April 7, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The top-ranked University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team overturned an early 2-0 deficit to capture its fifth straight victory with a 14-7 win over No. 15 Marquette on Tuesday afternoon at Arlotta Stadium.
Senior attackman Conor Doyle, the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference Co-Offensive Player of the Week, paced the Fighting Irish with four goals, which tied a career high. Sergio Perkovic registered three goals and two assists, while fellow midfielder Nick Ossello also posted a hat trick. Sophomore goalie Shane Doss, who was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, made seven saves for the Irish.
Notre Dame owned the faceoff battle, winning 16-of-24 attempts. Sophomore P.J. Finley was 12-of-19 and freshman John Travisano, Jr. was 4-of-5. However, Marquette won the opening faceoff and Liam Byrnes scooped up the ground ball and scored seven seconds into the contest. The Golden Eagles went up by two scores six minutes later on a Blaine Fleming goal.
Notre Dame (8-1) responded in a major way with a 7-0 run to take control of the game. Back-to-back goals from Doyle evened things up with 6:30 left in the first quarter. An Ossello goal was followed by Doyle’s third score, which came with one second left in the opening period.
A man-up deposit from Perkovic early in the second quarter stretched the lead to three and the sophomore scored again 13 seconds later to make it 6-2. The final goal of the uprising was a man-advantage tally from Jim Marlatt.
“Faceoffs were a big part of it (the run),” Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said. “Possession is really important at a time like that. I wasn’t crazy about our ground ball play today. I thought they (Marquette) played really well when the ball was on the ground, but we didn’t give up anything on that. Except for one rebound goal, we didn’t give up any big plays on the ground ball unsettled stuff.”
Marquette (9-3) used goals from Andy Demichiei and Kyle Whitlow to climb back to within three (7-4) by the 6:28 mark of the second quarter. That momentum was short lived as Ossello and Marlatt both scored a minute apart to make it 9-4. A man-up tally from Marquette’s Jordan Greenfield made it 9-5 at the intermission.
Ossello completed his hat trick with the first goal of the second half and his teammate Mikey Wynne followed with a man-up score that put the Fighting Irish in front by six (11-5). A pair of Fleming goals made it 11-7 with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter.
The Fighting Irish defense kept the Golden Eagles off the scoreboard for the final 17:04 of the contest. Perkovic, Wynne and Doyle (man-up) all scored in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame was 4-of-6 in man-advantage situations in the game, while Marquette was 1-of-2.
Notre Dame had a 42-38 edge in shots. Marquette goalie Jimmy Danaher finished with 13 saves.
Marquette was the sixth straight ranked opponent Notre Dame has faced and the Irish are 5-1 in those contests.
“More than anything else, our guys played with the poise of a confident team, and that makes a difference,” Corrigan added. “Marquette is a very good team and we are happy to get a win.”
The Fighting Irish return to game action April 18 when they play host to No. 4 North Carolina at Arlotta Stadium. The ACC contest is slated for 4 p.m. (ET) and it will be aired on ESPNU and WatchESPN.
April 7, 2015
Arlotta Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
#15 Marquette (9-3) – 2 3 2 0 – 7
#1 Notre Dame (8-1) – 4 5 2 3 – 14
— Sean Carroll, Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director
–ND–