Great Scott! Rodgers Carries Irish to Final
by Matt DaSilva | Lacrosse Magazine Online Staff
NCAA DIVISION I SEMIFINALS: NOTRE DAME 12, CORNELL 7
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* Great Scott! Rodgers Carries Irish to Final |
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| Scott Rodgers, still nursing a torn hamstring that forced him to miss significant action in the middle of the season, nonetheless continued his postseason heroics with 16 saves in Notre Dame's 12-7 win over Cornell in the NCAA semifinals Saturday. |
BALTIMORE, Md. -- Less than a
half hour after carrying the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team
on his broad shoulders to its first-ever NCAA Division I
championship game, Scott Rodgers emerged from the Irish locker room
donning a pinstriped suit, ducked through the doorway and was
immediately flanked by a throng of reporters in the bowels of
M&T Bank Stadium.
Yeah, he’s a man-child. But on Saturday, the 6-foot-4,
254-pound goalie was simply the man.
Rodgers put forth an effort to match his mass with 16 saves
– including eight during a testy first quarter – to
lead the unseeded Irish to a 12-7 victory over seventh-seeded
Cornell in the first of two NCAA semifinals Saturday.
Attackman Neal Hicks scored four goals and midfielder Zach
Brenneman -- no slouch at 6-foot-3, 205 pounds – netted a hat
trick in the victory.
Cornell’s star attackmen, Rob Pannell (2a) and Ryan Hurley
(2g, 1a), were mostly neutralized by Rodgers and the disciplined
defense in front of him. Steve Mock had three goals for the Big
Red.
“I’ve been coaching 30 years,” Notre Dame head
coach Kevin Corrigan said. “When goalies play well, guys
shoot worse.”
Hulking over those reporters, Rodgers hinted that he has still not
entirely recovered from the torn hamstring that plagued him
midseason.
“It was not off the bone, but the MRI showed it was
torn,” he said.
Asked how he felt Saturday, Rodgers replied, “Old. I feel
like I’m 50. I feel like I’m going to fall
apart.”
He could have fooled Cornell.
“Sixteen saves on the day,” Pannell said, shaking his
head. “It’s a credit to him and the defense in front of
him.”
Rodgers’ spry performance between the pipes certainly
didn’t indicate any lingering effects of the injury,
sustained in a March 27 loss to Rutgers – the first of three
straight losses that dropped Notre Dame to 5-5.
“If we were in Baltimore, that would have been front-page
news,” said Irish assistant coach Gerry Byrne, the defensive
coordinator. “But I’m not going to call up the media to
tell guys, ‘Hey, this is why we’re not playing
well.’”
Rodgers’ injury forced freshman John Kemp, whom Notre Dame
had planned to red-shirt, into action. Rodgers attempted to come
back against Georgetown (an 11-8 loss on April 11), but was pulled.
He didn’t resume full-time goalkeeping duties until April 24
against St. John’s.
The Irish got into the NCAA tournament as an at-large selection on
the strength of early-season wins over Duke and Loyola.
They’ve since made the selection committee look smart,
reeling off three straight tournament upsets of Princeton, Maryland
and Cornell – all boasting high-powered offenses that Notre
Dame’s defense nullified.
Against the Big Red, the Irish made it a point to push out on the
perimeter and recover quickly on their slides.
“We said ‘Let’s challenge them,’”
Corrigan said. “Let them take those 14-yard shots to try to
beat us. They’re not going to.”
The Big Red struck first on Roy Lang’s goal at the 13:33
mark of the first quarter, but Rodgers shut the door from there.
His eight first-quarter saves buoyed the Irish, who were slow to
get untracked.
Sean Rogers got Notre Dame on the board with 2:54 remaining,
finishing a crease feed from Colin Igoe. Hicks gave the Irish its
first lead on a goal assisted by Rogers a little over a minute
later.
Notre Dame then got a jolt of momentum from Rodgers, who stuffed a
fancy backhand by Pannell low with less than a minute remaining.
The Irish caught Cornell napping in transition, and defensive
middie Adam Felicetti finished on the other end with six seconds
remaining in the first quarter to put Notre Dame ahead 3-1.
The Irish stretched their lead to three in the second quarter. It
would remain a three-goal lead until the fourth quarter, when the
Irish blew it open on a Big Red team that in its desperation for
possessions pulled goalie AJ Fiore out of the cage for double-team
purposes.
Cornell outshot Notre Dame, 40-32, won 12 of 23 faceoffs, garnered
39 ground balls to the Irish’s 31 and committed fewer
turnovers.
The difference was Rodgers – and the defense in front of
him, namely Kevin Ridgway, Kevin Randall and Mike Creighton.
“They make me look good,” Rodgers said with a chuckle.
“But I make them look good too.”
