Men's Lacrosse
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Feb. 28, 2008
#13 Albany at #6 Notre Dame
Saturday, March 1 • 1:00 p.m. (ET)
Loftus Sports Center • Notre Dame, Ind.
The sixth-ranked Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team will take its 2-0 record into a home showdown against No. 13 Albany on Saturday, March 1 inside the Loftus Sports Center. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. (ET). The Fighting Irish are coming off a 15-9 victory over Penn State, while Albany fell to No. 1 Johns Hopkins, 10-5, in its season opener. This will be the first ever meeting between the Fighting Irish and Great Danes.
HOW TO FOLLOW: Saturday’s contest can be followed via live stats and a live broadcast on the Internet … simply go to und.com and find the `Men’s Lacrosse’ page and click on `Schedule’ … once there, find the Albany game and there will be links to both `Gametracker’ for live stats and a `Watch’ link that will show the game for free … you can also sign up for `Irish Alert’, a text messaging service designed to give fans up-to-the-minute game updates for all 26 varsity sports at Notre Dame.
ND-ALBANY SERIES NOTES: Saturday will mark the first ever meeting between Albany and Notre Dame in men’s lacrosse.
ABOUT THE IRISH: Notre Dame is off to its second straight 2-0 start … the Irish topped No. 17 Loyola, 7-6, during the season-opener in Baltimore, Md. (Feb. 16) and followed it up with a 15-9 victory against Penn State last Sunday (Feb. 24) in the Loftus Sports Center … the Irish have had 11 different goalscorers this season … junior attackman Ryan Hoff leads the Irish with seven goals, which includes a six-goal performance against Penn State … Hoff was named the Great Western Lacrosse League player of the week for his effort against the Nittany Lions … Hoff’s seven points tie him for the team lead with senior attackman Alex Wharton, who has two goals and a team-high five assists … Notre Dame is averaging 11.00 goals per game, while allowing 7.50 goals a game … senior goaltender Joey Kemp has played all 120 minutes between the pipes … Kemp has made 23 saves and carries a .605 save percentage … the Irish are currently ranked sixth in the USILA coaches poll along with being 10th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media rankings … Notre Dame returned seven starters and 17 letterwinners from last year’s team that posted an 11-4 record and captured the Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL) title with a perfect 5-0 conference mark … that was the 10th GWLL crown for the Irish since the league was founded in 1994 … in 2007, Notre Dame made its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and the 12th trip in program history … the Irish fell to eventual national champion Johns Hopkins, 11-10, in overtime during the tournament’s first round … Kevin Corrigan is in his 20th season as the head coach of Notre Dame … he has a record of 169-92 (.648) during his Fighting Irish tenure … Corrigan was named the 2007 GWLL coach of the year … that marked the fourth time he has received that honor.
ABOUT ALBANY: The Great Danes enter Saturday’s contest with a 0-1 record after falling to No. 1 Johns Hopkins, 10-5, on Saturday (Feb. 23) … Albany was scheduled to face Siena on Tuesday, Feb. 26, yet the contest was postponed due to inclement weather … senior midfielder Jordan Levine scored two goals against the Blue Jays, while seniors Mike Ammann and Steve Ammann along with freshman Joe Pompo all chipped in one goal apiece … Brett Queener made six saves in goal … Albany is currently ranked 13th in both the USILA coaches poll and the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media rankings … the Great Danes are coming off a 15-3 campaign, which featured a trip to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals where they fell to Cornell in overtime, 12-11 … head coach Scott Marr is in his eighth season at Albany and he carries an overall record of 65-44 with the Great Danes.
HOME SWEET HOME: Notre Dame has won a program-record 14 straight games at home … the current streak stems back to a 14-13 overtime win against Air Force on April 10, 2005 … Notre Dame’s last loss at home was a 9-6 setback to Denver on April 7, 2005 … the Irish went a perfect 6-0 at home during the 2006 campaign and followed it up with a 6-0 mark at home during the 2007 season … three of the games during the streak have been played in the Loftus Sports Center, while the other 11 have taken place outside at Moose Krause Stadium … Notre Dame owns an overall home record of 116-35 (.768) during the 28 years of varsity lacrosse at the University.
GOING FOR THREE: With a win on Saturday, Notre Dame will start a season 3-0 for the first time since the 2003 campaign … this season marks the 10th time, and second straight, in the 28-year history of varsity lacrosse at Notre Dame that the Irish have started out 2-0 … Notre Dame has begun a season 3-0 on four occasions.
