April 1, 2017
By Robby Hamman
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The battle of No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 3 Syracuse lived up to the hype on Saturday afternoon, as the Irish and Orange faced off in an intense battle in front of 3,405 fans at Arlotta Stadium. Syracuse did just enough to pull out the win, claiming the victory by a final score of 11-10.
Sophomore Brendan Gleason led the Irish in scoring with two goals in the contest. Senior midfielder Sergio Perkovic had a team-high three points off a goal and two assists, while sophomore attackman Ryder Garnsey added a goal and assist.
How It Happened
The Irish and Orange played an even first 15 minutes, as the two sides were tied at 3-3 after the end of the first quarter. Gleason scored his two goals in the first frame and Drew Schantz found the back of the net for the Irish.
Syracuse controlled the second quarter, outscoring Notre Dame 4-2 to take a 7-5 advantage into the half. The Irish briefly held a one-goal lead at the beginning of the second quarter, as junior John Sexton scored to put Notre Dame in front 4-3. However, Syracuse responded with three goals in a row before Notre Dame graduate student Bobby Gray ended the run with his third score of the season.
Notre Dame came out of the halftime break locked in on the offensive end, scoring four times in the third quarter and tying the contest at 9-9 through 45 minutes of play. After the Orange registered two of the first three goals of the second half to extend its lead to 9-6, the Irish roared back by scoring three in a row in the final six minutes of the third quarter to level the score as the two sides headed to the fourth.
The three goals came from the sticks of Timmy Phillips, Garnsey and Perkovic. Phillips’ goal was the highlight of the day for the Irish, as he fired a behind-the-back shot past the Orange keeper off a dish from Garnsey to send the crowd into a frenzy.
Unfortunately for Notre Dame the visitors did just enough in the final frame to escape with the win. Syracuse’s Nick Mariano scored twice to give the Orange a two-goal advantage at 11-9. Junior midfielder Brendan Collins pulled the Irish back to within one at 11-10 with 6:49 left in the game. Notre Dame’s best chance to level the score came in the final 15 seconds, as Gleason fired a shot from close range but the Syracuse goalie made a great save to deliver the Orange the victory.
Notre Dame Player Of The Game
After a quiet first half Perkovic registered all of his team-high three points in the final 30 minutes of the game. The senior’s two assists tie his career-high for the statistical category.
Notre Dame Stat Of The Game
The Irish won the faceoff battle, claiming 13-of-24 opportunities. Senior P.J. Finley took the majority of the faceoffs for Notre Dame and managed to win 12-of-22 of the battles.
Notre Dame Notes
- Perkovic now has 99 career goals, one away from becoming the seventh player in program history to reach the 100-goal milestone.
- With three points Perkovic moved into 16th place in program history for career points with 119. He passed Jimmy Keenan (117) on Saturday.
- Senior goalkeeper Shane Doss made 11 saves against Syracuse and is now seventh on the Notre Dame Career save list with 417 in his career. Doss moved past Chris Parent (416) with Saturday’s performance.
- Notre Dame is now 2-2 against teams ranked in the top five this season.
- Garnsey has recorded multiple points in all seven games this season.
- Gleason has scored in six of seven games this season, including the last three outings, and now has eight goals on the season
- Costabile extended his goal streak to seven games and has scored in every game in his career.
- Bobby Gray scored his third goal of 2017.
- Drew Schantz notched his career-best fourth goal of the season seventh of his career.
- Brendan Collins now has four goals in 2017 and 14 in his career.
- Phillips posted his third goal of the season and fifth of his career.
- John Sexton scored his second goal of the season and fourth of his career.
Up Next
The Irish head out east and will take on Duke in an ACC matchup. The game is slated for noon ET on April 8 and will be broadcast live on ESPNU.
— ND —
The University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team pursues excellence on and off the field through the three pillars in which the program is built: Character, Culture & Community. These three foundational values guide the promise of the program, which is to provide its student-athletes with the most compelling and enriching experience in all of college athletics. Through academics, competition, service and travel, the program aims to immerse its players in situations that enhance their student-athlete experience to help them become the people, students and teammates they aspire to be.
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Robby Hamman joined Fighting Irish Media as athletics communications assistant director in September 2016, coordinating efforts for the volleyball and men’s lacrosse program. Hamman is a 2010 graduate of Bethel College, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in sport management and business administration, and earned his master’s degree in business administration from Defiance College in 2013.