March 4, 2006
LISLE, Ill. – The 12th-ranked Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team had two-goal efforts by senior attackmen Brian Hubschmann (Short Hills, N.J./Delbarton) and Pat Walsh (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) yet that was not enough as No. 8 Cornell topped the Irish 9-6 at the Sports Complex at Benedictine University on Saturday afternoon. The contest, which was the first-ever NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse game in the Chicago area, was played in front of 3,523 fans.
Cornell (2-0) used a controversial goal by attackman Eric Pittard at the end of the first half to give the Big Red a 4-2 advantage after the opening 30 minutes of play. Pittard connected on a shot with what appeared to be no time left on the clock.
Notre Dame (1-1) cut the Cornell lead to one less than a minute into the second half as senior midfielder Matt Karweck (Penn Yan, N.Y./Penn Yan Academy) tallied an unassisted goal to extend his point streak to 10 games.
Cornell All-American Joe Boulukos, a senior midfielder, would then take over as he notched a game-high three goals, which all came in the second half. His first tally would come at the 12:09 mark of the third period to make it 5-3. Casey Lewis would then add to the lead with a score on a pass from David Mitchell.
The Irish did not go away as Hubschmann collected his second score of the day with the assist going to Matt Ryan (Ridley Park, Pa./Ridley Park) to make it a 6-4 contest with six minutes remaining in the third. The Hubschmann tally gave him his seventh career multi-goal game.
The Big Red would then run off three straight goals for the second time on the day. Boulukos collected the first two scores in that stretch, while Pittard netted his second of the day to make it a 9-4 game with 1:44 left in the contest.
Walsh and Ryan would connect on tallies just 18 seconds apart to trim the lead to 9-6 with just over one minute remaining. Hubschmann would collect assists on both goals to up his point total to a team-leading six on the season. However, the Irish would not get any closer and fall to the Big Red by the final margin of 9-6.
Cornell opened the game with three unanswered goals in the first period of play to make the Irish play catch-up all day long. Mitchell notched two of the scores to bring his season total to 10. Big Red freshman Max Seibald netted the third goal of the stanza to give his team a 3-0 lead after the first 15 minutes of play.
Notre Dame countered as Hubschmann tallied his first of the day with 11:18 left in the second quarter on an assist from sophomore Michale Podgajny (Ridley Park, Pa./Ridley). The Irish would slice the deficit to one after Walsh took a Bill Liva (Bryn Mawr, Pa./Malvern Prep) pass and sent it into the back of the net at the 1:29 mark of the half.
The Big Red out-shot the Irish, 42-37, and each team collected 37 groundballs. Sophomore goaltender Joey Kemp (Potomac, Md./Georgetown Prep) had a busy afternoon in net for Notre Dame as he collected 14 saves, while playing all 60 minutes. Cornell All-American Matt McMonagle made 12 saves as he also played the entire game.
Notre Dame sophomore Taylor Clagett (Chesapeake Beach, Md./DeMatha) had a solid contest, winning 13 of 17 faceoffs.
The Irish will return to action next Saturday (March 11) as they host No. 17 North Carolina in the Loftus Center. Game-time is set for 1:00 p.m. (ET).
Stay up-to-date on the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team by logging onto und.com or by calling the Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
#8 Cornell (2-0) – 3 1 3 2 – 9
#12 Notre Dame (1-1) – 0 2 2 2 – 6
Cornell Scoring:
Goals: Joe Boulukos 3, David Mitchell 2, Eric Pittard 2, Max Seibald 1, Casey Lewis 1.
Assists: John Espey 1, Derek Haswell 1, David Mitchell 1, Eric Pittard 1.
Notre Dame Scoring:
Goals: Brian Hubschmann 2, Pat Walsh 2, Matt Ryan 1, Matt Karweck 1.
Assists: Brian Hubschmann 2, Bill Liva 1, Michael Podgajny 1, Matt Ryan 1.
— ND —