March 14, 2006
Box Score
Villanova, Pa. - No. 11 Notre Dame (3-1) scored five unanswered goals in the second quarter to gain the lead and control of the game as the Fighting Irish defeated host Villanova (2-4) 10-7 this afternoon at Villanova Stadium.
Villanova held a 3-2 lead in the first quarter after junior Andy German (Wayne, Pa.) scored at 11:54, freshman Tim Langan, Jr. (Madison, N.J.) posted a goal off a feed from sophomore Chris MacDonald (Westfield, N.J.), and MacDonald scored off a German feed at 3:06. Brian Hubschmann scored both of ND's first quarter goals, unassisted at 14:12 and 6:48.
But the Fighting Irish took over after that, finding the back of the net five consecutive times to give Notre Dame a 7-3 lead at the end of the third quarter. Senior Matt Starker (Summit, N.J.) stemmed the Irish scoring barrage with two goals of his own to start the third quarter, off assists from junior Mike Haas (North Wales, Pa.) and freshman Matthew Fritts (Dallas, Tex.). Those Starker goals and two `Nova goals by junior Chris Mercer (Severna Park, Md.) and Langan, Jr. trimmed ND's lead to one, 8-7 with 10:46 remaining in the game, but the Irish scored the final two goals of the game to seal the win.
Notre Dame out-shot Villanova 31-23, but Villanova won the groundball battle 31-21 and held a 12-8 edge in face-offs. Villanova goalie senior Joe Canuso (Moorestown, N.J.) had 11 saves for his fifth straight ten-plus save effort. The senior came up big for 'Nova, making several point-blank saves. ND goalie sophomore Joey Kemp had seven in the win.
ND 2 5 1 2 - 10
Villanova 3 0 2 2 - 7
ND SCORING: Hubschmann, Brian 4; Walsh, Pat 2; Ryan, Matt 1; Polk, Lucius 1; Hoff, Ryan 1; Swezey, Duncan 1 ASSISTS: Hubschmann 1; Liva, Bill 1; Polk 1; Ryan 1, Walsh 1.
Villanova SCORING: Langan, Jr., Tim 2; Starker, Matt 2; MacDonald, Chris 1; German, Andy 1; Mercer, Chris 1 ASSISTS: MacDonald 2; Fritts, Matthew 1, German, Andy 1; Haas, Mike 1; Safran, Greg 1
