April 23, 2011
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The No. 1 Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team used a season-high 14 goals en route to a 14-3 victory over Providence on Saturday afternoon at the Lennon Family Field. The Fighting Irish notched seven unanswered second-quarter goals to break open the contest and another 7-0 spurt to finish the game and remain undefeated this season.
Notre Dame (10-0, 5-0) was led offensively by junior midfielder Max Pfeifer, who had a season-high three goals. Midfielder Zach Brenneman along with attackmen Nicholas Beattie, Edison Parzanese and Colin Igoe all had two goals. Sean Rogers, David Earl and Steve Murphy each had one tally for the Irish.
Providence (3-10, 0-4) scored first as Andrew Barton found the back of the net with 6:07 left in the first quarter. The Friars led 1-0 after the first period.
Notre Dame’s first 7-0 run was ignited by a Brenneman goal just 32 seconds into the second quarter. Pfeifer scored less than a minute later to give the Irish the lead for good. A man-up goal from Parzanese off an assist from Ryan Foley, who had a team-high two assists on the day, gave Notre Dame a 3-1 lead with 13 minutes remaining in the first half.
Tallies from Brenneman and Murphy gave the Irish a four-goal cushion (5-1) by the 4:17 mark of the second quarter. Notre Dame kept the pressure on with scores from Igoe and Pfeifer to claim a six-goal lead (7-1) with just over two minutes left in the stanza.
Providence halted the run on a Steve Lydon goal with eight seconds left in the first half. That snapped a 20:59 scoreless streak for the Friars. Notre Dame took a 7-2 lead into the intermission.
The Friars opened the second-half scoring with a goal from Jake Nolan. That was the last Providence goal as Notre Dame’s defense kept the Friars off the scoreboard for the final 28:06 of the game.
Notre Dame’s final 7-0 run began with a goal from Rogers at the 12:17 mark of the third quarter. Pfeifer completed the second hat trick of his career with 10:39 remaining in the third quarter. Earl gave Notre Dame a seven-goal lead (10-3) with 8:34 on the clock in the period. Igoe’s second goal of the game put the Irish on top by eight (11-3) by the end of the third quarter.
Parzanese pushed the Notre Dame lead to nine (12-3) in the early stages of the fourth quarter, while two goals from Beattie produced the final result. The two goals from both Parzanese and Beattie were season-high totals.
Notre Dame outshot Providence 46-23. Sophomore goalie John Kemp picked up his 10th win of the season by making eight saves in 54:45 of action for the Irish. Notre Dame senior Brendan Moore played the final 5:15 in goal and made one save. Irish freshman Liam O’Connor won 13 of 21 faceoff attempts.
The 14 goals from Notre Dame were the most for the Irish since a 14-7 victory over Denver last season. The 11-goal margin of victory was the largest for the Irish since a 12-point win over Dartmouth (19-7) during the 2009 campaign.
The Fighting Irish will return to action next Saturday at No. 4 Syracuse. Opening faceoff against the Orange is slated for 7:00 p.m. (ET). The game will be aired live on ESPNU.
April 23, 2011 – Lennon Family Field – Providence, R.I.
#1 Notre Dame (10-0, 5-0) – 0 7 4 3 – 14
Providence (3-10, 0-4) – 1 1 1 0 – 3
Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):Max Pfeifer 3-0, Zach Brenneman 2-0, Nicholas Beattie 2-0, Edison Parzanese 2-0, Colin Igoe 2-0, David Earl 1-1, Sean Rogers 1-0, Steve Murphy 1-0, Ryan Foley 0-2, Pat Cotter 0-1, Eric Keppeler 0-1; Goaltenders: John Kemp (W, 54:45, 8 saves, 3 GA), Brendan Moore (5:15, 1 save, 0 GA)
Providence Scoring (goals-assists):
Jake Nolan 1-0, Steve Lydon 1-0, Andrew Barton 1-0, Sean Wright 0-1; Goaltenders: Jake Goodelman (L, 30:53, 4 saves, 8 GA), Christian Dzwilewski (15:47, 3 saves, 5 GA), Tyler Himes (13:20, 2 saves, 1 GA)
— ND —