May 13, 2001
WEST POINT, N.Y. — The fourth-ranked and fifth-seeded University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team beat 10th-ranked Bucknell 12-7 Sunday afternoon in the first round of the 2001 NCAA men’s lacrosse championship at Michie Stadium in West Point, N.Y. The Irish improve to 13-1 and advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row and third time in school history.
Four players scored multiple goals for Notre Dame in a contest that was close until junior midfielder John Flandina (West Islip, N.Y.) scored early in the second period with the score tied 2-2 to begin a streak of six straight Irish goals by six different players.
“Their pressure really bothered us in the first quarter,” said Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan. “I thought we made the adjustments and that was a big thing. It really wasn’t anything schematically we did, it was just our guys adjusting to play against that pressure. We had not played against a defense as rangy as those guys and that plays that aggressively on the ball, so it took a little bit of time to get adjusted. We were able to settle down and control the ball and make the extra pass in the second quarter, which got us a lot of good, open looks.”
The victory sets up a rematch of last year’s NCAA quarterfinals against fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins, which eliminated Notre Dame in 2000 with a 12-7 win. The Irish and Blue Jays, ranked third in the nation, will face off Sunday, May 20 in College Park, Md., 45 minutes following a noon EDT quarterfinal matchup between third-seeded Maryland and sixth-seeded Towson. Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins have met three times previously, all in the NCAA tournament, with the Blue Jays taking each matchup. Hopkins eliminated Notre Dame in the first round of the tournament in 1992 (15-7) and 1996 (12-7), as well as in last year’s quarterfinals.
After a tightly-played first quarter featuring just one goal by each team, the squads 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 lead 9-5 entering the final stanza. The Irish responded with three straight goals to open the fourth period, including a pair by senior attack Jon Harvey (Winchseter, Mass.), to go on to their eighth consecutive victory — the longest streak since 1994.
Eight different players scored for Notre Dame, led by four seniors notching two goals apiece. Harvey registered a pair of scores, as did attack David Ulrich (Baltimore, Md.), and midfielders Chris Young (Camillus, N.Y.) and Steve Bishko (West Islip, N.Y.). Classmate Tom Glatzel (Ellicott City, Md.), the team’s leading scorer, had a goal and three assists for Notre Dame, while fellow senior Kirk Howell (Nashville, Tenn.) made eight saves.
After knocking off the fifth seed of the tournament a year ago, the Irish did not take the Patriot League Champions lightly.
“My complete focus is what we have to do to beat the team we are playing and I always tell the team the most irrelevant thing is who is the better team,” said Corrigan. “It is really who does the things they need to do that wins the game. Those are the things we try to focus on. We don’t get into ‘We’re better than them or they’re better than us’ or ‘We are the favorite or they are the favorite.’ It’s just not part of our preparations.”
“We know what it is like to be in (Bucknell’s) position and what could happen if we didn’t focus on what we had to do to win the game,” said Glatzel. “We definitely respected Bucknell coming into this game. We didn’t take them for granted at all.”
The Irish outshot the Bison (10-4) 47-24 and also had a 41-25 advantage in ground balls. In addition, Notre Dame took advantage of its extra-man opportunities to score twice.
Notre Dame improves on its best season in the 21-year history of the program. This season’s 13 wins and .929 winning percentage are both school records. The Irish have been ranked as high as second in 2001, marking the highest ranking in history. Notre Dame finished 5-0 to capture its third consecutive Great Western Lacrosse League title and seventh in the past eight years, earning an automatic bid to its 10th NCAA Championship. The Irish were seeded fifth, marking the first time Notre Dame received one of the tournament’s eight seeds.