May 23, 2001
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IRISH IN FIRST-EVER NATIONAL SEMIFINAL:
Saturday’s first national semifinal matchup between No. 5 seed Notre Dame and No. 1 seed and defending national champion Syracuse marks the first-ever meeting between the two schools. The Irish are making their first appearance ever in the national semifinals following their 13-9 quarterfinal win over Johns Hopkins. Heading into the contest, Notre Dame was 0-2 previously in quarterfinal games. The victory over the Blue Jays marked Notre Dame’s first ever against Johns Hopkins in what was the fourth meeting ever (all in the NCAA tournament) between the two schools.
Syracuse is the highest seeded team the Irish have faced in their 13 previous tournament contests as the Orangemen are the first number one seed Notre Dame has gone up against in the NCAAs.
IRISH BACK IN THE NCAAs:
Notre Dame is making its 10th NCAA tournament appearance and ninth in the last 10 seasons. This is the third consecutive year the Irish have been part of the NCAA tournament field, but the first time in school history that they are playing as a seeded team. After six consecutive appearances from 1992-97, the Irish missed the NCAAs in 1998. Kevin Corrigan, the 13-year mentor for the Irish has led Notre Dame to all 10 of its appearances. Corrigan’s squads have posted a 4-9 record in NCAA tournament competition, but are 3-1 in their last four games.
IRISH IN THE SEMIFINALS:
Notre Dame has earned its first appearance in the national semifinals following their 13-9 victory over Johns Hopkins — its first-ever quarterfinal win in its third appearance. Prior to the win against the Blue Jays, Notre Dame previously had been 0-2 in its two quarterfinal games. Notre Dame earned its first-ever quarterfinal berth in 1995 after upsetting Duke 12-10. Following the win, the Irish traveled to Maryland’s Byrd Stadium where they dropped a 14-10 decision to the Terrapins. In 2000, after upsetting Loyola 15-13 in the first round, Notre Dame lost to Johns Hopkins 15-11 at Homewood Field. Notre Dame reached the quarterfinals this year after beating Bucknell 12-7 in its first-round matchup.
PLAYING AS THE FAVORITE:
For the first time in school history, Notre Dame is playing in the NCAA tournament as a seeded team. With the win over Bucknell in the first round, the Irish are 1-0 while playing as a higher seeded team. Notre Dame would play as the higher seed again with a win against Syracuse and a victory by Towson (the No. 6) over No. 2 seed Princeton.
SCOUTING THE IRISH:
Notre Dame matched its school record of consecutive wins against Johns Hopkins as the Irish carry a nine-game win streak into the game with Syracuse. The nine straight wins matches the school record set by the 1992 squad which finished that season with a 10-5 record. Notre Dame posted eight straight wins in both the 1993 and 1994 seasons when those Irish teams finished with 11-3 and 10-2 marks, respectively.
The Irish have been near perfect this season as they head into today’s national semifinal game with Johns Hopkins with an overall record of 14-1 which represents the most wins in school history as well as best winning percentage (.933). Notre Dame began the 2001 campaign with five straight wins that produced victories over four ranked opponents on the road — Penn State (10-8), Rutgers (9-4), Virginia (11-8) and Loyola (10-7). The only loss for head coach Kevin Corrigan’s squad has been to Hofstra as the Irish dropped an 11-10 decision to the Pride in overtime.
The Irish posted a 5-0 record in Great Western Lacrosse League play and have outscored their opponents 124-53 in the last nine games with an average margin of victory of 7.89 goals per game.
Notre Dame’s offense and defense have been spectacular this season as the Irish are averaging 12.27 goals per game, while giving up just 6.60 goals per game. Only two opponents — Hofstra and Army – have scored more than 10 goals in a game, while the Irish defense has held six teams to five goals or less. Notre Dame is on pace to shatter the school mark for average goals allowed. The school record for goals in a season is 7.20 set by the 1996 squad.
Eight of Notre Dame’s attack and midfielder players have scored 10 or more goals this season. The Irish offense is led by its’ attack unit of senior starters Tom Glatzel (40 goals, 27 assists), David Ulrich (19 goals, 27 assists) and Jon Harvey (28 goals, 3 assists).
