March 25, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Senior attackman Duncan Swezey (Ambler, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) matched a single-game career-high total with four goals as the third-ranked Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team defeated Bellarmine 11-6 in Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL) play on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field. The contest was the GWLL opener for both squads.
The victory puts the Fighting Irish at 7-0 on the season. That mark is one shy of the program record of wins to begin a season. Notre Dame started the 1993 campaign 8-0. The Irish also extended their program-record home win streak to 22 games on Wednesday.
After Bellarmine (6-3, 0-1) cut the Irish lead to one (6-5) on a Sean Doyle goal early in the second half, Notre Dame scored the game’s next four goals to take command of the contest. The Fighting Irish held the Knights to just one goal in the final 29:10 of the game.
The Irish began the second-half surge with a goal from junior midfielder Grant Krebs (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary’s), who notched his fifth career hat trick on the afternoon. Krebs currently is riding a team-best 23-game point streak. Three straight goals from Swezey gave Notre Dame a five-goal lead (10-5) by the 14:37 mark of the fourth quarter. Kelly McKenna (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield), Peter Christman (Simsbury, Conn./Westminster School) and Zach Brenneman (East Hampton, N.Y./East Hampton) assisted on the goals, respectively. Christman, a senior, matched a career-best total with three assists in the game, while McKenna, a junior, recorded a career-best two assists.
Bellarmine’s Jarrett Davis halted the Irish uprising with 13:09 remaining in regulation to make it 10-6. That would be the last Knight score of the afternoon. A goal from Neal Hicks (Atlanta, Ga./The Lovett School) with 9:20 left on the clock made it an 11-6 final in favor of the Irish.
The six goals surrendered by the Fighting Irish defense matched a season-low total. Notre Dame also held Bucknell to six tallies back on March 12. The Irish, who boast the nation’s ninth-best defense, have yet to allow more than nine goals in a game this season. Notre Dame senior Scott Rodgers (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) made 11 saves to improve to 7-0 on the season. Bellarmine’s Scott Bowles had 16 stops in the loss.
The Knights jumped ahead early behind a Davis goal with just over two minutes elapsed in the contest. Swezey knotted the game two minutes later as he scored his first goal of the day off a feed from David Earl (Simsbury, Conn./Westminster School). Goals from Brenneman and Dan Gibson (Germantown, Tenn./Memphis University School) gave the Fighting Irish a 3-1 lead with 1:45 left in the first quarter. The Knights sliced the lead to one (3-2) by the end of the first period as Dereck Hopcroft scored with 22 seconds remaining.
Bellarmine tied the game (3-3) when Doyle scored less than two minutes into the second quarter. Following back-to-back goals from Krebs, Matt Ciambella (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) deposited a score to give Notre Dame a 6-3 lead with 7:32 left in the opening half. Ciambella also assisted on Krebs’ second goal in the sequence. The two-point game was a career-best for Ciambella. The Knights cut the Irish lead to two (6-4) by halftime as Chase Williams scored with 4:11 remaining in the stanza.
Notre Dame out shot Bellarmine 38-30, while the Irish also won 13 of 21 faceoffs. Sophomore Jake Marmul (Livonia, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central) went 11-for-16 in the faceoff X. Earl had a game-high eight ground balls for the Irish.
The Fighting Irish return to action with a non-conference home showdown with Villanova on Tuesday, March 31. Game time is slated for 4:00 p.m. (ET) at Alumni Field.
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March 25, 2009 – Alumni Field – Notre Dame, Ind.
Bellarmine (6-3, 0-1) – 2 2 1 1 – 6
#3 Notre Dame (7-0, 1-0) – 3 3 3 2 – 11
Bellarmine Scoring (goals-assists):
Jarrett Davis 2-2, Sean Doyle 2-0, Dereck Hopcroft 1-1, Chase Williams 1-0; Goaltender: Scott Bowles (60:00, 16 saves, 11 GA)
Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
Duncan Swezey 4-0, Grant Krebs 3-0, Zach Brenneman 1-1, Matt Ciambella 1-1, Neal Hicks 1-0, Dan Gibson 1-0, Peter Christman 0-3, Kelly McKenna 0-2, David Earl 0-1, Andrew Irving 0-1; Goaltender: Scott Rodgers (W, 60:00, 11 saves, 6 GA)