Irish ride surge past Yale

SOUTH BEND — Never underestimate the significance of momentum.

Sunday, it paved the way to Philadelphia for the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team.

Leading 5-4 with time running down in the first half, Notre Dame’s Westy Hopkins broke through a punishing double-team at midfield and hit Max Pfeifer with a pass. Pfeifer quickly found Sean Rogers, who connected for a goal with 7.5 seconds left.

Rogers’ tally started a 5-0 run. Coupled with a 19-minute Yale scoring drought, Notre Dame parlayed that surge into a 13-7 win over the Bulldogs in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

The victory earned the fourth-seeded Irish (12-2) a ticket to next Sunday’s quarterfinal against defending national champ Virginia (12-3), this year’s No. 5 seed, in Philly.

Yale (11-5) had its amazing run, which was highlighted by an Ivy League championship, finally come to an end.

Nobody downplayed how much the late first-half goal impacted the game’s big picture.

“It was a big difference,” said Irish coach Kevin Corrigan. “If we have the (two-goal) lead, they have to come at us. If we lead by one, they can be patient.

“That one, and the first goal of the second half, were really big.”

“That was the one,” said Yale coach Andy Shay. “We have a shot to tie. But, instead, we’re down 6-4 at half.”

Corrigan was thrilled with the effort of Pfeifer and Rogers on the play, but Hopkins’ performance shouldn’t be forgotten.

“There’s always a play behind the play,” Corrigan said. “We call those the invisible plays. No one ever talks about those, but the goal wouldn’t have happened without it.”

Nine different Notre Dame players scored in Yale’s most lopsided loss of the year. Jim Marlatt led the way with a hat trick.

“It was just a matter of us running our offense,” Marlatt said. “Just look to find the open guy at the end of the play. That guy gets the goal.”

Rogers, Hopkins, Conor Doyle and Jack Near got the goals to start the game to put Notre Dame up, 4-0, midway through the first quarter.

“Getting down 4-0 is a pretty big hole against Notre Dame,” Shay said. “Goals are at a premium.”

The deficit took the Bulldogs out of their methodical approach to offense.

“(Being down) made it a little more crazy,” Shay said. “We had to get more transition going.”

The up-tempo approach paid dividends. Yale scored four of the next five goals. Before intermission, Deron Dempster had a hat trick and Matt Gibson had three assists. They had a fourth hookup in the second half.

“Dempster and Gibson are two good players,” said Notre Dame goalie John Kemp. “They’ve got a real good understanding of how their offense works.”

Yale’s spurt tightened the game, setting the stage for Rogers’ momentum-shifting goal before the break.

The second half featured two significant Notre Dame goals.

Nick Beattie, a senior captain who sustained a leg injury in the first game of the season, made his return to the scoring column. Also, St. Joseph’s High grad Will Corrigan, a freshman and the coach’s son, got his first career score.

Yale 2 2 1 2 — 7

Notre Dame 4 2 4 3 — 13

FIRST QUARTER

ND — Sean Rogers (Jim Marlatt) 13:20

ND — Westy Hopkins (Pat Cotter) 10:50

ND — Conor Doyle 8:05

ND — Jack Near 6:56

Y — Deron Dempster (Matt Gibson) 4:07

Y — Brandon Mangan 2:45

SECOND QUARTER

ND — Doyle 13:50

Y — Dempster (Gibson) 12:42

Y — Dempster (Gibson) 7:41

ND — Rogers (Max Pfeifer) :07.5

THIRD QUARTER

ND — Ryan Foley 11:53

ND — Marlatt 7:50

ND — Marlatt (Pfeifer) 4:13

ND — Will Corrigan (Cotter) 1:16

Y — Dempster (Gibson) :40.6

FOURTH QUARTER

Y — Mangan (Mark Dobrosky) 6:36

ND — Nick Beattie (Marlatt) 5:56

ND — Marlatt (Foley) 5:15

Y — Gibson 4:00

ND — Pfeifer (Rogers) 1:10

Shots on goal: Yale 37, Notre Dame 23. Saves: Yale 4 (Jack Meyer 4, Eric Natale 0), Notre Dame 12 (John Kemp).

A — 1,503