May 22, 2011
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team saw its season come to an end with a 7-5 setback to Duke in the NCAA Championship quarterfinals on Sunday afternoon at Gillette Stadium. The Fighting Irish concluded the campaign with an 11-3 record.
Notre Dame was the tournament’s No. 4 seed, while Duke is the fifth seed.
The contest was tied 4-4 after three quarters of play and Duke (14-5) scored the first three goals of the final period en route to the victory. The Blue Devils opened the fourth-quarter scoring at the 13:30 mark on a Jordan Wolf goal. Duke went up by two (6-4) on a Tucker Virtue score with just under 11 minutes left in regulation. A Robert Rotanz goal with 3:44 left gave Duke a three-goal lead, which was its largest advantage of the game.
A goal from Irish freshman Westy Hopkins with 16 seconds on the clock produced the final outcome. Hopkins, an attackman, led the Irish with three goals. That was his second hat trick of the season.
“I think it was pretty clear if you watched that game to know both teams know each other well,” said Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan. “I don’t think it’s complicated stuff – you got to make plays at this time of year to win games, and we didn’t make enough plays. We had our opportunities – we just didn’t finish them. They finished them more than we did.”
Notre Dame opened the game’s scoring at the 10:09 mark of the first quarter on an Eric Keppeler goal. The Irish made it 2-0 two minutes later on Hopkins’ first score, which was assisted by Sean Rogers.
Duke cracked the scoring column with 2:26 left in the first quarter on a Christian Walsh goal. The Irish claimed a 3-1 lead on a Hopkins goal with 11 seconds left in the opening period. Zach Brenneman assisted on the play.
The Blue Devils sliced the Irish lead back to one (3-2) in the early stages of the second quarter on a Justin Turri goal. Duke knotted the game (3-3) on a David Lawson tally with 8:44 remaining in the first half. The game was tied 3-3 at halftime.
Duke grabbed its first lead of the game (4-3) with 4:21 left in the third period on a score from Turri. The Fighting Irish evened the game (4-4) less than two minutes later on a man-up tally from Max Pfeifer. Colin Igoe assisted on the goal.
“They (Duke) were so patient today offensively,” added Corrigan. “They really do a good job of waiting for what they like. And with a team that plays as well defensively as we do, that means two or three minute possessions until they really got to something they liked, or we were able to put the ball on the ground … They were poised in the fourth quarter with the ball and that was impressive. They made us come to them a little bit and that’s not what we want to do.”
The Fighting Irish outshot the Blue Devils 34-28. Sophomore goalie John Kemp made eight saves for the Irish, while Dan Wigrizer had 14 stops for Duke.
Notre Dame won 11 of the 16 faceoff attempts. Freshman Liam O’Connor was 7-9, while senior Jake Marmul was 4-7. The Irish picked up 27 ground balls compared to 18 for the Blue Devils. Duke had 14 turnovers and Notre Dame had 11.
NCAA Championship Quarterfinal
May 22, 2011 – Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, Mass.
#5 Duke (14-5) – 1 2 1 3 – 7
#4 Notre Dame (11-3) – 3 0 1 1 – 5
Duke Scoring (goals-assists):
Justin Turri 2-0, Christian Walsh 1-1, David Lawson 1-1, Robert Rotanz 1-0, Jordan Wolf 1-0, Tucker Virtue 1-0; Goaltender: Dan Wigrizer (W, 60:00, 14 saves, 5 GA)
Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
Westy Hopkins 3-0, Max Pfeifer 1-1, Eric Keppeler 1-0, Sean Rogers 0-1, Zach Brenneman 0-1, Colin Igoe 0-1; Goaltender: John Kemp (L, 60:00, 8 saves, 7 GA)
— ND —