The Irish midfield also has contributed plenty of offense for the Irish with junior John Flandina fourth in the scoring column with 20 goals and seven assists and senior Todd Ulrich is fifth with 18 goals and eight assists. Senior Steve Bishko is the team’s sixth leading scorer with 19 goals and five assists, while another senior Chris Young has contributed 11 goals and nine assists. Junior Devin Ryan has been an offensive force as well with 15 goals and two assists.
Notre Dame’s defense has been anchored by the play of defensemen Mike Adams, a senior, and junior A.J. Wright, while senior goalkeeper Kirk Howell has been the backbone of the team’s stellar defensive efforts throughout the season. He has allowed just 93 goals in 15 starts, made 166 saves and has a .641 save percentage and 6.70 goals against average.
The Irish completed an undefeated season at home, at 6-0, for the fourth time in school history, while finishing the regular season with a 6-1 road mark. Notre Dame opened the season by playing six of its first seven games on the road.
Notre Dame won its third consecutive GWLL title this season, and seventh in the last eight years. This is the second consecutive season Notre Dame has posted 10-plus wins in a given season after last year’s team finished with a 10-4 campaign. Overall, it is the sixth 10-plus win season in the program’s history.
RECAP OF QUARTERFINAL GAME — JOHNS HOPKINS:
Notre Dame scored five straight fourth-period goals in a 5:21 span over the final six-and-a-half minutes of the game to snap an 8-8 tie on the way to its first quarterfinal victory in school history.
Senior attackman Tom Glatzel paced the Irish with four goals and an assist, while fellow senior attackman Jon Harvey added three goals and junior midfielder John Flandina collected a pair of goals and an assist in the win.
Johns Hopkins scored on their first three shots of the game to take a 3-1 lead 5:11 into the game before the Irish offense got on track. The Irish scored four consecutive goals to take a 5-3 lead with 9:50 left in the second quarter with the help of David Ulrich and Travis Wells. Ulrich scored unassisted to cut the lead to 3-2 with Wells scoring two of Notre Dame’s next three goals, just his second and third scores of the season. Wells put the Irish up 5-3 with 9:50 left. Johns Hopkins answered back with 4:32 left in the stanza to make it 5-4 and then the two teams traded goals over the final 3:42 of the period as Glatzel picked up his second score of the game for a 6-4 Notre Dame lead. Bobby Benson, who scored three goals for the Blue Jays, cut the lead to 6-5 six seconds later before Glatzel closed out the first half scoring when he tossed in his third score with 50 seconds remaining to give the Irish a 7-5 lead at the intermission.
Johns Hopkins tied the game with two goals early in the third quarter to tie the game at 7-7 with 11:06 remaining in the third quarter. From there both defenses stiffened for the next eight minutes before Glatzel broke the drought at 3:02 to give the Irish an 8-7 lead. Benson tied the contest with his second score of the game at 1:27 to even the game at 8-8 heading into the final stanza.
Flandina scored the go-ahead goal with 6:29 left in regulation which began the string of five consecutive goals for the Irish.
RECAP OF FIRST ROUND — BUCKNELL:
Four players scored multiple goals for the Irish in the 12-7 first round NCAA tournament victory over Bucknell. It was the second straight first-round win for Notre Dame, and third in school history.
The Irish outscored the Bison 6-1 in the second quarter to break open the close game. With the score tied at 2-2 early in the second 15-minute stanza, John Flandina began the string of five unanswered goals.
After a tightly-contested first quarter featuring just one goal by each team, the squad exchanged scores early in the second period before Notre Dame’s six-goal run.
Leading 8-2 just 39 seconds into the third period, Notre Dame allowed three Bison goals in the third quarter to head into the final stanza with a 9-5 lead. The Irish, however, responded with three straight goals to open the fourth period, including a pair by senior attack Jon Harvey.
