Notre Dame Continues Three-Game Homestand

March 23, 2000

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 13th-ranked Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team (3-2, 2-0) plays its third ranked opponent of the 2000 campaign when it plays host to 12th-ranked Hostra (1-3) on Sunday, March 26 at 1:00 p.m. The game will be broadcast by WHME TV-46 in South Bend and will be shown tape-delayed on Sunday at 11:00 p.m. The contest is the second of three straight home games for the Irish.

The Irish are coming off a 12-2 loss to third-ranked Loyola last Saturday (March 18) after posting a 2-0 record against Great Western Lacrosse League foes in Colorado when they defeated Denver (12-8) and Air Force (10-6).

Notre Dame is ranked 13th in the STX/United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) poll and Inside Lacrosse rankings, while the Flying Dutchmen are 12th in both polls.

RECAP OF DENVER GAME
Junior Jon Harvey (Winchester, Mass.) recorded his first career hat trick in leading the Irish to a 12-8 win over Denver in its GWLL season opener. Steve Bishko (West Islip, N.Y.), Todd Ulrich (Baltimore, Md.) and Owen Asplundh (Bryn Athyn, Pa.) each scored twice in the contest to lead a balanced Notre Dame scoring attack.

Notre Dame scored four goals in the first quarter to build a 6-2 halftime advantage. The Pioneers, however, scored four times in the third quarter as the two tied were knotted at 6-6 after 45 minutes. Notre Dame scored four unaswered goals in the four, outscoring Denver 6-2 in the quarter, to break a 7-7 deadlock with 12:39 remaining. Bishko and Ulrich had both of their goals in the four-goal run.

Notre Dame outshot Denver 39-26 in the game and Irish goalie Kirk Howell (Nashville, Tenn.) made nine saves in the game.

RECAP OF AIR FORCE GAME
Junior attack Tom Glatzel (Ellicott City, Md.) scored five goals, tying his career-high in leading Notre Dame to a 10-6 win at Air Force. The win was the 12th straight for the Irish over the Falcons. Glatzel scored three of Notre Dame’s first four goals in the game with his first coming 47 seconds into the contest.

Chris Young (Camillus, N.Y.) had the first multiple-goal game of his career as he tallied twice in the win. Young also had a career-high three assists in the contest.

Notre Dame dominated the Falcons, outshooting Air Force 42-21 in teh game. Kirk Howell played 50 minutes and had four saves, while Patrick Darcy (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) had two saves.

RECAP OF LOYOLA GAME
Loyola posted its 10th win over the Irish in as many meetings as the Irish dropped a 12-2 decision at home. The two goals scored by the Irish represented the second fewest by a Notre Dame team in teh 19-year history of the program. The fewest goals scored by the Irish was in a 9-1 losing effort to Penn State in 1989.

Loyola scored eight second-period goals to build a 10-0 halftime lead. After leading 2-0 after the first quarter, six different Greyhound players scored in the second 15-minute stanza.

Notre Dame finally got on the scoreboard with 1:30 remaining in the third quarter on a Chris Young score off a Todd Ulrich assist. The Irish held Loyola scoreless in the third quarter.

Loyola scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter before John Flandina (West Islip. N.Y.) tallied the game’s final goal.

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 105-72 (.593) overall ledger and an 97-57 (.630) 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. HOFSTRA
This will be the seventh meeting between the two teams with the Irish holding a 4-2 advantage in the series. Notre Dame had its four-game win streak against the Flying Dutchmen snapped last season in dropping a 10-9 overtime decision in Hempstead, N.Y. Hofstra is winless in two appearances at Notre Dame, losting 10-9 in 1997 and 8-4 in 1998.

HIGGINS COLLECTS 20O GROUND BALLS
Kevin Higgins (Wilton, Conn.) became just the fifth player in Notre Dame history to collect 200 ground balls career ground balls. The senior midfielder reached that mark against Loyola. He needs just five to move into fourth on the all-time list ahead of Mike Iorio (1992-95) who finished his career with 204. Higgins has been Notre Dame’s ground ball leader each of the last two seasons. He had 83 a year ago and 79 in 1998.

BISHKO FINDING THE RANGE
Junior Steve Bishko leads the team in scoring with a team-high nine goals and two assists (11 points). In ’99, Bishko finished the campaigh with 16 goals and eight assists after recording only three assists during his freshman season in 1998. Since that rookie campaign he has 25 goals in 19 games (1.31). Bishko also leads the team with 26 ground balls.

HARVEY NETS FIRST CAREER HAT TRICK
Jon Harvey had his first career hat trick against Denver on March 11. The junior attack, who had just one career goal heading into this season, already has six goals on the season and is the team’s fifth-leading scorer.

HOT GOALIE
In his second season as a starter, Kirk Howell has continued his impressive play. His 11 saves against Pennsylvania on March 4 marked the 11th time in his career that he has registered 10 or more saves in a game. In Notre Dame’s win against Penn State in the season opener, he had a career-high 18 stops. His previous personal best was 17 saves which he posted twice during the ’99 regular season
versus Loyola (in a 10-8 loss ) and against Georgetown (a 12-8 Hoya win). Howell, who owned a .577 save percentage and 8.57 goals against average a year ago, registered 10 or more saves in nine games last season and in eight of Notre Dame’s last 10 contests. He also picked up a career-high 11 ground balls against Pennsylvania. He has a .591 save percentage this season with 55 saves and 30 goals allowed for a 7.86 goals against average.

FACE-OFF
Notre Dame has won 54.6 percent of its faceoff opportunities this season thanks in part to Kevin Higgins’ 56.7 percent. The Irish have won 53 of their 97 chances thus far in 2000 with Higgins winning 34 of his 60 chances. Against Penn State, won seven of his nine faceoff opportunities. Chad DeBolt (Waterloo, N.Y.) has converted on 52.8 percent of his face-off chances (19-36).

SPREADING THE WEALTH
Notre Dame had eight different players score in its 10-4 win over Penn State with just two players
Steve Bishko and Jon Harvey
tallying two goals. It was the most balance the Irish the Irish had since having nine goal scorers in a 17-9 win over Denver on March 5, 1999.

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 81-26 (.757) record at home and is 42-9 (.824) 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 five games, while goalie Kirk Howell has been in the starting lineup in all five of those contests as well.

THE GWWL AWAITS
Following the Hofstra game, the Irish will play Ohio State and Butler on successive Saturday afternoons in what will prove to be two crucial Great Western Lacrosse League tests. The Irish host the Buckeyes on Saturday, April 1 at 3:00 p.m . and then travel to Indianapolis, Ind., to take on Butler on Saturday, April 8 at 2:00 p.m.

STX/UNITED STATES INTERCOLLEGIATE LACROSSE ASSOCIATION POLL (Week of Mar. 20)

INSIDE LACROSSE MEDIA POLL (Week of Mar. 20)