March 9, 2010
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – A goal from Robert Church with 22 seconds remaining in the first overtime period gave No. 20 Drexel a 7-6 victory over No. 3 Notre Dame in men’s lacrosse action at Vidas Field on Tuesday afternoon. The loss snapped Notre Dame’s 20-game regular-season win streak.
Sophomore midfielder Max Pfeifer (Crozet, Va./Western Albermarle) scored a career-high four goals for the Fighting Irish. Senior midfielder Grant Krebs (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary’s) and junior midfielder David Earl (Simsbury, Conn./Westminster School) tallied one goal apiece for Notre Dame, while senior attackman Neal Hicks (Atlanta, Ga./Lovett School) had two assists to up his team-best point streak to 22 games.
Drexel (4-1) jumped on top 16 seconds into the contest on a goal from Andrew Collins. Krebs evened the score with 4:11 left in the first quarter.
The Dragons regained the lead on a Dana Wilber tally with 2:57 showing on the clock in the opening quarter. It did not take long for Notre Dame to answer as Pfiefer deposited his first goal 26 seconds later during a man-up situation.
Drexel responded on an Aaron Prosser score with just under two minutes left in the first quarter. The Dragons led 3-2 after the opening 15 minutes of play.
Consecutive tallies from Earl and Pfeifer 25 seconds apart gave Notre Dame its first lead of the game (4-3) with 13:04 remaining in the first half. A score from Drexel’s Kevin Stockel, who had three goals on the day, midway through the second quarter made it a 4-4 contest at the intermission.
Notre Dame grabbed the lead once again on another man-up goal from Pfeifer with eight minutes left in the third quarter. That would be the only score for either team in the period. It marked the second straight contest that Notre Dame held an opponent scoreless for an entire quarter. The Irish shut out Loyola in the second quarter of Saturday’s 11-9 victory.
Drexel evened the contest (5-5) with 9:19 left in the fourth quarter on Stockel’s second tally. Pfeifer struck again to put Notre Dame back on top with 4:37 showing on the clock. A goal from Stockel with just over two minutes remaining in regulation sent the game to overtime.
The Fighting Irish out shot the Dragons 42-30. Notre Dame also dominated the faceoff X as the Irish won 13 of 17 attempts. Senior midfielder Trever Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich) took every attempt for the Fighting Irish. Senior goalie Scott Rodgers (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) made 12 saves for Notre Dame, while his counterpart Mark Manos had 17 stops.
Pfeifer’s four goals were the most for an Irish player since Ryan Hoff tallied six against Ohio State in the title game of last season’s Great Western Lacrosse League Tournament.
Today was Notre Dame’s first overtime contest since an 8-7 win over Colgate in the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament.
The Fighting Irish will return to action against Fairfield on Saturday, March 13 in Houston, Texas. The game is slated for a 1:00 p.m. (CT) start at The Kinkaid School.
March 9, 2010 – Vidas Field – Philadelphia, Pa.
#3 Notre Dame (3-1) – 2 2 1 1 0 – 6
#20 Drexel (4-1) – 3 1 0 2 1 – 7
Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
Max Pfeifer 4-0, Grant Krebs 1-0, David Earl 1-0, Neal Hicks 0-2, Zach Brenneman 0-1; Goaltender: Scott Rodgers (L, 63:38, 12 saves, 7 GA)
Drexel Scoring (goals-assists):
Kevin Stockel 3-0, Andrew Collins 1-0, Dana Wilber 1-0, Robert Church 1-0, Aaron Prosser 1-0, Ryan West 0-3, Scott Perri 0-2, Frank Tufano 0-1 ;Goaltender: Mark Manos (W, 63:38, 17 saves, 6 GA)