Eight different players scored for Notre Dame, led by four seniors notching two goals each. Harvey registered a pair of goals as did attack David Ulrich, and midfielders Chris Young and Steve Bishko. Tom Glatzel added a goal and four assists. Goalie Kirk Howell finished with eight saves as he played all but four minutes.
HEAD COACH KEVIN CORRIGAN:
Kevin Corrigan is in his 13th season at Notre Dame and 15th in the collegiate ranks. The four-time Great Western Lacrosse League coach of the year earned his 100th career win during the ’99 season in Notre Dame’s 10-8 victory over Hobart on March 27 and notched his 100th win as the Irish head coach in 2000 with his team’s 10-5 victory at Army. He owns a 128-75 (.631) overall ledger and an 118-60 (.663) mark with the Irish. Corrigan has guided Notre Dame to 10 NCAA tournament appearances in the last 12 years and 10 (either outright or shared) conference titles. He led the Irish to six straight tournament berths from 1992-97. Under Corrigan, Notre Dame has been victorious in the first round of the NCAA tournament on three occasions. In 1995, Notre Dame won its first-ever NCAA tournament game with a 12-10 victory over Duke which propelled the Irish into the quarterfinals for the first time in school history. In 2000, his squad upset fifth-seeded Loyola (Md.) in 15-13 in the first round for the school’s first-ever win over the Greyhounds. Notre Dame’s most recent NCAA tournament win, its 12-7 win over Bucknell a week ago, marked the third NCAA win for the program. Previous to his tenure at Notre Dame, Corrigan served as head coach at Randolph-Macon during the 1985 and 1986 campaign where his teams compiled a 10-15 mark. Notre Dame’s game against Fairfield on Apr. 22 marked the 200th of Corrigan’s collegiate tenure.
THE POLLS ARE IN:
Notre Dame has played as a top 10 team in all but one game this season. The Irish are fifth in all three polls — the USILA/STX poll, the Warrior/Inside Lacrosse.com poll and the Brine/360 Lacrosse.com rankings. Coach Kevin Corrigan’s squad earned its highest ranking in school history the week of March 19 when the Irish climbed to second for one week before losing to Hofstra on March 24. Previous to that poll, the highest ranking for a Notre Dame team had been sixth — in both March of 2001 and April of 1996.
ULRICH, GLATZEL FINALISTS FOR TEWAARATON TROPHY:
Senior attackmen David Ulrich and Tom Glatzel are among the finalists for the inaugural Tewaaraton Trophy to be presented by the University Club of Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the Tewaaraton Award Foundation. The award is presented annually to the top male and female lacrosse players in the United States. The first-ever honorees will be awarded the trophy on June 7, 2001. Ulrich was among the 15 players named at the start of the season, but Glatzel’s play this season has earned him a spot on the list of finalists as well.
THE CAPTAINS:
The captains for the 2001 Irish are defensemen Mike Adams, attack Tom Glatzel, goalie Kirk Howell and attack David Ulrich.
CAPTAIN KIRK:
Fifth-year player Kirk Howell is in his second year as an Irish captain. Last season, he served as team captain along with Patrick Darcy, Steve Fiamingo and Kevin Higgins. Howell has the distinction of being one of just four Irish players to serve as team captain twice during their careers. Randy Colley (1994 and 1995), Alex Cade and Jimmy Keenan (1997 and 1998) are the three others to have served as two-time captains.
SERIES RECORD:
This is the first-ever meeting between the two teams.
BIG EAST FOES… EXCEPT MEN’S LACROSSE:
As members of the BIG EAST Conference, Notre Dame and Syracuse meet each other on the playing field in many sports except men’s lacrosse, which is not sport sponsored by the league. Women’s lacrosse became a BIG EAST sport for the first time in 2001. Notre Dame is a member of the Great Western Lacrosse League, while Syracuse is an independent.
Notre Dame’s men’s and women’s teams captured the 2000-01 BIG EAST Conference Commissioner’s Trophy for men’s and women’s athletics for the fifth consecutive year — a BIG EAST record — while the men earned their sixth consecutive title since the Irish became a league member at the start of the 1995-96 season.