April 29, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame opened up an early 5-1 lead and would hold on down the stretch to defeat Ohio State 10-8 in Great Western Lacrosse League play on Saturday afternoon in front of 1,563 fans at Moose Krause Stadium. Senior attackmen Brian Hubschmann (Short Hills, N.J./Delbarton) and Pat Walsh (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) both netted hat tricks, while sophomore Joey Kemp (Potomac, Md./Georgetown Prep) collected 12 saves for the 15th-ranked Fighting Irish, who improve to 9-4 overall and 2-2 in the GWLL. The loss drops the Buckeyes to 6-6 and 3-2 in the league.
Hubschmann collected a total of six points on the day, which tied a career high, as he also dished out three assists, including the first one of the day on a Lucius Polk (Washington, D.C./St. Albans) goal that put Notre Dame up 1-0 at the 6:18 mark of the first quarter. Ohio State’s Craig Nolan tied the game with 4:28 left in the period before a man-up goal from Matt Karweck (Penn Yan, N.Y./Penn Yan Academy) on a feed from Hubschmann would put Notre Dame up for good with 2:17 left in the first.
The Irish would go on to increase their lead to 5-1 with an unassisted goal from Matt Ryan (Ridley Park, Pa./Ridley) and back-to-back scores from Hubschmann, with the latter being a man-up tally on an assist from Walsh, who collected two assists on the day to move into second in program history with 101 career assists. Walsh also moved into third-place on the Notre Dame list for career scoring with 183 points.
Ohio State sliced the Irish lead to two (5-3) at the half with goals from Jason Lutz and Kevin Buchanan late in the second quarter.
Three unanswered goals early in the second half put the momentum back on the side of the Irish. Sophomore Michael Podgajny (Ridley Park, Pa./Ridley) netted a man-up tally with just 42 seconds elapsed in the period on a pass from Walsh and then the senior scored one of his own with 9:02 left in the third. Hubschmann gave Notre Dame its largest lead of the game at 8-3 with a goal 33 seconds later.
The Buckeyes notched back-to-back scores from Lutz and Jason Bloom to make it an 8-5 contest with 6:46 left in the third period. The high-scoring third stanza continued as Walsh and Hubschmann hooked up again, this time with Walsh collecting the goal after Hubschmann intercepted a pass and fed it ahead to Walsh, who beat Buckeye goaltender John Bolen one-on-one.
Both teams combined for seven goals in the third quarter, with the final one coming from Ohio State’s Josh Wittenberg at the 1:12 mark to make it a 9-6 game entering the final period.
A score from Wittenberg less than four minutes into the fourth quarter cut the Irish lead to two. The senior Walsh then stepped up to give Notre Dame some breathing room with an unassisted goal with 6:08 remaining to make it 10-7. Nolan added the final score of the day for the Buckeyes with 2:11 left on the clock and the Fighting Irish would hold on to win 10-8.
Ohio State out-shot Notre Dame 42-31, while the Irish were 16-22 in clears and the Buckeyes were 13-24. Faceoffs were even at 10-20 for both teams.
Hubschmann (25 G, 16 A) and Walsh (20 G, 21 A) now share the team lead with 41 points apiece.
The Fighting Irish wrap up the regular season with a matchup against GWLL newcomer Quinnipiac next Saturday (May 6) at Moose Krause Stadium. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
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Ohio State (6-6, 3-2) – 1 2 3 2 – 8
#15 Notre Dame (9-4, 2-2) – 3 2 4 1 – 10
Ohio State Scoring:
Goals: Josh Wittenberg 2, Jason Lutz 2, Craig Nolan 2, Kevin Buchanan 1, Jason Bloom 1
Assists: Andrew Bender 3, Joel Dalgarno 2, Kevin Buchanan 1, Justin Doran 1
Notre Dame Scoring:
Goals: Brian Hubschmann 3, Pat Walsh 3, Michael Podgajny 1, Matt Karweck 1, Matt Ryan 1, Lucius Polk 1
Assists: Brian Hubschmann 3, Pat Walsh 2
— ND —