March 6, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The fourth-ranked Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team opened its home slate with an 11-7 win over No. 16 Drexel on Sunday afternoon in front of 1,626 fans inside the Loftus Sports Center. It was a men’s lacrosse record crowd for the Loftus Center.
Notre Dame (3-0) trailed 6-5 after three quarters, yet the Irish out scored the Dragons 6-1 in the final quarter to secure the victory. David Earl (Sr./M), Westy Hopkins (Fr./A) and Sean Rogers (Jr./A) all netted two goals for the Irish.
Earl opened the fourth-quarter scoring just over a minute into the stanza. Rogers netted consecutive goals in a two-minute span to give Notre Dame a two-goal edge (8-6). Junior midfielder Max Pfeifer assisted on both of Rogers’ goals. Senior attackman Colin Igoe made it 9-6 with 7:58 remaining on an assist from Devon Dobson.
Drexel (1-3) got back to within two (9-7) on a Robert Church goal with 4:31 left on the clock.
A man-up goal from senior attackman Edison Parzanese, off a pass from Nicholas Beattie, pushed the Notre Dame lead back to three (10-7) with just over two minutes remaining in regulation. Junior midfielder Eric Keppeler tallied the game’s final goal with 34 seconds left on the clock. Pfeifer picked up his third assist of the day on the play.
“I liked the courage of our guys to make plays in the latter part of the game when it would have been easy to get a little timid and protective,” said Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan. “We were aggressive and made plays after they came back and got up again. This bodes well for our team. I didn’t feel we played badly.”
Drexel jumped out to a 3-0 lead by the 9:27 mark of the first quarter with two goals from Brendan Glynn and a Craig Owen tally.
“Drexel is a very good team,” added Corrigan. “I was pleased with our guys in how they kept their poise early in the game when we went down by three. We didn’t panic. If you panic against them (Drexel), they’ll make you pay for it. They are a very good offensive team with a lot of nifty guys who can make plays.”
The Fighting Irish got on the board with four seconds remaining in the opening quarter as Hopkins found the back of the net off a pass from Keppeler. That was the beginning of a 5-0 Notre Dame run.
The Notre Dame defense blanked the Dragons in the second quarter, while the Irish offense scored three goals in the period to grab a 4-3 lead at halftime.
All three of Notre Dame’s second-quarter goals came within a 1:05 span. Earl tallied the first score of the surge with 12:26 left in the period. Hopkins followed at the 11:44 mark, while sophomore midfielder Steve Murphy gave the Irish their first lead of the day (4-3) with 11:21 remaining. Fellow sophomore midfielder Tyler Kimball assisted on Murphy’s goal.
Notre Dame upped its lead to two (5-3) as Ryan Foley scored off an assist from Earl at the 8:54 mark of the third quarter.
Three unanswered Drexel goals gave the Dragons a 6-5 lead by the end of three quarters. Scott Perri netted the first goal, which snapped a 32:30 scoreless streak. Kyle Bergman followed with back-to-back tallies.
Notre Dame out shot Drexel 38-27. Irish sophomore goalie John Kemp made nine saves, while Drexel’s Mark Manos had 15 stops and allowed 10 goals. John Ciavarelli surrendered one goal for Drexel.
The Fighting Irish won 13 of 22 faceoff attempts. Notre Dame freshman Liam O’Connor was 10-17 and senior Jake Marmul was 3-5.
The Irish return to action on Saturday at Denver. Opening faceoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. (MT).
March 6, 2011 – Loftus Sports Center – Notre Dame, Ind.
#16 Drexel (1-3) – 3 0 3 1 – 7
#4 Notre Dame (3-0) – 1 3 1 6 – 11
Drexel Scoring (goals-assists):
Brendan Glynn 2-0, Kyle Bergman 2-0, Scott Perri 1-1, Robert Church 1-0, Craig Owen 1-0, Nick Trizano 0-1; Goaltenders: Mark Manos (L, 59:09, 15 saves, 10 GA), John Ciavarelli (0:51, 0 saves, 1 GA)
Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
David Earl 2-1, Sean Rogers 2-0, Westy Hopkins 2-0, Eric Keppeler 1-1, Ryan Foley 1-0, Edison Parzanese 1-0, Steve Murphy 1-0, Colin Igoe 1-0, Max Pfeifer 0-3, Nicholas Beattie 0-1, Tyler Kimball 0-1, Devon Dobson 0-1; Goaltender: John Kemp (W, 60:00, 9 saves, 7 GA)
— ND —