Feb. 27, 2015
DARTMOUTH (0-1)
vs.
#2 NOTRE DAME (2-0)
Saturday, February 28, 2015 – 1 p.m. (ET)
Loftus Sports Center – Notre Dame, Ind.
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LIVE STATS
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – It’s been a lucky 13 so far this season for the second-ranked University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team.
The Fighting Irish have used 13 goal scorers en route to a 2-0 start and they hope to continue that balanced attack Saturday when the Irish play host to Dartmouth at 1 p.m. (ET) inside the Loftus Sports Center.
Notre Dame opened the 2015 campaign with a 14-12 home victory over Georgetown and followed that with a 17-8 win at Michigan. The 31 goals scored are the most through the first two games of a season for the Irish since the 1992 team had 33.
“Offensively we’re really playing fast, but under control,” Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan says. “We’re also playing aggressively, but selectively. For this early in the year there’s been a nice balance in our offense and that’s been reflective in the number of people we’ve had score.”
Freshman attackman Mikey Wynne has burst onto the scene with a team-high 10 goals, while two-time All-America attackman Matt Kavanagh has four goals and a team-high five assists. Midfielder Sergio Perkovic (5) and attackman Conor Doyle (3) are the other Fighting Irish players with multiple goals this season. The team’s other nine tallies have been divided up evenly among nine players.
“Mike Wynne has obviously been doing a great job on the inside,” Kavanagh states. “Conor (Doyle) and I have been choosing our spots to go knowing that he’ll (Wynne) be in there and we can feed him and we have confidence in him.
“The midfield has also been doing a great job. Sergio (Perkovic) and Nick (Ossello) have been dodging great and drawing slides and that makes the attack’s job a lot easier when they can beat their guy and get the defense moving before we even get the ball. The entire second midfield line scored against Michigan and that was great. We are confident we can score with whatever midfield line we have out there.”
Even though he’s only in the early stages of his junior campaign, Kavanagh already is on the verge of cracking Notre Dame’s top-10 list for career goals and points. He has registered 78 goals and 132 points in his two-plus seasons in an Irish uniform. Doyle, a senior, has been a steady presence in the attack the last four years and he currently boasts a 23-game point streak, which is the best on the team and the 19th-longest active streak in the country. While those two proven commodities have combined with Wynne to produce a formidable trio, Corrigan knows there still is room for improvement.
“I think it’s a work in progress and they’re going to keep getting better throughout the year,” Corrigan says of the attack unit. “You have three different players with three different skill sets who are learning to mesh together. They’re getting better at it, but we still see a lot of ways where they can be better and we’re going to need to be better as we go through the year.”
SETTING THE STAGE
– No. 2 Notre Dame (2-0) returns home to face Dartmouth (0-1) Saturday inside the Loftus Sports Center. Faceoff is slated for 1 p.m. (ET).
– Live stats will be available via Gametracker on UND.com.
– The Fighting Irish have notched wins over Georgetown (14-12) and Michigan (17-8), while Dartmouth dropped its season opener at Ohio State (15-5).
FANTASTIC FEBRUARYS FOR THE FIGHTING IRISH
– Notre Dame is 20-2 in its last 22 games played in February. Fighting Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan is 25-5 in the month of February during his Notre Dame tenure.
BATTLING THE BIG GREEN
– Saturday will be the ninth meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Dartmouth and the first since the 2009 season. The Fighting Irish have won the last two encounters and lead the series 6-2.
– The last meeting took place inside the Loftus Sports Center and the Irish came away with a 19-7 victory on Feb. 28, 2009.
– Notre Dame boasts a 4-0 home record against Dartmouth.
IRISH AGAINST THE IVY LEAGUE
– Notre Dame has won eight straight games against Ivy League opponents and the Fighting Irish are 22-14 (.611) all-time against teams from the conference.
– Notre Dame’s last five matchups with an Ivy League foe have come in the NCAA tournament. This will be the first regular-season clash with an Ivy League school since the 2009 showdown with Dartmouth.
– Last season, Notre Dame opened NCAA tournament play with a 13-5 win over Harvard at Arlotta Stadium.
FIGHTING IRISH GETTING OFFENSIVE
– Notre Dame’s 31 goals are the most for the Fighting Irish through the first two games of a season since the 1992 squad tallied 33.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
– Thirteen different Notre Dame players have scored a goal this season. The Fighting Irish had 10 players score in Saturday’s win against Michigan, while they used seven goal scorers in the season-opening victory over Georgetown.
– Freshman Mikey Wynne has a team-high 10 goals, while Sergio Perkovic (5), Matt Kavanagh (4) and Conor Doyle (3) are the other Irish players with multiple goals this season. Nine Notre Dame players have one goal.
WHAT A START FOR WYNNE
– Freshman attackman Mikey Wynne has a team-high 10 goals this season. He tallied six goals in the 14-12 season-opening win over Georgetown. The six goals were one shy of tying the school record. He posted four goals and one assist last Saturday at Michigan.
– Wynne is tied for second nationally in goals per game (5.0) and he is ninth in points per game (5.5).
A GOOD DAY FOR DOSS
– Sophomore goalie Shane Doss earned his first start of the season last Saturday at Michigan and he made a career-high 13 saves. The win improved his career record to 6-3.
– Doss and the Irish defense kept the Wolverines off the scoreboard for a span of 23:36 during the first half. Notre Dame outscored Michigan 9-0 during that stretch and Doss made six saves in that time.
IRISH PLACE FOUR ON TEWAARATON WATCH LIST
– Matt Kavanagh (Jr./A), Matt Landis (Jr./D), Jack Near (Sr./M) and Sergio Perkovic (So./M) are among 50 players who recently were named to the 2015 Tewaaraton Award Watch List.
– The list includes the top players across all three divisions of NCAA lacrosse and highlight the early contenders for the 2015 Tewaaraton Award, presented by Under Armour.
– Kavanagh was a Tewaaraton Award nominee last season.
IN THE POLLS
– Notre Dame remained at No. 2 in this week’s Inside Lacrosse poll and No. 3 in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) rankings.
– The Fighting Irish will face the other five teams ranked in the top-six of both polls (Denver, Syracuse, North Carolina, Duke, Virginia). Army and Marquette are two other Notre Dame opponents that are ranked.
Kevin Corrigan ON FATHER HESBURGH
Saturday’s game will be one of the first sporting events held on the Notre Dame campus following the passing of Father Theodore Hesburgh, who was president of the University of Notre Dame from 1952 to 1987.
“My dad (former director of athletics Gene Corrigan) came to work at Notre Dame for Father Hesburgh and for Father (Edmund P.) Joyce in 1980. I had the opportunity to speak with Father Hesburgh many times. We took our team up to visit with him a few years ago and he spent over an hour just telling stories and talking to our guys. He was a phenomenal person and had a life of significance and achievement that you don’t see very often.”
— Sean Carroll, Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director
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