March 14, 2002
Notre Dame will play host to third-ranked Loyola on Saturday, March 16,
at 1:00 p.m. The location of the game is yet to be determined. If
played indoors, it will be at the Loftus Sports Complex. If outdoors, it will
be played at Moose Krause Stadium. A decision should be made Friday on
where the game will ultimately be played.
SCOUTING THE IRISH: Notre Dame is in the middle of a tough stretch
playing its third game in seven days, including its second consecutive
game against a team ranked in the top five. The Irish lost a
heartbreaker to Virginia on Tuesday night, 7-5, falling to 1-3 on the
season. The 1-3 start is the worst start for an Irish team since Notre
Dame started 1-3 in 1995.
Notre Dame is led by sophomore attack Dan Berger, who leads the Irish
with nine goals and 11 points this season. Berger has scored eight
goals in his last three games, including a career-high four against Penn.
Senior John Flandina is second on the Irish in points with seven,
followed by Kyle Frigon, senior Devin Ryan and freshman Brian Giordano with six points. Giordano has
scored four goals in his last two games for the Irish.
Nick Antol has started the last two games in goal for the Irish, after
taking over for Stewart Crosland midway through the Penn game. Antol
has given up 15 goals on the season and has a goals-against average of
6.00.
SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS: Loyola, ranked third in the nation, is 3-0
after beating third-ranked Duke 11-9 on Saturday, March 9, at Curley
Field in Baltimore. The No. 3 ranking is Loyola's highest ranking since
May 1, 2000, when they were also ranked third.
Besides its two-goal game against Duke, all of Loyola's games have been
close this season. The Greyhounds defeated No. 21 Delaware 17-12 to
open the year, and followed that with a 8-7 win over No. 10 Hofstra.
Loyola is led by its big five as senior Michael Sullivan, sophomore
Stephen Brundage, and juniors Chris Summers, Jim Fink and Joey Case
have combined for 30 of Loyola's 36 goals and 16 of Loyola's 20 assists
this season. Sullivan and Brundage lead Loyola with 13 points (Brundage
has nine goals in '02).
Junior Mark Bloomquist is 3-0 in goal this season for Loyola with a
9.05 goals-against average and a .578 save percentage.
SERIES RECORD: Saturday's matchup will be the 13th meeting between the
two teams with Loyola leading the series 10-2. Loyola won the first 10
games of the series from 1982-2000, before the Irish rebounded to win
the last two contests. Notre Dame is 0-3 against the Greyhounds in
South Bend.
LAST YEAR VS. LOYOLA: In '01, Notre Dame exploded to a 7-3 halftime
lead and held on in defeating the Greyhounds 10-7 at Curley Field.
Irish attack Tom Glatzel scored four goals, while David Ulrich had two goals
and an assist and Steve Bishko recorded two goals.
Notre Dame was outshot 42-28, but coverted five of eight man-up
opportunities. Goalie Kirk Howell has 16 saves for the Irish.
IRISH REWIND VS. VIRGINIA: The Irish battled Virginia before giving up
two late goals and falling 7-5. Notre Dame and Virginia were locked in
a 5-5 tie before Cavalier junior midfielder Billy Glading scored his
second goal of the game with only 1:45 remaining in the contest. Virginia's Brenndan Mohler scored an insurance goal with 52 seconds remaining to secure the victory for the Cavs.
Virginia opened an early two-goal lead before Notre Dame came storming
back in the second quarter as freshman attack Brian Giordano recorded
his third goal of the season. Sophomore attack Dan Berger knotted the
game at 2-2 with his team-high eighth goal of the year. The tie was
short-lived though as Virginia's A.J. Shannon scored only 70 seconds
later. Virginia soon extended the lead to 4-2 seven minutes before
halftime on Mohler's first goal of the afternoon.
Glading then made the lead 5-2 only 32 seconds into the second half.
The next 12 minutes were scoreless until Berger recorded his second goal of
the game and ninth of the season with 2:23 to play in the third period.
Notre Dame pulled even in the final quarter on goals by junior middie
Kyle Frigon and Giordano. Frigon found the back of the net less than
five minutes into the period making the score 5-4, before Giordano
scored his second goal of the game and fourth of the season with 3:27
to play.
Cavaliers' goalie Tillman Johnson allowed five goals, while making 10
saves in 60 minutes. Irish goalie Antol made 17 saves, while allowing
seven goals. Notre Dame senior John Flandina had two assists in a
losing effort.
IRISH FACE TOUGH STRETCH: Saturday's game against Loyola concludes a
seven-day stretch where the Irish have played three games, including
contests against No. 4 Virginia and the third-ranked Greyhounds.
It doesn't get any easier for the Irish as they host nationally-ranked
Hofstra at Moose Krause Stadium on Saturday, March 23, at 1:00 p.m.
Notre Dame then travels to Denver on Saturday, March 30.
