March 11, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Junior attack John Harvey (Winchester, Mass.) recorded his first career hat trick in leading 15th-ranked Notre Dame to a 12-8 victory over Great Western Lacrosse League foe Denver. The win improves the Irish record to 2-1 on the season and 1-0 in the GWLL, while the Pioneers suffer their first defeat after opening the season 4-0.
Notre Dame scored four unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to break a 7-7 deadlock. Junior midfielders Steve Bishko (West Islip, N.Y.) and Todd Ulrich (Baltimore, Md.) each scored twice in the 4-0 run. After Mike Kenlay tied the game at 7-7 with 12:39 remaining in the contest, Bishko answered with his first goal of the contest 38 seconds later. He then gave the Irish a two-goal advantage (9-7) with 8:49 left. Ulrich had back-to-back goals at the 4:59 and 2:57 marks, respectively, as the Irish owned a commanding 11-7 advantage.
McAdory Lipscomb finally halted the Notre Dame run with an extra-man goal with 1:41 remaining before Harvey tallied the game’s final goal for the Irish.
Notre Dame jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter. Harvey opened up the scoring with the game’s first score 1:24 into the contest off a Todd Ulrich assist. Todd’s twin brother David Ulrich gave the Irish a 2-0 advantage with an unassisted goal at 7:25. Harvey put the Irish up 3-0 with his second goal of the quarter off a Chris Young (Camillus, N.Y.) feed with 6:10 left and then Young added his first goal of the season with 5:09 left on an assist from Tom Glatzel (Ellicott City, Md.).
Geoff Bieging got Denver on the scoreboard with 10:06 remaining in the second quarter and then Chad Wittman closed the gap to 4-2 less than two minutes later. Notre Dame took a 5-2 lead into the break as Owen Asplundh (Bryn Athyn, Pa.) scored off a John Flandina (West Islip, N.Y.) assist with 23 seconds remaining before halftime. The goal was the first of two for Asplundh.
The two teams traded goals to start the third quarter ast Adam Stifel scored pulled the Pioneers to with two (5-3) before Glatzel gave the Irish a three-goal cushion (6-3) with 9:09 remaining in the third quarter. Denver ended the third quarter with three consecutive scores, one by Bieging and two by Mike Law. Law’s second tied the score at 6-6 with 3:18 remaining in the third quarter.
Asplundh’s second goal of the game off a David Ulrich assist 11 seconds into the final quarter gave the Irish a 7-6 advantage before Kenlay’s scored knotted the contest at 7-7.
Denver made the most of its extra-man opportunities as the Pioneers converted on three-of-four extra-man chances, while the Irish were just one-of-seven.
Notre Dame outshot Denver 41-31 in the game. Irish goalie Kirk Howell (Nashville, Tenn.) tied his career-high with 18 saves. The senior captain also had 18 in the season-opening win against Penn State. Denver goalie Brian Berger also played well as he made 15 stops.
The Irish return to action on Monday, March 13 as they travel to Air Force for its second GWLL test of the season. Game time is 1:00 p.m. locally.