March 23, 2002
The 18th-ranked Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team lost its third straight game and fell to 1-5 on the season as the Irish dropped 15-5 decision to 12th-ranked Hofstra at Moose Krause Stadium. Hofstra outscored the Irish 7-1 in the second half to record its fourth win of the season and improve to 4-3.
Notre Dame’s current three-game slide is the longest since the 1999 campaign when that Irish squad dropped consecutive decision to Hofstra (10-9), Georgetown (12-8) and Ohio State (5-4).
Scott Dooley led the Pride with three goals and two assists in the contest, while five other players scored a pair of goals. Five different Irish players scored in the contest. Notre Dame’s leading scorer Dan Berger (Phoenix, Md.) led the Irish with a goal and an assist.
Hofstra jumped out to an early 1-0 35 seconds into the contest on the first of Dooley’s three goals. Freshman Chris Richez (Freeport, N.Y.) tied the game with an unassisted goal at the 8:25 mark. The Pride scored three goals in the final 3:36 of the first quarter for a 4-1 lead after the first 14-minute stanza.
Jim Femminella and Tom Kessler opened the second quarter with scores that increased Hofstra’s lead to 6-1 in the second quarter. Berger finally answered the five-goal Hofstra barrage with a score at the 8:54 mark. The two teams traded goals after that point as Irish freshman Dan Straka (Upper Arlington, Ohio) cut the deficit to 7-3 with 2:35 left in the quarter. Hofstra went up 8-3 in the contest on first of Mike Allain’s two goals, but Owen Asplundh’s (Bryn Athyn, Pa.) goal with 29 seconds remaining before the break off a John Flandina (West Islip, N.Y.) assist cut the deficit to 8-4 before the break.
Dooley scored the lone goal of the third quarter for both teams with 5:39 remaining as Hofstra held the Irish to just one shot in the third-period stanza. The Pride outscored the Irish 6-1 in the final quarter. Notre Dame’s lone goal in the second goal was scored by Devin Ryan (Kensington, Md.) with 31 seconds remaining in the game.
Notre Dame returns to action on Sat., March 30 at 1:00 p.m. when it opens up Great Western Lacrosse League play at Denver. That game is the first of four consecutive road contests for the Irish.