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.
