Irish Win GWLL Opener Over Bellarmine
from press releases
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Senior attackman Duncan Swezey
(Ambler, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) matched a single-game career-high
total with four goals as the third-ranked Notre Dame men's lacrosse
team defeated Bellarmine 11-6 in Great Western Lacrosse League
(GWLL) play on Wednesday afternoon at Alumni Field. The contest was
the GWLL opener for both squads.
The victory puts the Fighting Irish at 7-0 on the season. That mark
is one shy of the program record of wins to begin a season. Notre
Dame started the 1993 campaign 8-0. The Irish also extended their
program-record home win streak to 22 games on Wednesday.
After Bellarmine (6-3, 0-1) cut the Irish lead to one (6-5) on a
Sean Doyle goal early in the second half, Notre Dame scored the
game's next four goals to take command of the contest. The Fighting
Irish held the Knights to just one goal in the final 29:10 of the
game.
The Irish began the second-half surge with a goal from junior
midfielder Grant Krebs (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's), who notched his
fifth career hat trick on the afternoon. Krebs currently is riding
a team-best 23-game point streak. Three straight goals from Swezey
gave Notre Dame a five-goal lead (10-5) by the 14:37 mark of the
fourth quarter. Kelly McKenna (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield), Peter
Christman (Simsbury, Conn./Westminster School) and Zach Brenneman
(East Hampton, N.Y./East Hampton) assisted on the goals,
respectively. Christman, a senior, matched a career-best total with
three assists in the game, while McKenna, a junior, recorded a
career-best two assists.
Bellarmine's Jarrett Davis halted the Irish uprising with 13:09
remaining in regulation to make it 10-6. That would be the last
Knight score of the afternoon. A goal from Neal Hicks (Atlanta,
Ga./The Lovett School) with 9:20 left on the clock made it an 11-6
final in favor of the Irish.
The six goals surrendered by the Fighting Irish defense matched a
season-low total. Notre Dame also held Bucknell to six tallies back
on March 12. The Irish, who boast the nation's ninth-best defense,
have yet to allow more than nine goals in a game this season. Notre
Dame senior Scott Rodgers (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) made 11 saves
to improve to 7-0 on the season. Bellarmine's Scott Bowles had 16
stops in the loss.
The Knights jumped ahead early behind a Davis goal with just over
two minutes elapsed in the contest. Swezey knotted the game two
minutes later as he scored his first goal of the day off a feed
from David Earl (Simsbury, Conn./Westminster School). Goals from
Brenneman and Dan Gibson (Germantown, Tenn./Memphis University
School) gave the Fighting Irish a 3-1 lead with 1:45 left in the
first quarter. The Knights sliced the lead to one (3-2) by the end
of the first period as Dereck Hopcroft scored with 22 seconds
remaining.
Bellarmine tied the game (3-3) when Doyle scored less than two
minutes into the second quarter. Following back-to-back goals from
Krebs, Matt Ciambella (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) deposited a
score to give Notre Dame a 6-3 lead with 7:32 left in the opening
half. Ciambella also assisted on Krebs' second goal in the
sequence. The two-point game was a career-best for Ciambella. The
Knights cut the Irish lead to two (6-4) by halftime as Chase
Williams scored with 4:11 remaining in the stanza.
Notre Dame out shot Bellarmine 38-30, while the Irish also won 13
of 21 faceoffs. Sophomore Jake Marmul (Livonia, Mich./Detroit
Catholic Central) went 11-for-16 in the faceoff X. Earl had a
game-high eight ground balls for the Irish.