RECAPPING PENN STATE: Ryan Hoff scored six goals to lead fifth-ranked Notre Dame past Penn State, 15-9, on Sunday, Feb. 24 inside the Loftus Sports Center … Duncan Swezey added two goals for the Irish, while Alex Wharton had one goal and a career-high four assists … Notre Dame jumped out to a 7-0 lead by the 14:48 mark of the second quarter … Michael Podgajny started the Irish surge as he scored with just 37 seconds elapsed in the contest … Colin Igoe, Neal Hicks and Swezey followed with unassisted tallies to give the Irish a 4-0 advantage with 10:04 left in the opening period … Hoff notched back-to-back goals with the assists going to Wharton and Dan Gibson to produce a 6-0 lead at the end of the first quarter … for the second straight game, the Notre Dame defense held its opponent scoreless during the first quarter of play … with 12 seconds gone by in the second period, Grant Krebs scored a man-up goal on an assist from Igoe … Penn State put a halt to the Irish streak with a 3-0 run … Colby Rhodes put the Nittany Lions on the board with 14:39 left in the second quarter … Chris Hogan and Brian Shea also netted scores to make it a 7-3 contest with 4:52 remaining in the half … the Fighting Irish man-up unit would strike again as Wharton fed Hoff with 3:25 left on the clock … following a Davey Malera goal that gave Notre Dame a six-goal advantage, it was Wharton to Hoff once again to make it a 10-3 Notre Dame lead at the intermission … the Nittany Lions struck first in the second half on a Rob Forster goal … Wharton responded off a pass from Krebs to make it 11-4 with 7:13 left in the third period … Charley Henneghan and Max VanArsdale registered back-to-back goals for Penn State to slice the lead to five (11-6) by the 6:28 mark of the third quarter … Notre Dame put the game out of reach with four straight goals … Wharton connected with Hoff for the fourth time on the day to ignite the run … Hoff then scored his sixth goal off an assist from Malera to make it 13-6 in favor of the Irish after three quarters … defenseman Mike Creighton recorded an assist on a goal from Swezey to put Notre Dame up by eight (14-6) … Zach Brenneman completed the Irish scoring with 7:27 remaining in the contest … Penn State scored the game’s final three goals … the Fighting Irish out shot the Nittany Lions, 47-31, while Notre Dame also held an edge in faceoffs, winning 15 of 27 … goaltender Joey Kemp made 10 saves for the Irish, while his counterpart, Drew Adams, had 15 stops.
10 STRAIGHT: The win over Penn State marked Notre Dame’s 10th straight regular-season victory … the last loss in the regular season for the Irish came on March 17, 2007, a 7-6 setback at Dartmouth.
HOFF STAYING HOT: Ryan Hoff’s six goals against Penn State were just one shy of the school record that he shares with Randy Colley (class of 1995) … Hoff, a junior attackman, netted seven goals in a 16-5 win over Drexel last season … the junior attackman led the Irish with 40 goals one season ago.
CAREER DAY FOR WHARTON: Senior attackman Alex Wharton notched career-highs in assists with four and total points with five in the 15-9 victory over Penn State on Feb. 24 … all of his assists were on Ryan Hoff goals.
FAST STARTS: Through the first two games of the season, Notre Dame has out scored its opponents 9-0 during the first quarter of play.
SPREADING THE WEALTH: The Fighting Irish have had 11 different players notch at least one goal through the first two games of the season … in the season-opener, Notre Dame produced seven goals from seven different players in a 7-6 win over Loyola … the Irish used nine different goalscorers in a 15-9 triumph of Penn State last Sunday.
IRISH DEFENSE: The Irish are surrendering just 7.50 goals per game through the first two contests this season … Notre Dame boasted the nation’s fourth-best scoring defense in 2007 by allowing a school-record 6.66 goals per game … several key components to the Irish defense are back this season, including goaltender Joey Kemp in goal and starting defensemen Sean Dougherty, Ross Zimmerman and Regis McDermott.
SAVING THE DAY: Senior goaltender Joey Kemp ranks third in Notre Dame history with 28 career victories … the two-time All-America honoree carries an overall record of 28-11 … Kemp ranked fourth nationally in both goals-against average (6.78) and save percentage (.614) last season en route to being named the 2007 Great Western Lacrosse League player of the year … he is currently first in school history with a 7.44 goals-against average.
GETTING OFFENSIVE: In 2007, Notre Dame averaged 11.65 goals per game, which ranked the Irish fourth in the nation … so far this season, the Fighting Irish are averaging 11.00 goals a game.
