BIRMINGHAM, Mich. – Top-seeded Notre Dame broke out of a third-period 4-4 tie with five unanswered goals, holding number-four seed Quinnipiac scoreless for more than 23 minutes in the process, as the Irish prevailed 10-6 in the first semifinal of the inaugural Great Western Lacrosse League Postseason Tournament.

The sixth-ranked Irish (12-2) now play number-two seed Ohio State (10-4) in the GWLL championship game at noon EDT Sunday. No. 10 Ohio State defeated third-seeded Denver 15-8 in the second semifinal. The tournament is being held at Seaholm High School in Birmingham, Mich. Notre Dame defeated Ohio State, 17-12, last Sunday at Alumni Field.

Notre Dame's 12 victories mark the most by the Irish since their best-ever 14-2 record in 2001 when they advanced to the NCAA semifinals. The Irish joined Ohio State and Denver in a three-way tie atop the GWLL regular-season standings, all with 4-1 records.

Junior Ryan Hoff scored three goals for Notre Dame, while sophomore Grant Krebs and senior Michael Podgajny each scored two - with Krebs also adding a pair of assists to pace the Irish in scoring.

Quinnipiac (8-5) opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game (that was delayed 15 minutes at the start by heavy rain and lightning) on a Ted Dimond goal. Podgajny notched his first goal unassisted less than three minutes later, but the Bobcats held a 2-1 after the opening period, thanks to an unassisted Zach Dendas tally at the 2:28 mark.

Notre Dame then ran off three straight goals - one by Hoff (from junior Duncan Swezey at 11:04 of the second), one from Krebs (at 9:59 from junior Peter Christman), then another by Hoff (again from Christman at 6:40).

But Quinnipiac responded with another Dimond goal (from Mitch Cooper with 1:44 in the second period) for a 4-3 halftime score, then tied it at 4-4 less than three minutes into the third period on a Kaiser goal from Gary Messina. From there it was all Notre Dame. With Notre Dame senior goalie Joey Kemp and the Irish defense limiting the Bobcats without a goal from the 12:05 mark of the third period to the 3:30 stop in the fourth period, the Irish took control.

Rookie Zach Brenneman gave the Irish the lead for good at 5-4 on an unassisted tally at the 5:08 mark of the third period. Hoff notched his third goal less than three minutes later (from Alex Wharton), then Krebs put up his second goal (unassisted) to make it 7-4 for Notre Dame at the end of three.

The Irish scoring continued to open the final period, as sophomore Neal Hicks scored on a Krebs feed at 14:53, and Podgajny made it 9-4 at the 13:09 juncture, again from Krebs. The Bobcats got two more goals from Dendas in the final 3:30, sandwiched around a Swezey goal from Hicks for Notre Dame (at 2:19).

Kemp finished with eight saves for the Irish, four in each half. Notre Dame outshot Quinnipiac 35-24 and also led in ground balls (41-30). Senior Taylor Clagett won 13 of 17 face-offs, helping the Irish as a team win 14 of 20. Freshman David Earl paced the Irish with six ground balls. The only odd-man goal came on a man-advantage opportunity by Quinnipiac on the Bobcats' last score.

Quinnipiac (8-5) – 2 1 1 2 – 6
#6 Notre Dame (12-2) – 1 3 3 3 – 10

Quinnipiac Scoring (goals-assists):
Zach Dendas 3-0, Ted Dimond 2-0, Todd Kaiser 1-1, Anthony Poerio 0-2, Gary Messina 0-1, Mitch Cooper 0-1
Goaltender: Kevin Benzing (L, 60:00, 10 saves, 10 GA)

Notre Dame Scoring (goals-assists):
Ryan Hoff 3-0, Grant Krebs 2-2, Michael Podgajny 2-0, Duncan Swezey 1-1, Neal Hicks 1-1, Zach Brenneman 1-0, Alex Wharton 0-1, Peter Christman 0-2
Goaltender: Joey Kemp (W, 60:00, 8 saves, 6 GA)

2008-05-03