April 8, 2000
INDIANAPOLIS — Notre Dame completed an undefeated season in the Great Western Lacrosse League (4-0) and improved to 5-3 in 2000 as the Irish held off a fourth-quarter Butler rally in posting a 12-11 victory on the road.
The one-goal differential marks the third straight season the game was decided by a single goal. Last year, the Irish earned an 8-7 at Notre Dame, while the Bulldogs were victorious 6-5 in Indianapolis in 1998.
Tom Glatzel (Ellicott City, Md.) led the Irish in scoring for the second straight game as he tallied three goals and dished off two assists. Jon Harvey (Winchester, Mass.) also scored three goals in the game and was one of six different goal scorers in the contest.
Stedman Oakey (Charlottesville, Va.) and David Ulrich (Baltimore, Md.) were multiple-goal scorers in the contest as each finished the game with two goals, while Oakey also added two assists to his totals.
Notre Dame, which led throughout and never trailed in the contest, held a commanding 10-6 lead in the game with 11:16 remaining when Ulrich netted his second unassisted goal of the day.
Butler, however, staged a furious comeback with four unanswered goal. The Bulldogs tied the game at 10-10 with 4:23 left in the game on Doug Patterson’s unassisted goal, his second of the afternoon.
Oakey gave Notre Dame the lead 37 seconds later with an unassisted score and then assisted on Harvey’s third goal of the game with 2:55 remaining which gave Notre Dame a 12-10 advantage.
Butler’s Mike Regan, who led all scorers with four goals and two assist, pulled the Bulldogs to within 12-11 with 18 seconds remaining.
Following Regan’s goal, Butler got the ball back on the ensuing face-off when Notre Dame committed a procedure violation giving the Bulldogs one last chance to tie the game. On a broken play, Ryan Ward ended up with the ball with eight seconds to play and fired a shot that Irish goalkeeper Kirk Howell (Nashville, Tenn.) stopped just as time expired.
With the loss, the Bulldogs drop to 3-6 on the season and 1-1 in the GWLL. In addition to Regan, Patterson and Ward were also multiple-goal scorers for Butler as they finished with two goals each.
Notre Dame outshot Butler 39-30 in the game as Howell made five stops in goal. Butler goalie Marc Ferrandino had 16 saves, but committed a costly penalty late in the game which allowed the Irish to score their game-winning 12th goal of the contest.
The Irish have now won or shared the Great Western Lacrosse league championship in nine of head coach Kevin Corrigan’s 12 seasons. Notre Dame shared the crown a year ago with Butler and Ohio State.
The Irish return to action next Saturday, April 15 when they travel to Army for a 1:30 p.m. contest.