April 18, 2001
Box Score
Notre Dame, Ind. - Notre Dame moved one step closer to securing its
third consecutive Great Western Lacrosse League championship with a 12-3
victory over Butler. The win was the fifth straight for the Irish who
matched their best start in school history by improving to 10-1 on the
season and 4-0 in the GWLL.
Notre Dame's defense was spectacular in holding the Bulldogs
scoreless in the final 35:30 of the contest. The only other Irish team to
win 10 of its first 11 games was the 1994 squad which finished the regular
season with a 10-1 record before losing in the first round of the NCAA
tournament.
The day, however, belonged to senior attack David Ulrich
(Baltimore, Md.) who finished with three goals and four assists in becoming
the school's all-time career assist leader. Ulrich, who now has 102 career
assists, broke the record of 100 held by Randy Colley (1992-95), Notre
Dame's career goals and scoring leader.
Ulrich broke the mark at the 11:59 mark of the fourth quarter as he
assisted on Jon Harvey's (Winchester, Mass.) second goal of the game that
put the Irish up 9-3 in the contest. He tied the mark on Notre Dame's
previous goal with 3:31 remaining in the third quarter when he fed twin
brother Todd. David Ulrich also had the assist on Harvey's third score of
the game which came with 7:20 left in the game and the Irish down a man
following a one-minute penalty.
In addition to Harvey and David Ulrich scoring three goals, junior
Devin Ryan (Kensington, Md.) tallied three goals. In Notre Dame's last
outing in a 17-13 win over Army, the Irish's starting midfielder tallied
four goals.
John Flandina (West Islip, N.Y.), Tom Glatzel (Ellicott City, Md.)
and Todd Ulrich rounded out the Irish scoring with one goal each. Flandina
and Glatzel also added assists in the contest.
Notre Dame jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the contest on scores
by Ryan and
David Ulrich. Ulrich's first assist on the afternoon came on
Ryan's score 2:46 into the contest.
The Bulldogs, who fell to 4-7 overall and 1-2 in the GWLL, knotted
the game on back-to-back scores by Adam Cichostepski and Ryan Ward at the
6:03 and 2:10 marks of the the first quarter.
Notre Dame went ahead 3-2 on Glatzel's goal with 6:28 remaining in
the second quarter, but Chris Aitkin evened the score for the second time
in the contest with a goal off a Dan Torgerson feed with 5:30 left to play
before the intermission.
The Bulldogs' lead was short-lived as Harvey netted his first goal
of the game off of Flandina's assist at the 5:05 mark that put the Irish up
for good. Flandina gave Notre Dame a 5-3 advantage at the intermission
tallying his only score of the game with six seconds left in the second
quarter.
Notre Dame's defense proved to be stellar in the second half
limiting the Bulldogs to just eight shots in the final 30 minutes.
Goalie Kirk Howell (Nashville, Tenn.) finished with 15 saves as he
played just under 57 minutes of the contest.
Notre Dame will look to clinch the GWLL regular-season title on
Sun, April 22 when they travel to Fairfield for a 1:00 p.m. matchup. The
Stags are in their first season as a member of the GWLL, and this will be
the second meeting ever between the two schools. Fairfield traveled to
Notre Dame last season with the Irish earning a 20-12 victory.
