March 31, 1999

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team, which has won three straight and five of its last six games, will play its fourth ranked opponent of the 1999 campaign when it travels to Hempstead, N.Y. to face the 15th-ranked Hofstra Flying Dutchmen at 1:30 p.m on Saturday, April 3. The game is being shown tape-delayed by Fox Sports New York at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 4.

The Irish, 5-2 overall and 3-0 in the Great Western Lacrosse League, are coming off two impressive home wins as they beat Hobart 10-8, and came from two goals down at the start of the fourth quarter to defeat 19th-ranked Butler 8-7 in a GWLL showdown. The two wins avenged losses Corrigan’s squad suffered to both schools last season.

Notre Dame’s victory over Hobart provided Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan with his 100th career win.

The Irish moved up four spots from 17th to 13th in this week’s United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Poll, their highest ranking of the 1999 season.

LAST WEEK IN REVIEW – Hobart: Notre Dame won for the fourth time in five outings and remained undefeated at home with a 10-8 victory over the Statesmen. The Irish used balanced scoring as four players contributed two goals each to defeat Hobart. Tom Glatzel (Ellicott City, Md.), Steve Bishko (West Islip, N.Y.), Todd Ulrich (Baltimore, Md.) and Chris Dusseau (Columbus, Ohio) eached scored two goals in the contests, while Brad Owen (Amherst, N.H.) and John Flandina (West Islip, N.Y.) were the other goal scorers for the Irish. Ulrich also added an assist in the game, while twin brother David Ulrich dished off a game-high three assists. Kirk Howell (Nashville, Tenn.) had another impressive outing in goal as he registered 14 saves, the third most he had made this season. Butler: Sophomore David Ulrich capped a fourth quarter three-goal rally with an unassisted goal with 53 seconds remaining to lift the Irish to a come-from-behind victory over their GWLL foe. Notre Dame, which trailed 7-5 heading into the fourth after being up 4-1 midway through the second quarter, pulled to within a goal on Tom Glatzel’s score. Bishko, who had two scores in the game, tied the game with four minutes remaining in the contest before Ulrich’s game-winner. Brad Owen also tallied twice in the contest. In addition to his game-winning goall Ulrich also dished off two assists. Kirk Howell registered 10-plus saves for the second straight game as he came up with 13 in the contest.

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 Saturday. He owns a 101-66 (.605) overall ledger and an 91-51 (.641) 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.

SERIES RECORD VS. HOFSTRA – This will be the sixth meeting between the two teams. Notre Dame leads the series 4-1 and has won four straight over the Flying Dutchmen. Hofstra’s lone win (10-5) in the series was the first-ever game played between the two schools in Hemsptead, N.Y. during the 1991 campaign. The last two Irish wins have come at Notre Dame. Last season Coach Kevin Corrigan’s squad beat the Flying Dutchmen 8-4. The four Irish wins in the series have been decided by four goals or less.

TABLES TURNED – Notre Dame suffered seven losses during the 1998 campaign. Five of those teams the Irish lost to a year ago are on the schedule this season. Corrigan’s squad has already played against three of those teams and has posted a 2-1 record against those opponents. Notre Dame’s last two wins against Hobart and Butler avenged the losses from last year.

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 tied for third in the scoring column this season with 14 goals and two assists (16 points), Dusseau stands 12th on the all-time Irish scoring list with 96 goals and 11 assists for 107 points. His 96 goals places him for fourth on the all-time career goals scored list. Dusseau, a co-captain this season, has started all 44 games throughout his career and has led Notre Dame in goals scored in each of his three previous seasons.

DUSSEAU EARNS GWLL PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Senior Chris Dusseau was named the Great Western Lacrosse League Player of the Week after scoring two goals in Notre Dame’s 10-8 win over Hobart. Dusseau becomes the third Irish player to be honored this season – the other two were Tom Glatzel (March 1) and David Ulrich (March 8).

