Eight seconds remained with the Fairfield and Notre Dame men’s lacrosse teams tied. As time quickly ticked away, sophomore Greg Downing picked up the ball and sliced through the Fightin’ Irish defense. At three seconds, his heroic afternoon was complete and nearly 1,500 fans erupted as the Stags defeated Notre Dame for the first time at home in school history.
“I beat my guy and it was just me and the goalie, I had a feeling it was going in,” said Downing, “the crowd was amazing.”
“It was a huge victory, and we’re very excited about the fan support,” said Head Coach Ted Spencer.
Held at Lessing Field, the rolling Fairfield men’s lacrosse team won its seventh straight, defeating the Irish 12-11.
“Coach Spencer said this was the biggest win of his career and in Fairfield lacrosse history,” said Mike Bocklet ’07. “The team agrees this is the biggest in any of our careers.”
Red-hot freshman Matt Castele began the scoring at 12:59 to give the Stags the early lead. It did not last long, however, as nearly two minutes later, Notre Dame tied it up to end the first quarter.
The Stags fell behind 2-1 at the start of the second quarter. Three minutes later, Josh Thornton ’06 tied the game and Downing began his onslaught, adding a goal to put the Stags up once again. Yet, Notre Dame added one more before the half to go ahead again, 4-3.
The Stags came out and tied the game on a Chris Manley ’07 goal, but then seemed to fall asleep as they allowed four unanswered Notre Dame goals to go behind 8 – 4. The Stags could not come closer than a three-goal deficit as the teams exchanged goals in the last minute on tallies by Notre Dame’s Jim Morrison and Fairfield’s Downing and Castele.
“We just worked hard, that’s it,” said goaltender Michael Kruger ’07. “We have a lot of team unity.”
“The whole time, even when we were down, we thought we could do it,” said Bocklet. “The crowd went crazy the whole game and we never lost faith and focus.”
Bocklet then led the Stag rally as he scored early in the fourth to pull the team within two at 9-7. Fairfield continued to dominate as Downing finished his hat trick followed by Travis Nelson’s ’08 game-tying goal.
Downing however, wasn’t finished as he added his fourth goal on the afternoon to give the Stags a 10- 9 lead. Notre Dame silenced the Red Sea as they tied the game in the last few minutes and each team exchanged two more goals to go into the final minute tied at 11.
Yet the Stags would not be undone. After calling a time out with eight seconds left in the game, the Stags placed the ball in the hands of Downing, who controlled the ball down in the slot and scored his fifth of the afternoon.
The Lessing crowd and on-lookers exploded and stormed the field in a post-game celebration. The Stags had defeated No. 11 Notre Dame.
“Greg Downing proved that he’s one of the best midfielders in the country,” said Spencer.
“This is why I came to Fairfield, to get some playing time at a great program and help make a name for the team,” said Downing.
Fairfield outshot Notre Dame 44-35 and held the advantage in groundballs at 49-36. The Stags also scored on one of three power play opportunities while holding Notre Dame to zero of four.
“Everythings been great, our team is playing at an unbelieveable level and were improving each game,” said Kruger.
“It’s exciting the kids have been superb and they all have each others’ backs,” Spencer said of the team’s success.
On Monday afternoon, the Stags improved on their No. 20 ranking by moving up in the Geico/STX Coaches Poll to No. 15 in the country.
The Stags received their first national ranking of the season after defeating Hobart. They followed the Hobart win with a 9-5 defeat of Providence and a 10-9 victory over Marist.
Fairfield improved to 9-2 overall and 2-0 in the Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL) after the Notre Dame victory.
With the loss, Notre Dame fell to 6-4 overall and 2-2 in the GWLL and slipped from 11th to 20th in the national rankings.
Fairfield hosts No. 9 Maryland on Saturday, April 23 at 1:00 p.m. at Lessing Field.
“Maryland is one of the best programs in the country. This is a true test for us, we’re going to have to play our ‘A’ game,” said Spencer.
“This game is a great opportunity for us. We don’t have a lot to lose but we have an awful lot to gain; if we train hard enough we can beat anyone in the country,” he added.
Downing and the rest of the Stags remain just as positive as their coach, looking forward to the road ahead.
“We’re looking to win every game and continue to improve,” said Downing. “We want the national tournament.”
Leave a Reply