May 5, 1999

NOTRE DAME, IND. — The Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team closed out its regular season in dramatic fashion as the Irish rallied from a four-goal deficit in the second halftime to defeat Harvard 9-8 on Saturday, May 1. The win was the third straight for the Irish who improved their record to 8-5 in 1999.

Coach Kevin Corrigan’s squad, which finished with a 3-1 mark in the Great Western Lacrosse League, will be bidding for its seventh NCAA tournament berth in eight seasons when the 1999 tournament field is announced on Sunday, May 9.

For the second consecutive week, the Irish are 13th in the STX/United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Poll. The Irish moved up two spots last week from 15th to 13th, which equalled its highest ranking of the season. Corrigan’s squad also was ranked 13th during the week of March 30.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW — Harvard: Sophomore midfield Steve Bishko (West Islip, N.Y.) scored three goals, including the game-winning and game-tying scores as Notre Dame erased a four-goal deficit in the second half to defeat the Crimson 9-8. Bishko tied the game with 2:31 remaining in the contest and then provided the game-winner with three seconds left for its first lead of the game.

Coach Kevin Corrigan’s squad scored the contest’s last five goals while holding Harvard scoreless in the final 24:58.

Senior attack Chris Dusseau (Columbus, Ohio) scored twice, while David Ulrich (Baltimore, Md.) had a goal and dished off three assists.

Notre Dame outshot the Crimson 44-28 in the game, and capitalized in its man-up situations by scoring on four-of-seven extra-man opportunities.

Harvard jumped out to a 2-0 lead before Dusseau’s goal with 4:41. The Crimson went up 3-1, but John Flandina (West Islip, N.Y.) scored with 20 seconds left in the quarter as the Irish trailed 3-2 at the end of the first 15-minute stanza.

Harvard jumped out to a 4-2 lead 57 seconds into the second quarter, but Notre Dame tied the game at 4-4 on back-to-back goals by Bishko and Dusseau. Dusseau’s score came with 5:57 left before halftime. Harvard, however, scored 50 seconds later as the Crimson led 5-4 at intermission.

The Crimson opened the second half by scoring three goals in the first 5:02 as Harvard jumped out to an 8-4 lead.

Tom Glaztel (Ellicott City, Md.) stopped the string of four unanswered goals by the Crimson with a goal at the eight minute mark of the quarter before David Ulrich’s score with 3:30 remaining in the quarter.

Todd Ulrich (Baltimore, Md.) pulled the Irish to within a goal at 8-7 with 9:26 remaining in the contest before Bishko’s final two scores on the afternoon.

Kirk Howell (Nashville, Tenn.) made eight saves in the game, while Crimson goalie Keith Cynar had 18 stops for Harvard.

HEAD COACH KEVIN CORRIGAN — Kevin Corrigan is in his 11th season at the Notre Dame helm and his 13th in the collegiate ranks. The three-time Great Western Lacrosse League coach of the year earned his 100th career win in Notre Dame’s 10-8 victory over Hobart on March 27. He owns a 104-69 (.601) overall ledger and an 94-54 (.635) mark with the Irish. Corrigan has guided Notre Dame to seven NCAA tournament appearances and conference titles. Prior to 1998, he had led the Irish to six straight tournament berths from 1992-97. Under Corrigan in 1995, Notre Dame won its first-ever NCAA tournament which propelled the Irish into the quarterfinals for the first time in school history. Previous to his tenure at Notre Dame, he served as head coach at Randolph-Macon during the 1985 and 1986 campaign where his teams compiled a 10-15 mark.

BISHKO COPS GWLL PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS — Steve Bishko became the fourth different Irish player to earn Great Western Lacrosse League Player of the Week accolades after his performance against Harvard. Bishko had three goals in the game, including the game-tying and winning scores. Chris Dusseau has been a two-time honoree this season, while David Ulrich and Tom Glatzel each have been recognized once.

DUSSEAU ON A SCORING ROLL — Chris Dusseau has averaged 4.3 goals in Notre Dame’s last three outings. The senior attack scored two in Saturday’s win over Harvard after netting a career-high six goals the previous week against Massachusetts (April 24). He also had five goals in Notre Dame’s 15-7 win over Army on April 17. Dusseau leads the Irish with 31 goals this season. The 31 marks a single-season best for the Irish co-captain whose previous career-high was 29 set during the 1996 and 1997 campaigns. The two scores in the Harvard game bring his career total to 131 goals, which ties him for second on the career goals scoring list at Notre Dame. Dusseau scored his 100th career goal against Georgetown on April 10 and is one of just three Irish players to reach the milestone. The other two players to score 100-plus goals in their careers were Randy Colley (173 goals from 1992-94) and Joe Franklin (113 goals from 1983-86). He has led the Irish in scoring in each of his four seasons at Notre Dame.

