Coming off a 12-10 loss at Maryland last weekend, No. 7 Notre Dame used a fast start to bounce back and move to 3-0 at home with an 11-9 victory over No. 4 Denver at Arlotta Stadium.
Brian Willetts scored just 1:30 into the game to get the Irish offense going and Notre Dame scored four goals in the opening six minutes before Drew Supinski got the Pioneers on the board with 7:37 left in the opening quarter. Supinski's goal didn't swing the momentum. Notre Dame sophomore Bryan Costabile scored twice before the quarter ended to give the Irish a 6-1 lead after the first 15 minutes.
Check out this rocket from Brian Costabile to put the Irish up 6-1 at the end of the first! Costabile notched his 2nd hat trick of the season in the 11-9 win over Denver! #GoIrish pic.twitter.com/9W4J0GNoqs
— Notre Dame Lacrosse (@NDlacrosse) March 10, 2018
Denver's Ethan Walker scored to open the second quarter, but the Irish answered with two straight goals to take the first of three six-goal leads they would have in the game before Denver made a serious push.
Brendan Gleason gave Notre Dame (3-1) its final six-goal lead on a tally with 9:08 left in the third to take a 10-4 lead. The Pioneers (4-2) scored the next five goals, the first two coming in the third quarter, and then cut the lead to 10-9 with plenty of time remaining. Ethan Walker's extra-man goal that trimmed Notre Dame's lead to one goal came with 8:27 still remaining in the game.
That would be Denver's last gasp, however, as Notre Dame goalie Matt Schmidt made five of his eight saves in the game during the fourth quarter.
Costabile ended the Denver comeback on a game-clinching goal with 3:59 to play, his third goal of the game. Gleason, a junior, had a season-high four goals, just one off his career best of five that came in last year's NCAA tournament game against Marquette. Notre Dame freshman Mike Drake, a three-time US Lacrosse All-American out of the Salesianum School in Wilmington, Del., notched the first two goals of his career.
A key factor for Notre Dame to limit Denver's offense was senior John Travisano on faceoffs. Denver All-American Trevor Baptiste won 15-of-24 in the game, but Travisano battled him evenly, winning 9-of-18 draws in the game.
Walker led Denver with five goals and became the fastest player to reach 100 points in school history at the Division I level by reaching the mark in just his 23rd career game, six games ahead of the pace set by Mike Law and Jack Bobzien. Walker now has 103 points so far in his career.
Supinski (2g, 1a) and Austin French (1g, 2a) each had three points for Denver.