April 14, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The 14th-ranked Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team (5-3, 4-0), which wrapped the Great Western Lacrosse League regular-season title last week with a 12-11 win at Butler, travels to West Point, N.Y., to face 17th-ranked Army on Saturday, April 15 at 1:00 p.m. at Michie Stadium. The Irish, winners of two straight, will be playing their fourth ranked opponent of the 2000 campaign when the Irish take on the Cadets (5-4, 2-2). Army is a member of the Patriot League.
This will be just the second meeting between the two schools. The Irish beat the Cadets 15-7 a year ago in the first-ever meeting.
Notre Dame is ranked 13th in both the STX/United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) and Inside Lacrosse polls, while Army is 17th and 18th in each of the rankings, respectively.
RECAP OF BUTLER GAME – Notre Dame completed an undefeated season in the Great Western Lacrosse League after holding off a fourth-quarter Butler rally in posting a 12-11 victory in Indianapolis, Ind.
The one-goal differential marks the third straight year that the final outcome was decided by a single goal.
Tom Glatzel (Ellicott City, Md.) and Stedman Oakey (Charlottesville, Va.) contributed five points each in the contest. Glatzel scored three goals and dished off two assists, while Oakey finished with two goals and three assists in the game. Jon Harvey (Winchester, Mass.) also had three goals in the game and was one of six different goals scorers in the contest. David Ulrich (Baltimore, Md.) also was a multiple-goal scorer in the game as he tallied twice.
Notre Dame, which led throughout and never trailed in the contest, held a commanding 10-6 lead in the game with 11:16 remaining when Ulrich contributed his second goal of the game. Butler, however, staged a furious comeback with four unaswered goals. The Bulldogs tied the game at 10-10 with 4:23 left in the game. Oakey gave Notre Dame the lead 37 second later with an unassisted score and then assisted on Harvey’s third goal of the game with 2:55 remaining.
Butler’s Mike Regan, who led all scorers with four goals and two assists, pulled the Bulldogs to within 12-11 with 18 seconds remaining. Following Regan’s score, Butler got the ball back on the ensuing face-off when Notre Dame committed a procedure violation giving the Bulldogs one last chance to tie the game. Ryan Ward fired a shot at goalkeeper Kirk Howell (Nashville, Tenn.) who made the save just as time expired.
HEAD COACH KEVIN CORRIGAN – Kevin Corrigan is in his 12th season at Notre Dame and 14th in the collegiate ranks. The three-time Great Western Lacrosse League coach of the year earned his 100th career win during the ’99 season in Notre Dame’s 10-8 victory over Hobart on March 27. He owns a 109-73 (.599) overall ledger and an 99-58 (.631) mark with the Irish. Corrigan has guided Notre Dame to eight NCAA tournament appearances and eight (either outright or shared) 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 game with a 12-10 victory over Duke 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. ARMY – Saturday’s matchup will be the second meeting between the two schools. The Irish beat the Cadets 15-7 last season at Notre Dame last season on April 17. Tom Glatzel was the leading scorer in the contest with four goals and two assists.
CORRIGAN CLOSING IN ON 100 WINS WITH IRISH – A win over Army on Saturday would give Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan his 100th victory at Notre Dame. Corrigan, who is in his 12th season at Notre Dame owns 99-58 (.631 mark as head coach. He is only the second coach in the program’s history. Rich O’Leary was head coach for eight season (1981-88) and produced a 64-42 mark for a 60.4 winning percentage.
GWLL DOMINANCE – With its 12-11 win over Butler on April 8, Notre Dame completed an undefeated season and wrapped up its second straight Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL) title. The Irish, who shared the league crown with Ohio State and Butler a year ago, have won or shared the championship in nine of head coach Kevin Corrigan’s 12 seasons.
OAKEY CLAIMS GWLL PLAYER OF THE WEEK HONORS – Senior midfielder Stedman Oakey was named the Great Western Lacrosse League Player of the Week for the first time in his career after scoring two goals and dishing off three assists in Notre Dame’s 12-1 win over Butler. Oakey is the third Irish player, and second in as many weeks, to earn GWLL player-of-the-week honors this season. Junior atttack Tom Glatzel and senior goalkeeper Kirk Howell were honorees.
FIAMINGO HONORED AS TOP SCHOLAR-ATHLETE – Senior Steve Fiamingo (Cincinnati, Ohio) was named the top men’s lacrosse scholar-athlete April 4, at the Academic Excellence Awards Dinner held at the Joyce Center. Fiamingo plays defense and is one of four captains for the Irish this season. He has started all eight games for Notre Dame in 2000.
GLATZEL FINDING THE RANGE – Junior Tom Glatzel leads the team in scoring with a team-high 19 goals and seven assists (26 points). In ’99, Glatzel finished the campaign with 16 goals and eight assists after recording only two goals and dishing off one assist for three points. Since that rookie campaign he has 45 goals and 22 assists in 20 games for an average of 3.35 points per game. Glatzel, along with Kevin Higgins (Wilton, Conn.) leads the team in ground balls with 37.
DISHING IT OUT – For the third straight campaign, junior David Ulrich leads the team in assists. He has 10 on the season and 59 for his career which ties him for sixth with Bob Trocchi (1983-85) on the all-time list.
GROUND HOG – Kevin Higgins (Wilton, Conn.) became just the fifth player in Notre Dame history to collect 200 ground balls career ground balls this season. The senior midfielder reached that mark against Loyola. He is tied for third with Will Sutton who also played in the midfield for the Irish from 1991-95. Higgins is tied for the team-high honors in ground balls this season with 37. He has been the team’s ground ball leader each of the past two season. Higgins had 83 in 1999 and 79 in 1998.
HARVEY NETS THIRD CAREER HAT TRICK – Junior Jon Harvey, who has started seven of games this season, netted his third hat trick of the season against Butler last Saturday in Notre Dame’s 12-11 victory. Harvey ranks second on the team this season with 14 goals scored also also scored three goals in a 12-8 win over Denver and 8-7 loss to Hofstra.
IRISH STRONG AT HOME – In three (1994, 1995 and 1997) of the last seven 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. Corrigan’s squad was 6-1 at home in ’99. Since 1984, Notre Dame has an 82-27 (.752) record at home and is 43-10 (.811) over the last eight-plus seasons in games played at Moose Krause Stadium and Loftus Sports Center (its indoor facility).
A FAMILIAR DEFENSE – While there has been a juggling of starting lineups in both the attack and midfield, the Irish defense has had a familiar starting three. Senior Steve Fiamingo (Cincinnati, Ohio), junior Mike Adams (Wilton, Conn.) and sophomore A.J. Wright (Timonium, Md.) have started all eight games, while goalie Kirk Howell has been in the starting lineup in all eight of those contests as well.
FACING-OFF – Notre Dame has won 58.2 percent of all face-offs this season as the Irish have been victorious in 92 of their 158 opportunities. Chad DeBolt (Waterloo, N.Y.) leads the team with a 61.3 winning percentage (38-62). He was a perfect seven-for-seven against Butler last Saturday. Kevin Higgins owns a 56.8 face-off winning percentage as he has been victorious in 54 of his 95 chances. He won 12 of his 16 opportunities against the Bulldogs as the Irish were victorious in 19 of 23 chances overall.
IRISH IN THE NATIONAL STATISTICS – The men’s lacrosse statistics through games of April 2 were released on April 4. Senior Kevin Higgins is 19th in face-off winning percentage, while Kirk Howell is seventh in goals against average. As a team, Notre Dame is ninth in scoring defense and is 10th in face-off winning percentage.