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 nine goals and a team-high 22 assists (31 points), while teammate Tom Glatzel leads the team 15 goals and five assists (20 points). David’s twin brother, Todd, is tied for third with senior Chris Dusseau with nine goals and seven assists (16 points), while Steve Bishko rounds out the top five scorers with 10 goals and four assists (14 points).

HOWELL TOUGH IN GOAL – Junior Kirk Howell, who spent two seasons as the backup to four-year starter Alex Cade, has been impressive in his first five collegiate starts thus far in 1999. Howell registered a career-high 17 saves in Notre Dame’s 10-8 loss to Loyola, and has had 10 or more saves in four games this season. He made 14 against Hobart last Saturday, 13 against Butler on Tuesday, and had 15 in the season-opening loss at Penn State. Howell has played 404:05 of the possible 420 minutes. He has allowed 56 goals and made 80 saves for a .588 save percentage and 8.32 goals against average.

TOUGH DEFENSE – Notre Dame’s defense has given up 59 goals (8.43 goals per game) in seven contests. The Irish have been most effective in the fourth quarter as opponents are averaging just 1.71 in the final 15-minute stanza. Notre Dame has held two teams – Air Force and Butler – scoreless in the fourth quarter this season.

SEEING DOUBLE – Sophomores David and Todd Ulrich are the first twin brothers to play on the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team. David plays attack, while Todd is in the midfield. Both have been in the starting lineup all four games this season and played their high school lacrosse at Boys’ Latin. They are one of four players who played at Boys’ Latin in Baltimore – the other two are Ned Webster and Tom Glatzel.

IRISH STRONG AT HOME – In three (1994, 1995 and 1997) of the last five 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. The ’99 schedule features seven home games and five road contests. Corrigan’s squad is 4-0 at home already this season. Since 1984, Notre Dame has a 78-24 (.765) record at home and is 38-7 (.844) over the last seven-plus seasons.

DUSSEAU PICKED FOR LACROSSE PRESEASON HONORS – Senior attack Chris Dusseau was selected to College Lacrosse USA’s Preseason All-America team. He was the only Irish player tabbed for preseason All-America honors.

IRISH IN THE NATIONAL STATISTICS

David Ulrich -      2nd in assists per game (3.14)                    6th in points per game (4.42)
Kevin Higgins -     9th in face-off winning percentage (.600)                   12th in ground balls per game (6.00)
Kirk Howell -      14th in goals against average (8.32)
Team -              8th in face-off winning percentage (.582)                    9th in scoring margin (+3.14)                   12th in scoring offense (11.57)                   12th in winning percentage (.714)                   17th in scoring defense (8.43)

UNITED STATES INTERCOLLEGIATE LACROSSE ASSOCIATION POLL
(Week of March 29)

                                    Pts. 1. Loyola (5-0)                199 2. Duke (7-0)                  191 3. John Hopkins (3-1)          179 4. Syracuse (4-1)              168 5. Maryland (6-1)              156 6. Virginia (4-2)              149 7. Georgetown (4-1)            143 8. Delaware (6-0)              132 9. Penn State (4-1)            11710. Princeton (1-3)             11011. UMBC (3-3)                   9212. Navy (4-3)                   8313. NOTRE DAME (4-2)             8114. North Carolina (5-3)         7115. Hofstra (3-2)                5016. Army (5-1)                   4917. Towson (3-1)                 4818. Pennsylvania (5-2)           3019. Butler (3-4)                 2720. Cornell (2-3)                 7

FACE-OFF LACROSSE POLL
(Week of March 30)

                                Pts. 1. Loyola                      260 2. Duke                        247 3. Johns Hopkins               231 4. Syracuse                    219 5. Maryland                    201 6. Virginia                    200 7. Georgetown                  188 8. Delaware                    162 9. Princeton                   14810. Towson                      13611. Penn State                  12812. Navy                        11613. UMBC                         9914  North Carolina               9415. NOTRE DAME                   7116. Army                         6117. Hofstra                      3918. Pennsylvania                 3819. Massachusetts                2820. Butler                       1720. Cornell                      17