Irish bounce back from slow start
By STEVE KEPPEL
Sports Writer
This year was quite a ride for the Notre Dame men's lacrosse team.
Before the season even began, expectations were high with the Irish returning four of their five leading scorers from the 1999 season. The team's attack gained experience on the previous year's squad and is led by the scoring and play making ability of juniors Tom Glatzel and David Ulrich.
"This year we are a little more balanced offensively,"Glatzel said. "We have a number of guys who can beat you."
The Irish opened up with an impressive 10-4 home victory over Penn State, but fell the next week to Penn 10-7. The Irish split their next four games, putting them at a 3-3 mark midway through the season.
With all the preseason hype, the Irish did not expect to be five hundred at this point in the season and vowed to turn things around.
"We were extremely disappointed to be 3-3 early in the year,"said head coach Kevin Corrigan. "We didn't feel like that was reflective of our ability."
Making it a point to return to their winning ways, the Irish came back the next week and defeated Ohio State 13-4 in an important league matchup. After this victory the Irish racked up consecutive wins over Butler, Army, Villanova, Fairfield, and Harvard, their first six-game win streak since 1996. They finished the season ranked No. 13 in the country.
"In the beginning of the season we had a couple of tough losses and we lost a little bit of our confidence,"said Glatzel, the team's leading scorer. "Since Hofstra [the team's last loss] we have really been playing well and we have been playing as a team. We feel that we can beat whoever we're paired up against."
This year's trip to the NCAA Tournament marks the eighth time have been there in the past nine years. The Irish were 1-7 in their previous eight tournament appearances, but used the momentum from their last six victories to advance into the second round.
In the first round, the Irish tallied a 15-13 win over a tough Loyola team that beat the Irish earlier in the season.
Glatzel was named National Player of the Week for his four goals and three assists against Loyola.
"We have got a young team that has developed very well over the course of the year,"Corrigan said. "After being down at the beginning of the season I can't help but be pleased that we came back and won six in a row and finished up as strongly as we did."
Notre Dame plays No. 4 Johns Hopkins Sunday for the right to advance to the tournament semifinals.
All Sports Stories for Friday, May 19, 2000
