With win, Irish advance to title game for the first time
BALTIMORE – A pulled hamstring was all it took to derail Notre Dame’s hopes for a successful lacrosse season. The injury, to goalie Scott Rodgers, contributed to a three-game losing streak that seemingly knocked the Irish out of the NCAA Tournament.
But with a 7-6 record, Notre Dame was granted a surprise invitation to the tournament. With that reprieve, the Rodgers and the Irish are making the most of it.
Saturday’s 12-7 victory over Cornell in the NCAA semifinals was Notre Dame’s third straight in a remarkable run to Monday’s championship game, where they will face the Duke Blue Devils. Making it possible was Rodgers who made 16 saves before 44,238 at M&T Bank Stadium.
“No. Lord no,” said Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan when asked if he thought his team could reach the finals after losing to the likes of Rutgers and Villanova.
Other catalysts for Notre Dame were senior attack Neal Hicks (4 goals), junior midfielder Zach Brenneman (3 goals), and junior defender Kevin Ridgway, a Georgetown Prep graduate, who held Ivy League Player of the Year Rob Pannell (2 assists) without a goal. Pannell, who leads the nation in points (4.6 per game), took nine shots, four of them on goal.
“Scott Rodgers did a great job of making saves,” said Pannell. “We were shooting at places we thought were going to go in. Credit to him.”
It was the third straight spectacular performance for Rodgers, who has stopped 69 percent of the shots he has faced as the unseeded Irish have toppled No. 6 Princeton, No. 3 Maryland, and No. 7 Cornell. In each game, the opponent has taken at least five more shots than the Irish.
The 6-foot-4, 255-pound senior established his presence early on Saturday, making eight of his saves in the first period.
“I think after the first couple saves, I was in their heads a little bit,” said Rodgers. “As far as effecting their game, I think every team tries to dodge the center of the field on me to get a better look. In the alleys, I take up a lot of the cage.”
On a day when Cornell (12-6) took more shots (40-32), won more ground balls (39-31), more faceoffs (12-11), forced more turnovers (13-8), and was perfect on clears (18-18), the difference was Rodgers.
“Credit to him for playing great, and doing his job, and keeping those guys in it,” said Cornell senior Ryan Hurley (2 goals, 1 assist). “We were getting great looks. We didn’t hit some of the shots we needed to or would have liked to early. The momentum never seemed to go our way.”
Corrigan had a simpler explanation.
“When goalies play well, guys shoot worse,” he said.
After struggling in the opening 12 minutes and trailing, 1-0, Notre Dame (10-6) went on a four-goal run to take a lead it would never relinquish. The goals came in a 3-minute, 32-second span that bridged the first and second periods.
“I was happy with the 1-0 run,” quipped Corrigan. “For those first seven minutes of that game, we were lousy and we were just kind of holding and hoping that we didn’t end down three at that point. So getting that one [goal], everybody was able to take a deep breath.”
Sophomore attack Sean Rogers sparked the run with a crank shot, then fed Hicks from behind the goal for a 2-1 lead. The next two Irish goals came on extraordinary individual efforts.
Senior defensive midfielder Adam Felicetti delivered the first, splitting two defenders, falling to his knees and scoring for the first time this season, with six seconds left in the first period.
After senior Trever Sipperly won the faceoff to start the second period, Brenneman made a spin move, fought through two defenders, and scored past Cornell freshman goalie A.J. Fiore (10 saves) for a 4-1 lead.
After that, with Rodgers zealously defending the cage, Cornell never got closer than to within two goals.
“When you take nine shots on cage and only have one goal, you’re not going to come out feeling all that good about yourself,” said Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni.
Leading 9-6, Notre Dame put it away with a 3-0 run in a 2:48 span of the fourth quarter. Junior longstick midfielder Andrew Irving highlighted the rally with a transition goal.
Now it is on to the championship game, an unlikely destination when Notre Dame was 5-5.
“I would have said that if we got the opportunity to make the playoffs we would be a dangerous team,” said Rodgers. “I just thought we had the talent all year. I believe in this team and I knew we could do this.”
