April 15, 2004
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The 14th-ranked University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team (6-4, 3-1 GWLL) jumped out to a 7-1 lead and went on to a 15-5 victory over Butler (5-6, 0-3 GWLL) Thursday afternoon at Butler Lacrosse Field. The Irish, who outshot the Bulldogs 53-28, won their fourth consecutive game and held their opponent to five goals or fewer for the third time in that stretch.
Three Notre Dame players — senior A Matt Howell (Huntington, N.Y./Huntington H.S.) and sophomores M Brian Hubschmann (Short Hills, N.J./Delbarton H.S.) and M Matt Karweck (Penn Yan, N.Y./Penn Yan Academy) — finished with four points each, while freshman Lucius Polk (Washington, D.C./St. Albans H.S.) had a pair of goals and an assist for his first career points.
For the eighth time in 10 games this season, Notre Dame drew first blood, as senior A Dan Berger (Phoenix, Md./Boys’ Latin H.S.) took a feed from his classmate, M Steve Clagett (Chesapeake Beach, Md./DeMatha Catholic H.S.) and scored 4:24 into the game. Howell found sophomore M Matt Ryan (Ridley Park, Pa./Ridley H.S.), who scored 66 seconds later to put the Irish up a pair, but Phil Brauch then netted the lone Butler goal of the first 29 minutes.
After the teams combined for four goals in the first 25 minutes of the game, five tallies were registered in the final five minutes of the first half, including goals from Karweck and sophomore A Pat Walsh (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh H.S.) eight seconds apart.
Trailing 7-1, the Bulldogs got a man-up goal from Colin Joyce with nine seconds left in the opening half and then scored first in the second half to cut the lead to four. Notre Dame then scored five straight to put the outcome of the game out of question. Three of the goals came in a 63-second span with less than three minutes to go in the third quarter, as Hubschmann scored on the EMO from Polk, to be followed by scores from Karweck and Howell.
Freshmen A Brian Boyle (Derry, N.H./Pinkerton Academy) and M John Greaney (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon H.S.) both also had assists for the Irish.
Notre Dame held a 40-35 advantage in ground balls, with Clagett and senior G Stewart Crosland (Bethesda, Md./Landon School) leading the way with four each.
The Irish won 14 of 24 faceoffs, with three players winning at least four apiece. Senior M Nick Petcoff (Troy, Mich./Detroit Country Day H.S.) was the most effective, winning five of eight, while junior M Frank Matarazzo (Franklin Lakes, N.J./Bergen Catholic H.S.) took four of seven and junior M Craig Bishko (West Islip, N.Y./West Islip H.S.) won half of his eight. Sophomore M Steve Panos (Arnold, Md./Broadneck H.S.) was successful in the only one he took.
Ohio State is atop the GWLL standings with a 2-0 record, while the Irish are second at 3-1. Denver and Air Force are both 1-1, while Fairfield is 1-2 and Butler is 0-3.
The Irish will play host to the Stags on Sunday at Noon (EST) at Moose Krause Stadium in the final home contest of the season.