Irish win two before ending week with loss
By STEVE KEPPEL
Sports Writer
The Notre Dame men's lacrosse team struggled in its three-game stretch last week.
The Irish started off by beating both Denver (12-8) and Air Force (10-6), despite inconsistent play on offense and defense. But the poor play of the Irish caught up with them against Loyola as they were blown out by a score of 12-2.
Against Denver Notre Dame got out to a quick 4-0 start in the first period. John Harvey sparked the lead with two early goals and finished the afternoon with his first career hat trick.
Despite the early lead, the sporadic play of the Irish enabled Denver to edge their way back into the game when the Irish defense gave up six goals in the second and third periods.
"We had the chance to put them away and we didn't," Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said "We are not finishing when given the opportunity."
With the game tied 7-7 entering the fourth period, the Notre Dame attack broke out of their shell and scored four quick goals to give them a commanding lead.
"It was nice to come out in the fourth quarter and execute," Corrigan said. "We are playing well at times but we should have shut them out in the first half when we had the chance."
Two days later Notre Dame took on an 0-4 Air Force team that hadn't beaten the Irish in 12 years. Junior Tom Glatzel led the Irish offense and tied a career high with five goals. The Irish took a 10-2 lead into the fourth period. But, with the chance to put the Falcons away the Notre Dame defense gave up four quick goals letting Air Force right back in it.
"We didn't play that well but we did what we intended to do which was win," said Corrigan. "We were easily in control and we would have liked to finish it off with more pizzazz. We need to be more consistent."
The inconsistency of the Irish would come back to haunt again as they suffered a huge 12-2 pounding from a highly ranked Loyola team. Loyola came out fired up and scored two goals in the first 15 minutes. Instead of fighting back hard, the Irish gave up an unprecedented eight goals in the second period.
"We let them finish the game in the second quarter," said Corrigan "We lost poise and didn't execute and we can't put ourselves in that position."
The Irish got on the board in the third period with a goal from Chris Young, but it wasn't enough as they ended the day with only two goals, — the second fewest in the 19-year history of the program
"Their defense played harder than we played and we shot poorly," said Corrigan. "We were just out hustled and outplayed."
All Sports Stories for Tuesday, March 21, 2000
