March 9, 2002
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team picked up its first win of the season as the 18th-ranked Irish defeated Rutgers 11-6. Freshman Brian Giordano (Princeton, N.J.) had the first points of his collegiate career as he finished with two goals and two assists in the victory.
With the win, Notre Dame improves to 1-2 on the season, while Rutgers falls to 1-4.
Notre Dame jumped out to an early 7-0 advantage in the contest before the Scarlet Knights got on the scoreboard. Coach Kevin Corrigan’s squad led 5-0 after the first quarter and dominated the second 15-minute stanza, outshooting the visitors 22-7 in the first two periods.
The Irish used a balanced scoring attack to open up the lead with six different goal scorers contributing on Notre Dame’s first seven goals. Rookie Matt Malakoff (Bayshore, N.Y.) tallied the game’s first goal on an assist from Giordano 3:40 into the contest. Sophomore Dan Berger (Phoenix, Md.) netted the first of his two goals in the contest off an assist from Giordano, while junior Kyle Frigon (Salem, Mass.) netted the first of his two scores with just over six minutes to play in the quarter. Giordano and sophomore Steve Clagett (Chesapeake, Md.) rounded out the first quater scoring.
Senior John Flandina (West Islip, N.Y.) put the Irish up 6-0 with his first goal of the season off an assist from Devin Ryan (Kensington, Md.) with 9:24 remaining before the intermission. Berger scored his second goal of the game off an assist from freshman Chris Richez (Freeport, N.Y.) as Notre Dame led 7-0.
Mike Buck finally put Rutgers on the scoreboard with 3:58 remaining in the quarter off an assist from Jamie Lovejoy, one of three in the game for the Rutgers freshman in the game. Ryan, however answered for the Irish with his fourth goal of the season 33 seconds later. Tim Horgan scored the final goal of the half for Rutgers with 1:54 to play before the break as Notre Dame led 8-2 after two quarters.
Rutgers dominated play in the third quarter, outshooting the Irish 9-0 over the next 15 minutes. The Scarlet Knights, however, could only capitalize on one goal which came from Ken Springer, off an assist from Lovejoy, 3:03 into the second quarter.
Nick Schmidt cut the lead to 8-4 with 13:50 remaining in the contest, but Notre Dame scored three unaswered goals on scores by Ryan, Frigon and Giordano. Springer and Timothy White rounded out the scoring in the contest.
Junior Nick Antol (Baldwin, Md.) played all 60 minutes for the Irish in goal and finished with six saves, while Rutgers’ Craig Lutwyler made seven saves in going the distance.
Notre Dame returns to action on Tue., March 12 when the Irish travel to Charlottesville, Va., to face Virginia at 4:00 p.m.
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