May 9, 2003
Freshman attack Patrick Walsh (Wantagh,N.Y.), the leading scorer on the 2003 Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team, has been named the Great Western Lacrosse League Newcomer of the Year. Walsh also garnered first team all-GWLL honors and was among seven Irish players tabbed as either first or second team honorees.
Joining Walsh as a first-team all-conference selection were junior attack Dan Berger (Phoenix, Md.) and sophomore midfield Brian Giordano (Princeton, N.J.).
Two Irish seniors, midfield Travis Wells (Severna Park, Md.) and long stick midfielder John Souch (Watertown, N.Y.) earned GWLL second-team honors. Also named to the second team were freshman defense D.J. Driscoll (Downington, Pa.) and junior goalie Stewart Crosland (Bethesda, Md.).
Walsh led Notre Dame in scoring with 20 goals and a team-high 32 assists. He becomes the first freshman to lead the Irish in scoring since the 1992 campaign when Randy Colley, who went on to become the school’s all-time leading scorer, finished his rookie season with 43 goals and 28 assists (71 points).
Walsh’s 32 assists tied the single-season mark held by both Mike Sullivan (1990) and David Ulrich (2000). He was the only freshman to start all 14 games and registered either a goal or an assist in 13 of 14 contests. Walsh had a personal best eight ponts in Notre Dame’s 16-11 win over Harvard, scoring four goals and dishing off four assists. Currently, he is tied for 11th in scoring and ranks sixth in assists.
Berger earns first-team all-conference honors for the second straight year after the leading the Irish in goals scored for the second consecutive season. He tallied a personal best 32 goals in ’03 and has 54 career goals following three seasons. Berger scored three or more goals in eightcontest, including a career-high five scores against Hartford.
Giordano finished the season as Notre Dame’s fifth leading scorer with 13 goals and five assists. He started 12 of the 14 games at attack and scored a career-high five goals in the Irish’s win 13-4 win over Air Force. In two seasons, Giordano has 21 goals and 15 assists for 36 points.
Wells played in all 14 games and earned 11 starts while finishing the season with career bests of 14 goals and seven assists. He served as one of four captains during the ’03 campaign and concluded his career with 27 goals and 13 assists.
Souch was one of Notre Dame’s top long stick midfielders for the past four seasons and was a team captain for the Irish in his final campaign. He played in all 57 games during his career and finished with two assists and 138 ground balls.
Driscoll earned a spot in the starting lineup for the Irish during the final six games of the season and played in all 14 contests. His only goal of the season came in Notre Dame’s win over Harvard and he led the team with 59 grounds balls.
Crosland started all 14 games in goals and played 737 of a possible 840 minutes. He allowed 92 goals and made 153 saves while registering a .625 save percentage and 7.49 goals against average. In the NCAA statistics, he ranks sixth in save percentage and 11th in goals against average.
Notre Dame, ranked 18th in the Warrior/Inside Lacrosse and United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) rankings, completed the season with a 9-5 mark and shared the GWLL championship with Ohio State and Denver as all three teams finished with a final 4-1 league mark.