March 21, 2009
DALLAS, Texas – A five-goal effort from senior attackman Ryan Hoff (Baldwin, Md./Dulaney) paved the way for the No. 3 Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team in a 13-7 triumph of Vermont at the 2009 Patriot Cup on Saturday afternoon at Ford Stadium. The win improves the Irish to 6-0 on the season.
Notre Dame exploded with a seven-goal first quarter to take a 7-1 lead after the opening 15 minutes of play. Junior attackman Neal Hicks (Atlanta, Ga./The Lovett School) started the scoring for the Irish just over two minutes into the contest.
After Vermont (3-3) knotted the score with an Andrew Kelleher goal at the 9:33 mark of the first quarter, Notre Dame scored the game’s next eight goals to grab a 9-1 lead by the 13:00 mark of the second quarter. Hoff tallied four of the goals in the surge, while fellow senior Duncan Swezey (Ambler, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) had two of the scores. Sophomore midfielder David Earl (Simsbury, Conn./Westminster School), who had a career-high three goals on the day, and junior Grant Krebs (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary’s) also scored during the run.
The Catamounts answered with four straight goals of their own. Kelleher netted back-to-back tallies to slice the deficit to six (9-3) with 5:56 left on the clock in the second quarter. A goal from Derek Lichtfuss cut the margin to five (9-4) at the intermission.
Vermont’s Ryan Gillette scored the first goal of the second half with 6:25 remaining in the third quarter to make it a four-goal contest (9-5). Notre Dame stopped the Catamount streak as Krebs fed Hoff on a man-up goal with 3:35 left in the third period. The Irish, who were 2-for-6 on man-up opportunities on the afternoon, led 10-5 after three quarters. The Catamounts did not convert on its only man-up chance of the day.
Following Kelleher’s fourth goal of the contest, Earl and Hicks deposited scores to give Notre Dame a 12-6 lead with 8:35 left in regulation. A goal from Vermont’s Parker Bunnell made it 12-7 at the 6:36 mark. Earl finished off his hat trick with 21 seconds left to produce the final margin.
Hoff, Krebs, Swezey, Dan Gibson (Germantown, Tenn./Memphis University School), Adam Felicetti (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) and Kelly McKenna (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield) all collected an assist for the Irish in the win. Senior goalie Scott Rodgers (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) made nine saves to up his record to 6-0 on the season. His counterpart Justin Lubas had 13 stops in the loss. The Fighting Irish out shot the Catamounts 47-30. Notre Dame won 14 of 23 faceoffs as Jake Marmul (Livonia, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central) went 7-4 and Trever Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich) was 7-5.
Notre Dame will open its Great Western Lacrosse League slate with a home date against Bellarmine on Wednesday, March 25. Game time is slated for 4:00 p.m. (ET).
Stay up-to-date on the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team by logging onto und.com. You can also sign up to receive text message score updates through Irish Alert. Log onto und.com for more details.
March 21, 2009 – Patriot Cup – Dallas, Texas
Vermont (3-3) – 1 3 1 2 – 7
#3 Notre Dame (6-0) – 7 2 1 3 – 13
Vermont Scoring (goals-assists):
Andrew Kelleher 4-0, Derek Lichtfuss 1-1, Parker Bunnell 1-1, Ryan Gillette 1-0, Geoff Worley 0-1, Liam Thomas 0-1; Goaltender: Justin Lubas (L, 60:00, 13 saves, 13 GA)
Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
Ryan Hoff 5-1, David Earl 3-0, Duncan Swezey 2-1, Neal Hicks 2-0, Grant Krebs 1-1, Adam Felicetti 0-1, Dan Gibson 0-1, Kelly McKenna 0-1; Goaltender: Scott Rodgers (W, 60:00, 9 saves, 7 GA)