May 19, 2008

By Tyler Dunne, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

ITHACA, N.Y. - Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan had doubts.

Midway through his team's season, Corrigan began to question whether his senior goalie Joey Kemp was really a first-team talent. Maybe second or third or honorable mention, he thought.

After the Fighting Irish's crushing 11-9 loss to Syracuse Sunday in the NCAA Quarterfinal, Corrigan appeared as if he was ashamed of ever letting that thought slip into his mind.

"Joey's terrific," Corrigan said. "I don't think there's a better goalie in the country."

Even in defeat it's hard to question Corrigan. Kemp single-handedly kept Notre Dame breathing in the first half against Syracuse at Schoellkopf Field. The Orange eventually cracked Kemp's shell in the fourth quarter to win 11-9, but without Kemp's gallant, in-the-zone goaltending early on, the game easily could have mirrored Duke's 21-10 dismantlement of Ohio State earlier in the day. In all, Kemp finished with 20 saves - a season-high. Kemp's career-high was 23, set three years ago against Dartmouth.

The Orange lambasted Kemp with 30 first half shots - 19 in the first quarter, but only led 6-2 at halftime. Notre Dame's offense woke up in the third and carried a lead into the fourth, but could only get one goal past SU freshman John Galloway in the final quarter, and now its Syracuse that will face Virginia next weekend in the final four.

But even Galloway whole-heartedly admitted that Kemp - three years his senior - outdueled him. In the week leading up to the game, Galloway's friends razzed him on how much better Kemp was.

Galloway isn't disagreeing, despite the win.

"My friends are kind of right," Galloway said. "He outplayed me. He's a great goalie and played unbelievable."

To Kemp, Sunday's game offered a completely different challenge than last weekend's 8-7 win over Colgate. He'd much rather be in the eye of the storm and face a barrage of shots from the word "go," than sit and wait for a shot here and a shot there.

"The kind of game I prefer is the one I'm getting peppered in," Kemp said frankly. "Unlike the Colgate game, where they played slow-down ball. Syracuse and Ohio State, where it's coming one after another, I kind of get into a groove. Today I was seeing the ball."

But this blessing also had a curse.

"You can't just shut down one guy, to compare them to last week, Colgate's main guy was (Matt) Lalli," Kemp said. "Today we stop (Steven) Brooks, then (Dan) Hardy would step up. They're a loaded team and there isn't a drop off from each guy. ...They're a very talented offense, both attack and mids. They've got two hard lines that can both bring it. Our defense stepped up and I was able to see shots from 12 yards instead of 8-10 yards."

With Notre Dame's aggressive man-to-man defense extending SU outward, most of the Orange's shots sprayed erratically high, wide and low. Only eight of SU's 19 first-quarter shots were on net. But Kemp wasn't getting much help on the other end. Notre Dame lost all five faceoffs in the first quarter, and only had six shots.

The Orange's top guns tried all their tricks, and Kemp stoned them. With 2:30 left in the first, SU's second-leading scorer Kenny Nims tried his go-to, fake-high, tuck-low flush merely two yards in front of Kemp, and the senior didn't take the bait. He stood pat and made the save. Then midway through the second quarter, Syracuse's leading scorer Mike Leveille (43 goals on the season) tried his patented move, slingshoting from behind the net to the front and ripped a sidewinder on net. But again, Kemp didn't flinch and made the tough save.

Leveille and Nims entered the game averaging a combined five goals per game. Against Kemp, they only had one apiece on 12 total shots.

But in the end, Syracuse head coach John Desko's year-long philosophy held true: Get as many shots off as possible, and eventually it will be enough. With the score tied a nine with five minutes left, Hardy and Brooks scored back-to-back goals on Kemp and an illustrious career officially came to a close.

Kemp came into the quarterfinal second in the nation in save percentage (.636) and third in goals against average (6.40). He had only let in double-digit goals once heading into Sunday. And still, it may have been his best game of the season, even as Syracuse heads to Foxborough, Mass. for the final four and Notre Dame heads home.

"He's been unbelievable the second half of the season," Corrigan said of Kemp. "I think he's the best in the nation, I'm particularly biased, but I haven't seen anyone better."