March 30, 2002
Denver, Colo. – The 19th-ranked Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team ended its three-game losing streak as the Irish defeated Denver 15-8 in the Great Western Lacrosse League opener for both teams. Senior midfield John Flandina (West Islip, N.Y.) led the Irish with three goals and three assists.
Junior Travis Wells (Severna Park, Md.) and senior Devin Ryan (Kensington, Md.) also scored three goals each in the game. It marked the first career hat trick for Wells and the third time this season that Ryan has scored three goals in a game.
Notre Dame outscored the Pioneers 7-1 in the second quarter to break open the game as the Irish held a 2-1 advantage after the first 15-minute stanza. With the victory, Notre Dame improves to 2-5 overall, while Denver falls to 4-4 in having its three-game win streak snapped.
The Irish jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the first quarter on goals by Flandina and Wells. Jeff Briggs got Denver on the scored with 1:03 left in the first quarter off an assist from teammate Scott Davidson.
Notre Dame scored the first six goals of the second quarter with two scores coming from Wells. Flandina scored the first Irish goal of the quarter 3:07 into the period off an assist from freshman Matt Malakoff (Bay Shore, N.Y.). Sophomore Steve Clagett (Chesapeake, N.Y.) scored his second goal of the season off of a feed from Flandina 30 seconds later. Back-to-back goals by Wells at the 5:30 and 6:11 marks gave the Irish a 6-1 advantage.
Irish leading scorer Dan Berger (Phoenix, Md.) tallied his lone goal of the game with 4:30 remaining in the third quarter, while Ryan netted the first of his three goals at the 11:19 mark. Ben Doughtery finally snapped the Irish scoring barrage with a goal off an assist from Blake Evans with 3:03 remaining in the quarter. Flandina scored the final Irish goal of the half with 25 seconds remaining as Notre Dame lead 9-2 at the break.
Each team scored two goals in third quarter and four goals in the fourth period. Freshman Brian Giordano (Princeton, N.J.) scored the first goal of the second half, his fifth of the season, while junior Kyle Frigon (Salem, Mass.) added the Irish goal in the third.
Sophomore John Mulflur (Easton, Md.) scored his first goal of the season off an assist from freshman Chris Richez (Freeport, N.Y.) before Ryan added his third score on the afternoon as Notre Dame opened the fourth quarter with two goals in the first 5:17 of the contest. Ryan and Clagett concluded the scoring for the Irish. Denver scored the contest’s final two goals.
Notre Dame outshot the Pioneers 32-29. Irish goalkeeper Nick Antol (Baldwin, Md.) started his fifth game of the season and went the distance for the Irish in net as he finished with 15 saves in the contest.
The Irish return to action on Tues, April 2 as they face Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo. at 3:00 p.m. MST., in its second GWLL test of the season.