April 10, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Junior midfielder Max Pfeifer deposited the game-winning goal with 2:33 left in the contest as the second-ranked Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team topped Georgetown 7-6 in BIG EAST action on Sunday afternoon in front of 2,336 fans at Arlotta Stadium.
The Notre Dame defense stymied the Georgetown offense, which entered the afternoon averaging nearly 12 goals per game. Two-goal efforts from junior attackman Sean Rogers and senior midfielder David Earl, who also chipped in an assist, spearheaded the Irish offense. Neither team led by more than one goal during the entire game.
“It was a great day to get a win,” said Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan. “I don’t know if we played as well as we were hoping to, but that credit goes to Georgetown. They are a very good and talented team. We knew it was going to be a game until the last second and it was.”
Notre Dame (8-0, 3-0) cracked the scoring column first four minutes into the contest as Rogers deposited his first goal of the game off an assist from junior long-stick midfielder Bobby Smith. Rogers has a team-high 13 goals this season.
Georgetown (5-5, 2-2) responded midway through the first quarter on Travis Comeau goal. Comeau had a game-high three goals.
Rogers put Notre Dame back on top (2-1) with 6:07 left in the opening quarter. Junior midfielder Eric Keppeler assisted on the tally. Comeau evened the contest with just under five minutes remaining in the first quarter. The game was tied 2-2 after the opening 15 minutes of play.
Georgetown took its first and only lead of the game on a Max Seligmann goal with 10:37 left in the first half. Consecutive tallies from Earl and senior attackman Colin Igoe gave the Fighting Irish the lead once again (4-3) by the 3:48 mark of the second quarter.
A Comeau goal with 1:19 left in the stanza made it a 4-4 game at the intermission.
Notre Dame went up 5-4 with eight minutes left in the third quarter on a goal from sophomore midfielder Steve Murphy. The Hoyas evened the score (5-5) with two seconds remaining in the period on a Davey Emala goal.
Earl deposited his second goal of the afternoon, off a pass from Pfeifer, to put the Irish up 6-5 with 11:34 left in regulation. Georgetown answered back to knot the game once again as Zack Angel scored with nine minutes showing on the clock.
Pfeifer’s game winner was a man-up tally off a pass from Igoe. That was Notre Dame’s only man-up opportunity of the game. The Irish man-down defense negated both of Georgetown’s chances.
Georgetown owned a 36-28 advantage in shots. Sophomore goalie John Kemp made 12 saves for the Irish to improve his record to 8-0 this season. Georgetown’s Jack Davis had 11 saves in the loss.
“We’ve proven ourselves to be a pretty good defensive team,” added Corrigan. “We make it hard on people. We make them earn their goals. They (Georgetown) had to earn theirs today. We gave them a lot of extra chances today because of some mistakes. That was a little disappointing but it was good to know our defense and John Kemp were up to the challenge.”
Both teams won eight faceoffs. Freshman Liam O’Connor was 6-11 for the Irish, while senior Jake Marmul was 2-5.
The Irish return to action on Saturday when they play host to St. John’s in BIG EAST play. Opening faceoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. (ET) at Arlotta Stadium.
April 10, 2011 – Arlotta Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
Georgetown (5-5, 2-2) – 2 2 1 1 – 6
#2 Notre Dame (8-0, 3-0) – 2 2 1 2 – 7
Georgetown Scoring (goals-assists):
Travis Comeau 3-0, Davey Emala 1-1, Max Seligmann 1-0, Zack Angel 1-0, Brett Weiss 0-1; Goaltenders: Jack Davis (L, 59:01, 11 saves, 7 GA), C.T. Fisher (0:59, 0 saves, 0 GA)
Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
David Earl 2-1, Sean Rogers 2-0, Max Pfeifer 1-1, Colin Igoe 1-1, Steve Murphy 1-0, Bobby Smith 0-1, Eric Keppeler 0-1; Goaltender: John Kemp (W, 60:00, 12 saves, 6 GA)
— ND —