#7 Irish and Denver Set To Meet In NCAA Championships Showdown

May 11, 2018

By Robby Hamman

Notre Dame Game NotesNOTRE DAME, Ind. — No. 7Notre Dame takes on Denver in the NCAA Championship first round at 2:15 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 13 at Arlotta Stadium.

The winner of the game will take on the winner of the No. 2 Albany vs. Richmond game on Saturday, May 19 at Shuart Stadium on the Hofstra campus in Hempstead, New York in the quarterfinals.

The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU with John Brickley and Matt Ward on the call.

Game Details

Location: Notre Dame, Indiana | Arlotta Stadium
Schedule: Sunday, May 13 — 2:15 p.m. ET
TV: ESPNU
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Live Stats:
Twitter Updates: @NDlacrosse
For a more in-depth look at Saturday’s matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame

Postseason Success

• Notre Dame and Maryland are the only two programs to earn a spot in the NCAA Championship field in each of the last 13 seasons.

• Notre Dame is the only program to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship in the last eight campaigns.

• Notre Dame is 14-8 over the last eight NCAA Championships.

• Notre Dame owns a 19-22 record in its 22 trips to the NCAA Championship.

• This is the 11th time overall — and 10th time in the last 11 seasons — the Irish have earned one of the eight national seeds for the NCAA Championship.

• Notre Dame advanced to the NCAA Championship final weekend in 2001, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015 and played in the title game in 2010 and 2014.

The Denver Series

• Sunday will be the 25th meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Denver. The Irish lead the all-time series 15-9.

• The two sides met earlier this season at Arlotta Stadium, with the Irish prevailing in an 11-9 victory. Brendan Gleason scored four goals, while Bryan Costabile added three in the win.

• The Irish and Pioneers met last season in the 2017 NCAA Championship quarterfinals in Hemptstead, New York. Denver won by a final score of 16-4.

• Five of the last nine meetings have gone into at least one overtime session.

• Seven of the last 10 installments in the series have been decided by one goal.

Best Attacking Displays Of The Season

• Notre Dame scored a combined 48 goals in its last three games in wins over No. 1 Duke (14-11), No. 11 Virginia (17-7) and Army (17-5).

• Junior Ryder Garnsey led the way for the Irish with 14 points off nine goals and five assists.

• Sophomore Bryan Costabile also turned in two hat tricks in the three games totaling seven goals and two assists.

• Sophomore Brian Willetts recorded the first hat trick of his career with three goals in the win over Virginia.

• Junior Brendan Gleason has also impressed, tallying 12 points off seven goals and five assists over the three-game stretch.

Stifling Defense

• The Irish have allowed an average of 8.57 goals per game to rank 13th in the country, despite facing some of the most potent attacks at the DI level.

• Notre Dame has held nine of its 14 opponents to fewer than 10 goals.

• The Irish defense held Virginia (twice) and Duke to season lows for goals scored in a game.

• Duke (No. 3), Virginia (No. 7) and Denver (No. 11) all rank in the top 20 in goals scored per game this season and the Irish held each to under 10 goals.

Irish X-Man

• Senior John Travisano, Jr., has had a great year at the X through 14 games in the 2018 campaign. The senior has won 140-of-241 faceoffs this season to rank 19th in the country in face-off percentage with a mark of .581.

• Travisano has won the face-off battle in nine of 14 games this season, including six of the last nine outings.

• The face-off man had the best game of his career at the X against Ohio State (3/25), winning 17-of-19 face-offs in a dominating performance.

• The 17 face-off wins are a career high for Travisano and the most since Liam O’Connor won 21 against Albany on May 17, 2014.

• In the final regular-season ACC contest at UNC, Travisano won 16-of-21 face-offs at UNC.

Moving Up In The Ranks

• Senior attackman Mikey Wynne ranks third in program history in career goals with 125. (Full rankings in sidebar on page 4)

• Wynne surpassed Notre Dame legend Matt Kavanagh (122) with two goals against Virginia (4/29).

• Wynne is just the eighth player in program history to surpass the 100-goal mark, as he scored three times against Army in the final regular-season game of the 2017 season on May 6 to reach the milestone.

Notre Dame Vs. Top 10 Teams

• Notre Dame is 35-26 against teams ranked in the top 10 in the USILA Coaches Poll since the start of the 2008 season.

• The Irish are 14-12 against teams ranked in the top five in the USILA Coaches Poll since 2012.

• Notre Dame is 3-3 this season against ranked teams, recording wins over No. 1 Duke (14-11), No. 5 Denver (11-9) and No. 7 Virginia (9-7) and falling to No. 2 Maryland (12-10), No. 10 Syracuse (10-6) and No. 5 Duke (8-2).

— ND —

The University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team pursues excellence on and off the field through the three pillars in which the program is built: Character, Culture & Community. These three foundational values guide the promise of the program, which is to provide its student-athletes with the most compelling and enriching experience in all of college athletics. Through academics, competition, service and travel, the program aims to immerse its players in situations that enhance their student-athlete experience to help them become the people, students and teammates they aspire to be.

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Robby Hamman joined Fighting Irish Media as athletics communications assistant director in September 2016, coordinating efforts for the volleyball and men’s lacrosse program. Hamman is a 2010 graduate of Bethel College, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in sport management and business administration, and earned his master’s degree in business administration from Defiance College in 2013.