March 1, 2003
Notre Dame, Ind. – Behind Matt Howell’s (Jr., Huntington, N.Y.) three goals and two assists and Matt Karweck’s (Fr., Penn Yan, N.Y.) three goals, the No. 17 Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team defeated No. 23 Pennsylvania 14-5 in the 2003 home opener for the Irish.
The Irish (2-0) beat the Quakers (0-1) to even the series record between the schools at two wins apiece. Today’s contest marked the fourth consecutive season the two teams have faced each other. Last year, Pennsylvania earned a 7-6 victory over Notre Dame in Philadelphia.
The Irish came on strong in the second half to secure the win over the Quakers. Notre Dame outscored Pennsylvania 9-1 in the second half. The Irish opened the third quarter with four unanswered goals after leading 5-4 at halftime. Pennsylvania cut the Notre Dame lead to 9-5 before the Irish went on to score five more unanswered goals, outscoring the Quakers 3-0 in the fourth quarter.
Notre Dame jumped out to a 1-0 lead on Howell’s first goal, scored at the 11:49 mark of the first quarter. Junior Will Phillips scored the first of his two goals for the Quakers at 7:23 of the first quarter, closing Notre Dame’s lead to 2-1. Karweck scored the next goal of the game, off an assist from Walsh at 6:38 of the opening quarter.
Back-to-back goals by Pennsylvania to end the first quarter and start the second quarter tied the game at 3-3. The first of those goals was scored by freshman James Riordan who led the Quakers with two goals and one assist. The two teams then traded man-up goals with Pennsylvania forcing a 4-4 tie at 1:13 in the second quarter. The Irish regained the lead for good with 0:59 remaining in the half on junior Dan Berger’s (Phoenix, Md.) sole goal of the game.
Notre Dame’s third-quarter goal surge came within the first eight minutes of the quarter, from four different players. Junior captain Steve Clagett (Chesapeake, Md.) scored at 12:53, followed by Owen Mulford’s (Ocean City, Md.) first of his two goals in the game at 11:19. Only 34 seconds later, Howell scored his third goal with 10:45 remaining in the third. Notre Dame took the 9-4 lead on Matt Ryan’s first collegiate goal at 7:49 in the third quarter. Ryan also added three assists in Saturday’s game.
Phillips cut the Notre Dame lead to 9-5 at 2:02 of the third quarter, but Notre Dame’s Patrick Walsh (Fr., Wantagh, N.Y.) responded with two goals for the Irish to close out the quarter. Patrick, who also had three assists in the game, scored a man-up goal at 1:26 and scored his second goal with 0:08 left in the third quarter.
Notre Dame’s first two fourth-quarter goals came from Mulford and Karweck, respectively. Mulford’s goal came at 14:27 of the final quarter with an assist from Ryan. Karweck’s third goal of the game came at 9:22 of the fourth quarter. Notre Dame’s Brian Hubschmann, with his first career collegiate goal, scored the final goal of the game with 5:50 remaining.
Junior goalkeeper Stewart Crosland (Bethesda, Md.) came up with 10 saves as he played the first 58 minutes of the contest.
The Irish return to action at North Carolina on Saturday, March 8. Notre Dame’s next home game will be against Loyola on Saturday, March 15 at 2:00 p.m.