May 20, 2001
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — The Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team advanced to their first Final Four in school history with a 13-9 upset victory over fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins Sunday afternoon in NCAA quarterfinal action at the University of Maryland’s Byrd Stadium.
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 the first quarterfinal victory in the school’s history.
Senior attackman Tom Glatzel (Ellicott City, Md.) paced the Irish attack with four goals and an assist while fellow senior attackman Jon Harvey (Winchester, Mass.) added three goals on the afternoon and junior midfielder John Flandina (West Islip, N.Y.) collected a pair of goals and an assist in the win.
Bobby Benson led Johns Hopkins with three goals and an assist while Adam Doneger had a pair of goals for the Blue Jays who saw their season come to an end with the loss.
“I thought it was a game of runs up to 8-8 and then both teams got a little cautious, a little tentative, trying to not mistakes, instead of trying to make plays,” said Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan.
“We made some breaks and then it fell on them to try to come back. Our defense settled down after some early mistakes and Kirk Howell was great in the cage.”
Corrigan added, “I’m excited for our kids, but I can’t wait to start preparing for Syracuse. If you really believe that you can get to your goal and you really have it as a true goal, you can’t be shocked when it happens. We’re very excited but this is where we hoped to be and wanted to be all along.”
Johns Hopkins scored on their first three shots of the game to take a 3-1 lead in the game just 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 an unlikely hero. After David Ulrich (Sr., Baltimore, Md.) scored unassisted to cut the lead to 3-2, sophomore middie, Travis Wells (Severna Park, Md.) scored two of Notre Dame’s next three goals, just his second and third markers of the season.
Wells’ first goal of the game was set up on a great feed from Todd Ulrich (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) which allowed him to beat Johns Hopkins’ goalkeeper Rob Scherr from 15-feet out with 1:05 left in the first to tie the game at 3-3.
Just 18 seconds later, Harvey got his first of the afternoon to put the Irish ahead 4-3 with 47 seconds left in the first period.
Wells put the Irish up 5-3 with 9:50 left in the second period with a great individual effort. He drove his man to the left, reversed his field and beat Scherr from up top for his third goal of the season.
Hopkins’ James McDermott answered back with 4:32 left in the stanza to make it 5-4. The teams traded goals over the final 3:32 of the period as Glatzel picked up his second of the game at 3:42 for a 6-4 Notre Dame lead. Bobby Benson got his first of the game just six seconds later at 3:36 and Glatzel closed out the first half scoring when he beat Scherr from his knees with just 50 seconds left in the half for a 7-5 Irish lead at the intermission.
The Blue Jays stormed back to tie the game with two goals 1:22 apart in the third period. Tim Muir backed in from the left side and beat Irish goalkeeper Kirk Howell (Sr., Nashville, Tenn.) at 12:38 and Adam Doneger added an extra man goal at 11:06 to make it 7-7.
From there, the defenses stiffened for over eight minutes before the Irish broke the drought at 3:02 with Glatzel backing in from the right side for his fourth goal of the game and an 8-7 Irish lead.
Benson tied the game with his second goal of the game at 1:27 as he caught the Irish in transition, held on to the ball and stuffed it past Howell to even the game at 8-8 heading into the final period.
Again defense took over with Howell making three stellar saves in the Irish net to keep the game tied at eight. When Notre Dame broke through, it was the senior class that led the charge as they scored five times in a 5:31 span.
“There is no doubt that this is the type of game that a senior-dominated team wins,” said Corrigan.
“It was 8-8 and things started tightening up on both sides. That’s when our seniors said, ‘Let’s not be tentative here, let’s go out there and try to win it,’ and they did.”
As an Irish man-up came to an end, Scherr stopped Chris Young (Sr., Camillus, N.Y.) and Glatzel in close, before Flandina found a gap on the right side and beat Scherr through traffic for an unassisted goal at 6:29.
Steve Bishko (Sr., West Islip, N.Y.) gave the Irish a two-goal cushion at 4:02 when he picked up a loose ball in front and rammed it home for a 10-8 lead.
Flandina got his second of the period just 1:08 later as he took a behind-the-net-feed from Todd Ulrich and beat Scherr from the doorstep to make it 11-8.
Harvey took care of the rest as he scored twice in a span of 25 seconds (with lots of help from Glatzel) to give Notre Dame an insurmountable 13-8 lead.
First, Glatzel found him all alone camped in front for an easy score with 1:23 left and then made another outstanding pass to set up Harvey’s final goal when he found him at the top of the crease. Harvey whipped the shot past Scherr for his third goal of the game.
Howell made eight big saves for the Irish in the final period before Benson solved the senior goalkeeper with 11 seconds left for the final score of 13-9. Howell finished with 17 saves in the game while Scherr made 18 for Johns Hopkins.
“Kirk Howell played a helluva game. After we scored that first goal, he buckled down. He made our shooters think about where they were shooting and that’s difficult. Shooting is and instinctive thing and when you’ve got to stop and think about it, you’ve provided the goalie with an advantage,” said Johns Hopkins’ head coach Dave Pietramala.
