March 23, 2001
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NOTRE DAME, IND. — The second-ranked Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team, sporting its hightest ranking in school history, will look to stay unbeaten as the Irish, 5-0, travel to Hempstead, N.Y. to face Hofstra on Sat., Mar. 24 at 2:00 p.m. It is the fourth straight road game and fifth road contest in six outings for the Irish.
Notre Dame is off to its best start since the 1993 campaign when it began the season 7-0 (its best start in school history). The Irish are coming off three impressive road victories with wins over three ranked opponents Rutgers (9-4), Virginia (11-8) and Loyola (10-7). Four of Notre Dame’s five victories have come against opponents ranked in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA)/STX ranking.
RECAP OF RUTGERS GAME – Tom Glatzel (Baltimore, Md.) tied his career-high with five goals in leading the Irish to a 9-4 road win in Piscataway, N.J. Glatzel tallied four of his five scores in the first half as Notre Dame jumped out to a 6-0 halftime advantage. David Ulrich (Baltimore, Md.) got the Irish on the scoreboard first at the 10:25 mark before Glatzel tallied back-to-back scores before Steve Bishko (West Islip, N.Y.) scored the first of his two goals in the game with 20 seconds left as Notre Dame led 4-0 after one period. Glatzel netted both scores in the second quarter.
Rutgers finally got on the scoreboard with 1:21 into the second third quarter. Notre Dame scored the final goal of the quarter with 20 seconds left as Notre Dame led 4-0 after one period. The Irish finished out their scoring in the contest by netting three goals in the third-period stanza.
RECAP OF VIRGINIA GAME – Notre Dame earned an 11-8 come-from-behind victory over Virginia as head coach Kevin Corrigan earned his first win in three meetings against his alma mater. Junior John Flandina (West Islip. N.Y.) scored a career-high four goals, including two in the decisive six-goal third quarter to lead the Irish to the victory. After trailing 4-3 at halftime, the Irish tied the game at 5-5 with 10 minutes remaining in the third period. Flandina ignited a three-goal Irish barrage in a span of 1:09 when he gave Notre Dame the lead for good with 8:45 remaining in the third quarter. David Ulrich scored 16 seconds following Flandina’s score and then Steve Bishko netted his second score of the game with 7:36 remaining.
Notre Dame jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage, fell behind and then tied the game at 4-4 early in the third quarter. Tom Glatzel finished with two goals and an assist, while sophomore Travis Wells (Severna Park, Md.), who netted his first career goal was one of six different goal scorers in the game. Goalie Kirk Howell (Nashville, Tenn.) made 14 stops in the game.
RECAP OF LOYOLA GAME – Tom Glatzel scored three of his game-high four goals in the first half and goalie Kirk Howell made 16 saves as the Irish defeated Loyola for the second time in as many games. The win, however, marked the first time Notre Dame had beaten the Greyhounds in 10 previous regular-season meetings. Corrigan’s squad jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first 3:51 of the game as Glatzel netted two goals and Steve Bishko scored the first of his two goals in the contest.
Loyola trimmed the lead to 3-2 by the end of the first quarter, but the Irish scored the first three goals of the second quarter and held a 7-3 halftime advantage. The Greyhounds battled back in the second half and cut the deficit to 7-5 before Glatzel tallied his fourth score of the game at the 4:02 mark of the third period which gave Notre Dame an 8-5 lead after three quarters.
Two fourth-quarter goals by the Greyhounds cut the Irish lead to 8-7 with 10:02 remaining. The Irish protected the one-goal lead until Bishko scored Notre Dame’s fifth extra-man goal of the game and David Ulrich closed out the scoring with 33 seconds to play in the game for the final 10-7 score.
HEAD COACH KEVIN CORRIGAN – Kevin Corrigan is in his 13th season at Notre Dame and 15th in the collegiate ranks. The three-time Great Western Lacrosse League coach of the year earned his 100th career win during the ’99 season in Notre Dame’s 10-8 victory over Hobart on March 27 and notched his 100th win as the Irish head coach in 2000 with his team’s 10-5 victory at Army . He owns a 119-74 (.617) overall ledger and an 109-59 (.649) mark with the Irish. Corrigan has guided Notre Dame to nine NCAA tournament appearances in the last 11 years and 10 (either outright or shared) conference titles. Prior to 1998, he had led the Irish to six straight tournament berths from 1992-97. Under Corrigan, Notre Dame has been victorious in the first round of the NCAA tournament on two occasions. In 1995, Notre Dame won its first-ever NCAA tournament game with a 12-10 victory over Duke which propelled the Irish into the quarterfinals for the first time in school history. Last season, his squad uspet fifth-seeded Loyola (Md.) in 15-13 in the first round for the school’s first-ever win over the Greyhounds. Previous to his tenure at Notre Dame, he served as head coach at Randolph-Macon during the 1985 and 1986 campaign where his teams compiled a 10-15 mark.
SERIES RECORD VS. HOFSTRA – This will be the eighth meeting between the two schools with the Irish holding a 4-3 advantage in the series. Hofstra has been victorious in the in last two meetings between the two teams with the Flying Dutchmen earning an 8-7 win at Notre Dame last year and a 10-9 overtime decision in Hempstead, N.Y. during the 1999 campaign. Prior to the last two meetings, the Irish had won four straight over Hofstra. Four of the seven games between the two teams have been decided by a single goal and Notre Dame is 2-2 in the four games it has played at Hofstra.