HEAD COACH KEVIN CORRIGAN: Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan is in his
14th season directing the Irish. Corrigan has a 119-64 record at Notre
Dame and an overall record of 129-79 in 16 seasons. Corrigan has led
Notre Dame to the NCAA Tournament 10 times during his tenure, including
a trip to the 2001 NCAA Semifinals.
RELOADING THE OFFENSE: After losing six of its top seven scorers from
'01 (Tom Glatzel, David Ulrich, Jon Harvey, Todd Ulrich, Steve Bishko
and Chris Young) to graduation, the Irish are trying to find someone to
pick up the offense in '02. Last season, Notre Dame averaged 11.81
goals per game, while the Irish are only averaging 7.75 goals a contest this
season.
Senior John Flandina is the only Irish player from the top seven that
returns to the roster this season. Flandina recorded 20 goals and seven
assists in '01 and is currently second on the team in scoring with one
goal and six assists.
Sophomore attack Dan Berger currently leads the Irish with nine goals
and two assists for 11 points, while senior Devin Ryan, junior middie Kyle Frigon and
freshman attack Brian Giordano are tied for third in scoring with six
points each.
BERGER KING: Sophomore Dan Berger has come out of nowhere to lead the
Irish in scoring this season with nine goals and two assists. Berger
has scored two or more goals in three games this season, including a
career-high four goals versus Penn. Berger also had two goals against
Rutgers and Virginia.
Last year, Berger saw action in only six games, scoring one goals and
scooping up five ground balls.
GIORDANO GETTING NOTICED: Freshman Brian Giordano has come on strong in
the last two games scoring the first six points of his career. Against
Rutgers, Giordano recorded two goals and two assists. He then followed
that game with another two-goal effort against Virginia.
BETWEEN THE PIPES: Junior goalie Nick Antol made the first two starts
of his career against Rutgers and No. 4 Virginia, giving up only 13 goals
in the two games. For the season, Antol has made 27 saves, including 17
against Virginia on Tuesday. He has a goals-against average of 6.00 in
'02. Antol replaced sophomore Stewart Crosland between the pipes midway
through the Penn contest.
Last season, Antol saw action in eight games backing up starter Kirk
Howell, giving up six goals in more than 70 minutes of action.
HOME SWEET HOME: Notre Dame was undefeated at home last season as the
finished with a 6-0 mark. Since back-to-back 5-0 campaigns at home in
1994 and 1995, Irish teams own a 38-9 record for a winning percentage
of 80.8 percent. Notre Dame has an all-time 91-28 (76.4 percent) home
record since the program's inaugural season in 1981. Since the '94
campaign, Notre Dame has been undefeated at home four times.
LOOKS FAMILIAR: Notre Dame's 2002 schedule will feature the same 13
opponents it did a year ago. The Irish finished with a 12-1 record
during the regular season, its only blemish was an 11-10 overtime loss
to Hofstra. The Irish will look avenge that loss to the Pride this
season when Hofstra pays a visit to Moose Krause Stadium on March 23.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: Craig Bishko, a freshman midfield on this year's
Irish lacrosse team, is the brother of former Notre Dame standout Steve
Bishko, a 2001 United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association
(USILA) third-team All-America selection and three-year starter. The
Bishkos are the fourth brother tandem to play lacrosse at Notre Dame.
The others are Todd (1992-96) and Joe Bialous, Jason (1992-94, '95) and
Connor ('98) Pett and David (1998-2001) and Todd (1998-2001) Ulrich.
ALL IN THE FAMILY II: Notre Dame's men's and women's lacrosse teams are
represented by members of both the Simon and Shearer families. Junior
defenseman Eric Simon's sister, Meredith, is a sophomore on the women's
lacrosse team, while freshman midfield Will Shearer's sister, Danielle,
also plays for head coach Tracy Coyne's squad.
MAKING THE GRADE: Senior Owen Asplundh was recognized at the Academic
Excellence Awards Dinner in the spring of 2001 by Notre Dame's Office
of Academic Services for Student-Athletes as the men's lacrosse player
with the highest cumulative grade-point average. Asplundh, who is enrolled
in the College of Arts and Letters and is majoring in English and
Afro-American studies, owns a cumulative 3.52 GPA following seven
semesters.
GREAT WESTERN LACROSSE LEAGUE INTACT: In 2001, the Great Western
Lacrosse League welcomed Fairfield to its league membership. The
League once again will be comprised of six teams: Air Force, Butler, Denver,
Fairfield, Notre Dame and Ohio State. Notre Dame has won the GWLL five
of the last six seasons, including three straight conference crowns.
IRISH LEADERS:
Dan Berger - 9 goals, 11 points
John Flandina - 6 assists, 7 points
Devin Ryan - 5 goals and 1 assist
Brian Giordano - 4 goals, 2 assists
Kyle Frigon - 6 points
Eric Simon - 16 ground balls
