No. 2 Notre Dame remained the only undefeated team in NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse with a 10-7 BIG EAST victory over St. John’s on Saturday night at Arlotta Stadium. Senior midfielder David Earlled the Irish with three goals and an assist.
Notre Dame (9-0, 4-0) overturned a 5-2 halftime deficit by outscoring St. John’s 8-2 in the second half, including 3-0 in the fourth quarter. The Fighting Irish defense kept the Red Storm off the scoreboard for the final 16:38 of the contest.
“It was a great first half for them and lousy for us,” said Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan. “St. John’s made us pay for our mistakes and they kept the ball away from us and that kept us from making any plays and gaining any momentum. We came out in the second half just determined to make some plays and the guys did that.”
Notre Dame’s second-half surge began on a goal from sophomore attackman Ryan Foley with 1:30 elapsed in the period. Senior midfielder Zach Brennemansliced the Red Storm lead to one (5-4) with 10:35 left in the third quarter on his second goal of the game.
St. John’s (4-7, 2-2) increased its advantage back to two (6-4) on an Alex Lagodich score with 8:26 remaining in the third period.
The Fighting Irish responded with three straight goals beginning with a score from junior attackman Sean Rogers midway through the third quarter. Junior midfielder Max Pfeiferknotted the game (6-6) with just under six minutes left in the stanza. Earl put the Irish on top (7-6) at the 3:07 mark of the third quarter with a man-up tally off a feed from Brenneman.
The Red Storm evened the contest (7-7) on a Colin Keegan goal with 1:38 left in the third quarter. Keegan had a game-high four goals.
Notre Dame went ahead for good less than two minutes into the fourth quarter on Earl’s second goal of the night. Sophomore midfielder Steve Murphy gave the Irish a two-goal cushion (9-7) less than a minute later. Earl completed his first hat trick of the season with 1:55 left in the game.
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