Irish Laxers Knock of Defending National Champs In Season Opener

For the second year in a row the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Men's Lacrosse team opened with strong competition in the defending national champion Duke Blue Devils. Last season the Irish prevailed in Durham, NC with an 11-7 win. New year, same result.

For good measure, the Irish tallied one more goal than last year's game to give head coach Kevin Corrigan and his No. 6 ranked team a 12-7 victory over the No. 5 Blue Devils. Highlights can be found here.

In front of more than 8,000 fans on Sunday, February 20 the Irish and Blue Devils squared off in the inaugural Sunshine Classic in Jacksonville, FL at Everbank Stadium.

Duke had cruised in its season opener against Siena 20-6 but looked tense in yesterday's matchup against a Notre Dame team led by five pre-season All-Americans in midfielders Zach Brenneman and David Earl,  defensemen Kevin Ridgway and Sam Barnes, and longstick midfielder Andrew Irving.

After a scoreless and fairly passive first period the Blue Devils put two goals on the board early in the second with goals from Tom Rynn and Josh Offit. Notre Dame responded in quick fashion with three goals. Sean Rogers netted the first goal with a beautiful one-handed wrap-around from behind the goal to beat Blue Devils netminder Dan Wigrizer. A mere twenty seconds later Rogers added another goal to even up the score.

It was Wigrizer, a true freshman at the time, who helped the Blue Devils win their first national championship with a 6-5 OT victory over the Irish in last year's title game.

But Wigrizer was not at his best yesterday as he allowed seven goals on thirteen shots before being pulled late in the fourth period.

Notre Dame received scoring support from a veteran supporting cast and a sprinkling of newer talent. Westy Hopkins, a freshman attacker, scored two goals to help the Irish cause. Senior Andrew Irving also notched two goals for the Irish.

Star senior midfielder Zach Brenneman registered a career-high five point game on three goals and two assists. The hat trick matched his previous goal scoring accomplishments against the Blue Devils last season.

Perhaps the brightest star of the day in an Irish uniform was sophomore John Kemp, the starter in goal tasked with replacing former All-American Scott Rodgers. Kemp finished with ten saves on seventeen shots. Many of the shots were taken point blank but Kemp flashed his quickness and strength to prevent an offensive explosion from the Blue Devils.

By halftime the Irish held a 4-2 lead and managed to build on the differential throughout each of the remaining periods, netting a high mark of five goals in the final period of play.
The game was one of four televised regular season contests on the season featuring Notre Dame. Other televsied games include April 10 against Georgetown (12pm EST on ESPNU), April 30 at Syracuse (7pm EST on ESPNU), and May 6 at North Carolina (7pm EST on ESPNU).

Speaking of North Carolina, with the No. 4 Tar Heels losing to unranked Ohio State yesterday the Irish climbed to No. 4 in the Inside Lacrosse media poll released today.

After opening the season with a gritty but eventual exhibition loss against Team USA the Irish now sit at 1-0 in the regular season.

Next Sunday the Irish travel to State College, PA to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions.

2011 Notre Dame Lacrosse Season Kickoff

With the 2011 lacrosse season nearly upon us the Notre Dame men's lacrosse program looks to build on its momentum from last year's championship run. If you recall, Notre Dame had an unforgettable run through the post-season, handling perennial powers like Princeton, Maryland, and Cornell en route to their second final four appearance in school history and their first title game appearance. The Irish ultimately fell 6-5 in OT to Duke.

No one thought the Irish would be in a position to even make the tournament last year, as they finished the regular season with a modest 7-6 record. They persevered and fought their way to heights never before seen in program history.

Talent was clearly not lacking on last year's team. Further proof was given last Friday when a school-record five Irish players were drafted in the Major League Lacrosse (MLL) Collegiate Draft.

In fact, the Long Island Lizards made midfielder Zach Brenneman the highest drafted player in school history with the fifth overall pick. Midfielder David Earl (13th overall) and defensemen Kevin Ridgway (18th overall) were both selected by the Hamilton Nationals. Sam Barnes (29th overall) followed Brenneman to Long Island and longstick midfielder Andrew Irving (33rd overall) headed west to the Denver Outlaws.

All five aforementioned Irish players will finish their senior seasons this year though and have garnered preseason All-America honors from Inside Lacrosse.  Barnes was the only of the bunch not to be named a 2011 captain.

Of the representation from the NCAA teams only Syracuse with seven draftees had more players selected in the this year's draft.

Seven might be a lucky number this season for the Irish as they are ranked seventh in both Inside Lacrosse and Lacrosse Magazine preseason rankings. Additionally, the Irish play seven ranked opponents on their schedule, including a title game rematch against the Blue Devils in Jacksonville, FL on Sunday, February 20, 2011.

Before the season officially gets underway, though, the Irish will square off against the US National Team in an exhibition match a month before the Duke matchup. The game will be telecast live on ESPNU on Sunday, January 30 at 1:30p EST.