April 16, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – No. 2 Notre Dame remained the only undefeated team in NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse with a 10-7 BIG EAST victory over St. John’s on Saturday night at Arlotta Stadium. Senior midfielder David Earl led the Irish with three goals and an assist.
Notre Dame (9-0, 4-0) overturned a 5-2 halftime deficit by outscoring St. John’s 8-2 in the second half, including 3-0 in the fourth quarter. The Fighting Irish defense kept the Red Storm off the scoreboard for the final 16:38 of the contest.
“It was a great first half for them and lousy for us,” said Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan. “St. John’s made us pay for our mistakes and they kept the ball away from us and that kept us from making any plays and gaining any momentum. We came out in the second half just determined to make some plays and the guys did that.”
Notre Dame’s second-half surge began on a goal from sophomore attackman Ryan Foley with 1:30 elapsed in the period. Senior midfielder Zach Brenneman sliced the Red Storm lead to one (5-4) with 10:35 left in the third quarter on his second goal of the game.
St. John’s (4-7, 2-2) increased its advantage back to two (6-4) on an Alex Lagodich score with 8:26 remaining in the third period.
The Fighting Irish responded with three straight goals beginning with a score from junior attackman Sean Rogers midway through the third quarter. Junior midfielder Max Pfeifer knotted the game (6-6) with just under six minutes left in the stanza. Earl put the Irish on top (7-6) at the 3:07 mark of the third quarter with a man-up tally off a feed from Brenneman.
The Red Storm evened the contest (7-7) on a Colin Keegan goal with 1:38 left in the third quarter. Keegan had a game-high four goals.
Notre Dame went ahead for good less than two minutes into the fourth quarter on Earl’s second goal of the night. Sophomore midfielder Steve Murphy gave the Irish a two-goal cushion (9-7) less than a minute later. Earl completed his first hat trick of the season with 1:55 left in the game.
“I feel we got into a more aggressive mentality in the second half,” added Corrigan. “That allowed us to make some plays.”
Sophomore goalie John Kemp made 11 saves to earn his ninth win of the season, while Jeff Lowman had 13 stops for the Red Storm. Notre Dame outshot St. John’s 39-29.
Both teams won 10 faceoffs. Notre Dame senior Jake Marmul was 6-12, while freshman Liam O’Connor was 4-8. Jordan Rothman took all 20 attempts for the Red Storm.
Notre Dame senior long-stick midfielder Andrew Irving opened the game’s scoring nearly five minutes into the contest with his third goal of the season. St. John’s tied the game midway through the first quarter on Keegan’s first goal of the night.
Brenneman notched his first goal of the game with just over four minutes remaining in the opening quarter. The Fighting Irish led 2-1 after the first quarter. St. John’s outscored Notre Dame 4-0 in the second quarter to claim the 5-2 halftime advantage.
Notre Dame is off to a 9-0 start for just the second time in program history (31 seasons). The other occurrence came in 2009 when the Irish began the season 15-0.
The Fighting Irish return to action next Saturday at Providence. The BIG EAST showdown will begin at noon (ET).
April 16, 2011 – Arlotta Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
St. John’s (4-7, 2-2) – 1 4 2 0 – 7
#2 Notre Dame (9-0, 4-0) – 2 0 5 3 – 10
St. John’s Scoring (goals-assists):
Colin Keegan 4-0, Kieran McArdle 1-0, Alex Lagodich 1-0, Brandon Ayers 1-0, Kevin Cernuto 0-4, Ryan Fitzgerald 0-1; Goaltender: Jeff Lowman (L, 60:00, 13 saves, 10 GA)
Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
David Earl 3-1, Zach Brenneman 2-1, Ryan Foley 1-0, Sean Rogers 1-0, Max Pfeifer 1-0, Steve Murphy 1-0, Andrew Irving 1-0; Goaltender: John Kemp (W, 60:00, 11 saves, 7 GA)
— ND —