MANNING UP: Notre Dame has converted on 4-of-10 man up opportunities this season … last season, the Fighting Irish converted on 50-percent (29-of-58) of their man-up opportunities … that conversion percentage ranked Notre Dame second among all NCAA Division I teams.
IRISH-ALBANY CONNECTION: Albany junior goaltender Dan McKeon is the nephew of former Fighting Irish attackman Brian McKeon, a 1985 Notre Dame graduate.
NOTRE DAME IN THE POLLS: Notre Dame is currently sixth in the USILA coaches poll and 10th in the Nike/Inside Lacrosse media rankings.
QUALITY COMPETITION: The Fighting Irish will face five teams that appear in the latest Nike/Inside Lacrosse media poll … Notre Dame opened the campaign against current No. 14 Loyola … the Irish will host No. 13 Albany on Saturday … Notre Dame takes on No. 8 North Carolina in Chapel Hill on March 8 … a Great Western Lacrosse League showdown against No. 16 Denver will take place on April 5 in Chicago … the Irish will conclude the regular season at home against No. 20 Ohio State on April 27.
KEMP ON TEWAARATON WATCH LIST: Senior goaltender Joey Kemp was named to the 51-man watch list for the Tewaaraton Award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top player … this marks the second season that Kemp has been named to the award’s watch list.
IRISH EARN PRESEASON HONORS: Seven Notre Dame players earned preseason All-America recognition from Inside Lacrosse Magazine and its Face-Off Yearbook … headlining the group for the Fighting Irish were second-team honorees Taylor Clagett (M/FO), Sean Dougherty (D), Joey Kemp (G) and Will Yeatman (A) … joining the quartet of second-team picks for the Irish was third-team member Michael Podgajny (M) and honorable mention selections Ryan Hoff (A) and Ross Zimmerman (D).
IRISH TABBED TO WIN GWLL: Notre Dame was selected to win its second straight Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL) title according to Inside Lacrosse … the GWLL head coaches selected the preseason order of finish within the league … Ohio State, Denver, Air Force, Quinnipiac and Bellarmine followed Notre Dame in the voting.
FOUR IRISH PLAYERS AMONG IL TOP 50: Four Irish athletes were named to the Inside Lacrosse top-50 players list for the 2008 season … senior goaltender Joey Kemp was the highest-ranked Fighting Irish player as he was 13th overall and the second-ranked goaltender on the list … sophomore attackman Will Yeatman was 15th, while senior defenseman Sean Dougherty and senior midfielder Michael Podgajny were 35th and 37th, respectively.
KEMP AND WHARTON NAMED `08 IRISH CAPTAINS: Seniors Joey Kemp and Alex Wharton have been named captains for the 2008 season … Kemp was one of three captains for the Fighting Irish last season, while this will mark Wharton’s first year as a co-captain … Kemp, a goalkeeper, is a two-time All-America honoree … he was named the 2007 Great Western Lacrosse League player of the year, in addition to being selected as an honorable mention All-American … Kemp has started 39 straight games in goal during his stellar career … last season, he ranked fourth nationally in goals-against average (6.78) and save percentage (0.614) … Wharton, an attackman, is coming off a career-best season … in 2007, Wharton notched career-high totals in goals (8), assists (10) and points (18) … he played in 14 games with eight starts last season … Wharton has seen the field in 28 career games, including 12 starts … his career totals feature 12 goals, 17 assists for 29 points.
FOLLOW ALL ND HOME GAMES ONLINE: All five of Notre Dame’s true home games will feature livestats available through und.com, the official web site of all 26 varsity athletic programs at the University … simply go to the men’s lacrosse page and click on `Schedule’ at the top of the page and find the game that is being played that day and click on `Gametracker’ to follow the game for free.
SIGN UP FOR IRISH ALERT TEXT MESSAGE SERVICE: Go to und.com to sign up for Irish ALERT, a text messaging service designed to give fans up-to-the-minute game updates for all 26 varsity sports at Notre Dame.
KEEPING UP WITH ND MEN’S LACROSSE: For results of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse games, call the Notre Dame Sports Hotline at (574) 631-3000 and choose #5 and #1 … the hotline provides schedules and result information for all 26 varsity sports and serves as a supplement to the match recaps and weekly releases provided on the official athletic website, www.und.com … in addition, media members and fans may be added to the sports information e-mail release list by contacting assistant sports information director Sean Carroll at Carroll.64@nd.edu … all requests for story ideas, interview access, match credentials, and further information on Irish men’s lacrosse should similarly be directed to Carroll … credential and interview requests should be made at least 24 hours in advance.