KEEP ON TAKIN’ IT HIGHER – Notre Dame earned its highest ranking in school history this week when the Irish were ranked second in the USILA/STX poll. Previous to this, the hightest ranking for an Irish team was sixth in April of 1996. The Irish began the season 11th and have climbed nine spots since the start of the season.
CAPTAIN KIRK – Fifth-year player Kirk Howell is in his second year as an Irish captain. Last season, he served as a team captain along with Patrick Darcy, Steve Fiamingo and Kevin Higgins. He has the distiction of being one of just four Irish players to serve as team captain twice during their careers. Randy Colley, Notre Dame’s career goals, assists and points leader, was the first two-time captain in 1994 and 1995. Alex Cade and Jimmy Keenan served as captains in both 1997 and 1998.
GWLL WELCOMES FAIRFIELD – The newest member to the Great Western Lacrosse League in 2001 is Fairfield. The Stags were an independent a year ago. The Irish played Fairfield for the first time last season and won the game 20-12 on April 22, 2000.
STRONG ACADEMICS – More than one in every three Notre Dame student-athletes made the Dean’s List (3.4 grade-point average or better on a 4.0 scale) during the 2000 fall semester. Of the 737 student-athletes on Notre Dame varsity rosters, 275 (37 percent) made the Dean’s List. Of those 275, 16 came from the men’s lacrosse program. The Irish had their best semester ever in recording a 3.193 as a team.
The 16 named to the Dean’s List were: junior Owen Asplundh (3.867, English), senior Steve Bishko (3.733, Economics), freshman Andrew Coleman (3.686, First Year of Studies), freshman Edward Crosland (3.750, First Year of Studies), senior Chis Fallon (3.867, American Studies), sophomore Timothy Brooks Hartnett (3.530, Mendoza College of Business), senior Jon Harvey (3.667, History), senior Kirk Howell (3.750, Government), junior Matt Leisen (3.467, Finance), freshman Chris Masterson (3.529, First Year of Studies), freshman John Mulfur (3.572, First Year of Studies), senior Mike Pfeffer (3.533, Architecture), freshman Hani Rimlawi (3.738, First Year of Studies), junior Devin Ryan (3.467, Management Information Systems), junior A.J. Wright (3.584, Accounting) and senior Chris Young (3.600, Finance).
TOUGH ROAD SCHEDULE – Four of Notre Dame’s five wins have come against ranked opponents. All four of those wins over ranked foes have been on the road.
ROAD TESTED – Notre Dame is in the midst of a five-game road stretch which will end next Saturday, Apr. 1 when the Irish travel to Columbus, Ohio to face the Buckeyes of Ohio State. Following that contest, Kevin Corrigan’s squad will play five of its six remaining games on the 2001 schedule at home. That is in contrast to the Irish having played six of its first seven games on the road. The last time Notre Dame team to win four straight road games was the 1996 squad which finished with a perfect 5-0 mark playing on the home field of its opponent. That team was 6-1 overall that season including games played on neutral sites. The team did not lose until the first round of the NCAA tournament against Johns Hopkins when it dropped a 12-7 decision at the Naval Academy.
IF IT’S NOT BROKEN, DON’T FIX IT – Notre Dame has used the same starting lineup in all five of its wins this season. The starting lineup includes: Tom Glatzel, David Ulrich and Jon Harvey at attack, Steve Bishko, John Flandina and Devin Ryan in the midfield, A.J. Wright, Mike Adams and Mike Pfeffer on defense, and Kirk Howell in goal.
SEEING DOUBLE – Seniors David and Todd Ulrich are the first twin brothers to play on the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team. David has been a three-year starter at attack for the Irish, while Todd was a starter in the midfield during the 1999 and 2000 campaigns.
TOUGH DEFENSE – Notre Dame teams under Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan have always stressed. The Irish defense has been spectacular to date as no opponent has scored more than eight goals. Only one other time, in 1989, did a Notre Dame team hold its opponent to under 10 goals in the first five games of the season. That squad did not allow its opponent to score more than 10 goals until the 11th game of the season, which was Corrigan’s first year as Notre Dame’s head coach.
CLOSING IN ON THE ASSIST RECORD – For the fourth straight year, senior attack David Ulrich is leading the team in assists. The Baltimore, Md. native has seven this season and needs just 13 more to become the school’s all-time career assist leader. Ulrich has 88 career assists and is tied for second on that all-time list with Mike Sullivan (1989-92). Randy Colley (1991-95), Notre Dame’s career scoring leader, tops the Irish career assist chart with 100. Ulrich has had 30-plus assists in each of the last two seasons. In 2000, he tied the Irish single-season mark when he dished off 32 assists during the season. Ulrich’s 145 career points places him fifth on the all-time career scoring list.
MOVING UP THE RANKS – The numbers registered by Tom Glatzel have been staggering as the Irish senior has scored 18 goals and dished off four assists through the first five games of the season. He is averaging 3.60 goals per game and 4.40 points per game. Most impressive, are his numbers over the past two seasons. As a freshman, he scored just one goal and dished off an assist, but since that season, he has scored 82 goals and dished off 37 assists in 33 games. He has scored 84 goals and dished off 38 assists during his career. His 122 career points ties him for 10th on the career scoring list.
HOWELL GARNERS GWLL PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS – Kirk Howell was named Great Western Lacrosse League Player of the Week after leading the Irish to victories over Virginia and Loyola last week. It is the third time this season a Notre Dame player has copped the honor with Tom Glatzel already named twice. Howell won the award once last season. Currently, he has a 7.00 goals against average and .620 save percentage.