April 7, 2012
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The No. 6 Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team registered a 9-1 BIG EAST victory over Providence on Saturday afternoon at a sunny Arlotta Stadium. The win was the seventh in a row for the Fighting Irish.
Sophomore attackman Westy Hopkins spearheaded the Irish offense with a career-high four points on three goals and one assist. Freshman attackman Conor Doyle chipped in two goals for Notre Dame, while sophomore midfielder Jim Marlatt had one goal and two assists. Junior goalie John Kemp made seven saves in 52:44 of action for the Irish. The one goal allowed is the fewest for Notre Dame since a 14-1 win over Lake Forest in 1989.
Notre Dame (8-1, 3-0) took a 1-0 lead on a man-up goal by Marlatt just over five minutes into the game. The Irish went up by two on Hopkins’ first goal of the game, which was assisted by Sean Rogers, at the 8:47 mark of the first quarter. Rogers, a senior attackman, had two assists on the day. Notre Dame led 2-0 after the first quarter.
The Fighting Irish increased their lead to three with 12:51 remaining in the opening half on an unassisted goal from Hopkins.
The lone score from Providence (1-9, 0-4) came at the 11:57 mark of the second quarter as Peter Wujciak scored with the assist going to Jake Nolan.
Notre Dame upped its lead back to three (4-1) on a tally from sophomore attackman Ryan Mix with 7:07 on the clock in the half. The Irish led 4-1 at halftime.
“I’m really happy with the way we played today,” said Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan. “Providence is a tough out. They don’t have a lot of wins, but if you look at their scores, they are playing one and two-goal games with a lot of people. They play for that, to be there in the end. They have done that with just about every team they’ve played this year. So I’m really pleased with how we played today. We didn’t give away anything. We were disciplined, smart and fundamentally sound.”
Goals from Hopkins and Doyle gave the Irish a 6-1 lead by the end of the third quarter. Tallies from Ryan Foley, a junior midfielder, and Doyle just 53 seconds apart put the Irish up by seven (8-1) with 12 minutes remaining in the contest. Sophomore attackman Alex Eaton registered the final goal of the day with 3:16 left.
Friar goalie Christian Dzwilewski picked up the loss. He played 54:25 and allowed eight goals, while making 11 saves. Notre Dame senior Colt Power played the final 7:16 in goal for the Irish and made two saves. That was the first action of the season for Power.
Notre Dame outshot Providence 37-18. The Friars held a 9-5 advantage in faceoffs.
The Irish defense is allowing just 5.44 goals per game this season. Today was the fifth time this season Notre Dame held an opponent to five goals or fewer.
The Fighting Irish will return to action next Sunday at Georgetown. The BIG EAST tilt is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. (ET) start in Washington, D.C.
April 7, 2012
Arlotta Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind. (Attendance: 2,031)
Providence (1-9, 0-4) 0 1 0 0 – 1
#6 Notre Dame (8-1, 3-0) 2 2 2 3 – 9
Providence Scoring (goals-assists):
Peter Wujciak 1-0, Jake Nolan 0-1; Goaltenders: Christian Dzwilewski (L, 54:25, 11 saves, 8 GA); Tyler Himes (2:19, 0 saves, 1 GA); Peter Badgley (3:16, 1 save, 0 GA)
Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
Westy Hopkins 3-1, Conor Doyle 2-0, Jim Marlatt 1-2, Ryan Foley 1-0, Alex Eaton 1-0, Ryan Mix 1-0, Sean Rogers 0-2, Max Pfeifer 0-1; Goaltenders: John Kemp (W, 52:44, 7 saves, 1 GA); Colt Power (7:16, 2 saves, 0 GA)
— ND —