DUSSEAU REACHES THE CENTURY MARK — Notre Dame senior attack Chris Dusseau became the 12th Irish player to reach the 100-point mark in his career this season. Currently third in the scoring column this season with a team-high 31 goals and two assists (33 points), Dusseau is eighth on the all-time scoring list with 113 goals and 11 assists for 124 points. Dusseau, a co-captain this season, has started all 50 games throughout his career.

TABLES TURNED — Six of the seven opponents Notre Dame lost to in 1998 were on the Irish schedule in ’99. The Irish posted a 4-2 record against those foes as Corrigan’s squad avenged losses to Hobart, Butler, Massachusetts and Harvard this season.

SUPER SOPHS — Notre Dame’s sophomore class is represented well in the Irish scoring column this season as four of the team’s five scorers are second-year players. David Ulrich leads the team in scoring with 16 goals and a team-high 28 assists (44 points), while teammate Tom Glatzel second with 24 goals and 15 assists (39 points). David’s twin brother, Todd, is fourth in scoring with 13 goals and nine assists (22 points), while Steve Bishko rounds out the top five scorers with 15 goals and seven assists (22 points).

GOAL DISTRIBUTION — Notre Dame is averaging 1.21 more goals per game this season than it did a year ago. The Irish are averaging 10.38 goals in 1999 compared to 9.17 goals in 1998. The number of players who have scored 10 or more goals this season has doubled to six in ’99.

HOWELL COMING UP BIG IN GOAL — Junior Kirk Howell, who spent two seasons as the backup to four-year starter Alex Cade, has been impressive for the Irish this season. He has played 765:54 of the possible 782:11 minutes and has allowed 104 goals while making 147 saves. Howell has a .586 save percentage and 8.15 goals against average. He has registered a career-high 17 saves in two games this season — Loyola and Georgetown — and has had 10 or more saves in seven of his last nine outings and in eight games overall.

TOUGH DEFENSE — Notre Dame’s defense has continued to stifle opponents as the Irish have allowed just 8.31 goals per game this season. In its last four contests, Notre Dame has allowed an average of 6.75 goals. Coach Kevin Corrigan’s squad has given up 10 or more goals in five contests and held eight of its opponents to under 10 goals. The Irish have been most effective in the second and fourth quarters as opponents are averaging just 1.77 goals per game.

IRISH STRONG AT HOME — In three (1994, 1995 and 1997) of the last seven years, Notre Dame finished the home portion of its season undefeated. The Irish posted 5-0 marks in both ’94 and ’95 and were 6-0 in ’97. Corrigan’s squad was 6-1 at home this season. Since 1984, Notre Dame has an 80-25 (.762) record at home and is 41-8 (.837) over the last eight seasons.

— IRISH IN THE NATIONAL STATISTICS —

    David Ulrich -- 11th in assists per game (2.15)    Kirk Howell --  10th in goals against average (8.15)                    17th in save percentage (.586)
    Team --         11th in scoring defense (8.31)                    11th in scoring margin (+2.08)                    15th in winning percentage (.615)        

STX/UNITED STATES INTERCOLLEGIATE LACROSSE ASSOCIATION POLL
(Week of May 3)

                        Pts.1. Loyola (11-0)        2002. Johns Hopkins (10-1) 1903. Virginia (9-3)       1794. Duke (12-2)          1715. Georgetown (10-2)    154   Syracuse (8-3)       1547. Delaware (11-2)      1368. Princeton (8-3)      1329. Maryland (8-4)       11410. Hofstra (10-2)      11111. UMBC (10-3)          9512. Penn State (8-4)     9113. NOTRE DAME (8-5)     8014. Navy (7-6)           7815. Butler (8-6)         44    North Carolina (6-8) 4417. Yale (7-6)           3418. Hobart (6-5)         3019. Cornell (6-6)        2920. Ohio State (10-3)    12

FACE-OFF LACROSSE POLL
(Week of April 26)

                       Pts.1.    Loyola           2202.    Johns Hopkins    2093.    Virginia         1984.    Duke             1835.    Georgetown       1716.    Syracuse         1637.    Princeton        1588.    Delaware         1449.    Hofstra          13110.   Penn State       11211.   UMBC             11112.   Maryland         10913.   Navy              7714    NOTRE DAME        7315.   North Carolina    6816.   Yale              35      Cornell           3518.   Towson            2919.   Butler            2120.   Ohio State        20