“My approach was to just trust my defense to give me a chance to see where the ball was going,” said Howell following the game.
“All of those guys mix it up well, it’s just a matter of reacting to what they do. The way lacrosse is, you’re going to give up a couple here and there. You just have to get it out of your head and refocus.”
The win improves Notre Dame to its best-ever record of 14-1 while JHU finishes the year at 8-4.
The Irish will face Syracuse in one semifinal game on Saturday, May 26 at Rutgers University. That game will begin at noon and will be televised live on ESPN2. Towson State and Princeton will face-off in game two at approximately 3:00 p.m. on ESPN2.
Notre Dame-Johns Hopkins Game Notes:
Notre Dame was 0-for-5 with the extra man while Johns Hopkins was 1-for-1 as the Irish took just one penalty in the game. The Blue Jays were whistled for five infractions for three minutes.
A crowd of 10,118 watched the game from Maryland’s Byrd Stadium.
The Irish have never played Syracuse in lacrosse. Saturday’s semi-final matchup will pit Tom Glatzel against his brother John Glatzel, a Syracuse defenseman. It marks the first time the brothers will play against each other on the collegiate level. “It’s a great feeling to be playing against my brother,” said Glatzel. “It will be interesting to see how my parents react.”
GAME SCORING
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| #5 NOTRE DAME (14-1) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 13 |
| #4 J. HOPKINS (8-4) | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 |
Qtr.-Time Team, Goal (Assist) ND-JHU
1-14:16 Johns Hopkins, Adam Doneger-17 (Eric Wedin) 0-1
1-13:43 Notre Dame, Tom Glatzel -37 (Steve Bishko) 1-1
1-12:56 Johns Hopkins, Matt Hanna-8 (Kevin Boland) 1-2
1-9:49 Johns Hopkins, Conor Ford-22 (un) 1-3
1-3:02 Notre Dame, David Ulrich -19 (un) 2-3
1-1:05 Notre Dame, Travis Wells -2 (Todd Ulrich) 3-3
1-0:47 Notre Dame, Jon Harvey -26 (Devin Ryan) 4-3
2-9:50 Notre Dame, Travis Wells -3 (un) 5-3
2-4:32 Johns Hopkins, Joe McDermott-7 (un) 5-4
2-3:42 Notre Dame, Tom Glatzel -38 (un) 6-4
2-3:36 Johns Hopkins, Bobby Benson-26(Conor Ford) 6-5
2-0:50 Notre Dame, Tom Glatzel -39 (John Flandina) 7-5
3-12:38 Johns Hopkins, Tim Muir-7 (un) 7-6
3-11:06 Johns Hopkins, Adam Doneger-18 (Bobby Benson) EMG 7-7
3-3:02 Notre Dame, Tom Glatzel -40 (un) 8-7
3-1:27 Johns Hopkins, Bobby Benson-27 (Conor Ford) 8-8
4-6:29 Notre Dame, John Flandina -19 (un) 9-8
4-4:02 Notre Dame, Steve Bishko -19 (un) 10-8
4-2:54 Notre Dame, John Flandina -20 (Todd Ulrich) 11-8
4-1:23 Notre Dame, Jon Harvey -27 (Tom Glatzel) 12-8
4-0:58 Notre Dame, Jon Harvey -28 (un) 13-8
4-0:11 Johns Hopkins, Bobby Benson (un) 13-9
TEAM STATS
| Category | Notre Dame | Johns Hopkins |
| Shots | 13-17-8-9=47 | 5-9-7-10=31 |
| Saves | 2-5-2-8=17 | 6-5-4-3=18 |
| Face-Offs | 11/25 | 14/25 |
| Groundballs | 5-7-10-6=28 | 13-8-9-10=40 |
| Clears | 18/24 | 15/20 |
| Extra-Man Opp. | 0/5 | 1/1 |
| Penalties | 1/1:00 | 5/3:00 |
INDIVIDUAL SCORING
Notre Dame Scoring Goals-Asst.-Pts.
Tom Glatzel 4-1-5
Jon Harvey 3-0-3
John Flandina 2-1-3
Travis Wells 2-0-2
Steve Bishko 1-1-2
Todd Ulrich 0-2-2
David Ulrich 1-0-1
Devin Ryan 0-1-1
Johns Hopkins Scoring Goals-Asst.-Pts.
Bobby Benson 3-1-4
Conor Ford 1-2-3
Adam Doneger 2-0-2
Matt Hanna 1-0-1
Joe McDermott 1-0-1
Tim Muir 1-0-1
Kevin Boland 0-1-1
Eric Wedin 0-1-1
GOALIES
Notre Dame Goalies Saves GA Min
Kirk Howell 17 9 60
Johns Hopkins Goalies Saves GA Min.
Rob Scherr 18 13 60
ATTENDANCE: 10,118