Mens Lacrosse: Irish show chemistry in exhibition game
By JUSTIN SCHUVER
Sports Writer
In front of a rather large crowd at Meyo Field in the Loftus Center last Saturday, the Irish lacrosse team impressed with a 15-9 exhibition win over the Titan Tour Major Lacrosse League team.
Titan Tour was composed of several top world players, including former Irish All-Americans Todd Rassas, Jimmy Keenan and Tom Glatzel. The team also featured three members of the U.S. National Team.
One thing the MLL players didn't have was chemistry, as it was the first time they had played together, and it showed in the first two periods as the Irish leapt out to an impressive 12-3 lead at the half.
"What I was looking for was to see how we could play as a team," said head coach Kevin Corrigan. "I was extremely happy with our first team defense."
Junior Irish goalie Stewart Crosland was impressive with the start, turning away 13 of 16 shots from a team that claims the top two offensive players in the world. Senior Nick Antol replaced him in the fourth period.
In the first period, it looked as though the scrimmage would be a close match, as the teams knotted at a 2-2 tie early in the first period.
With a series of beautiful passes and impressive deflections, the Irish were able to score 10 straight unanswered goals.
Impressive individual play allowed the Irish to score one of the 10 unanswered goals, as junior attacker Dan Berger stole a clearing pass from the Titan Tour goalie and shot it into the vacated goal to give Notre Dame a 10-2 lead.
The Notre Dame defense almost achieved a shutout in the second period, but Titan Tour was able to score with just six seconds remaining to spoil that chance.
Each team scored once in the third, with midfielder Travis Wells collecting the loose ball and banging it past the Titan Tour goalie to answer a goal from the MLL players and make the score 13-4 going into the fourth.
In the fourth, Titan Tour started playing like the talented team they were, scoring five unanswered goals at one point and six total in the final period. The Irish only scored two more goals in the final 15 minutes.
"I think we may have lost a bit of our aggressiveness after the first half," Corrigan said. "But [Titan Tour] is a good team, and they had a lot of pride to keep that game from being a blowout."
The 17th-ranked Irish lacrosse team will begin the 2003 regular season on the road against No. 15 Penn State Feb. 23.
All Sports Stories for Monday, February 10, 2003
