger – 9 goals, 11 points
- John Flandina – 6 assists, 7 points
- Devin Ryan – 5 goals and 1 assist
- Brian Giordano – 4 goals, 2 assists
- Kyle Frigon – 6 points
- Eric Simon – 16 ground balls