Neal Hicks netted three goals on Saturday against Fairfield.

Notre Dame Upended By Fairfield, 10-8, In Houston

March 13, 2010

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HOUSTON, Texas – The third-ranked Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team dropped a 10-8 decision to Fairfield on Saturday afternoon at The Kinkaid School. Senior attackman Neal Hicks (Atlanta, Ga./The Lovett School) paced the Fighting Irish with three goals. Midfielders Grant Krebs (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary’s) and David Earl (Simbsbury, Conn./Westminster School) both chipped in two goals and an assist for the Irish.

Fairfield (2-2) jumped out to a 4-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Netting goals for the Stags in that span were Matt Plominski (13:42), Nick Baglio (8:37), Brent Adams (2:45) and Kevin Peters (0:13).

Notre Dame (3-2) got on the board with five minutes elapsed in the second quarter as Hicks deposited his first goal of the game. Today was the second hat trick of the season for Hicks, who has a team-best 23-game point streak.

The Stags responded with three straight tallies to take a 7-1 lead with 6:33 left in the first half. The run started on a goal from Mike Esposito with 9:36 showing on the clock in the period. Brent Adams and Sam Snow followed with goals of their own to give Fairfield the six-goal advantage.

Notre Dame’s Max Pfeifer (Crozet, Va./Western Albermarle) put a halt to the surge as he netted a man-up goal with 5:34 remaining in the first half. Fairfield led 7-2 at the intermission.

The Fighting Irish staged a second-half comeback that fell just short. Notre Dame held a 6-3 scoring advantage in the second half.

Hicks opened the half with back-to-back goals to slice the Irish deficit to three (7-4) with 2:15 remaining in the third quarter. However, goals from Fairfield’s Kevin Peters and Max Trunz extended the Stags lead back to five (9-4) by the end of the third quarter.

Notre Dame cut the Fairfield lead to two (9-7) with just under nine minutes left in regulation on a goal from Earl and two man-up tallies from Krebs. The Irish could not get any closer as a Doug Kuring goal put Fairfield back up by three (10-7) with 20 seconds left. Notre Dame’s Earl deposited the final score of the game with seven seconds remaining.

The 10 goals scored by Fairfield snapped Notre Dame’s 20-game streak of not surrendering double digits in goals. The Irish out shot the Stags 42-23. Notre Dame goalie Scott Rodgers (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) made five saves, while Joseph Marra had 17 stops for Fairfield. Senior midfielder Trever Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich) went 14-6 in faceoff attempts for the Fighting Irish.

Saturday’s contest was part of the inaugural `Beating Cancer With a Stick Lacrosse Classic’. The event, which was presented by Lacrosse 4 All, helped to raise money for The Children’s Cancer Hospital at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. It was the first NCAA Division I lacrosse game in Houston since 1970, when Johns Hopkins played Navy.

The Fighting Irish are back in action when they play host to Denver on Tuesday, March 16. Game time is slated for 4:00 p.m. (ET) at Arlotta Stadium.

March 13, 2010 – The Kinkaid School – Houston, Texas
Fairfield (2-2) – 4 3 2 1 – 10
#3 Notre Dame (3-2) – 0 2 2 4 – 8

Fairfield Scoring (goals-assists):
Kevin Peters 2-1, Brent Adams 2-0, Matt Plominski 1-1, Sam Snow 1-0, Doug Kuring 1-0, Nick Baglio 1-0, Mike Esposito 1-0, Max Trunz 1-0, Marshall Johnson 0-1; Goaltender: Joseph Marra (W, 60:00, 17 saves, 8 GA)

Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
Neal Hicks 3-0, Grant Krebs 2-1, David Earl 2-1, Max Pfeifer 1-1, Colin Igoe 0-1, Tyler Kimball 0-1; Goaltender: Scott Rodgers (L, 60:00, 5 saves, 10 GA)