UAlbany Battles Notre Dame in the NCAA Quarterfinal Round
Game Notes | Watch on ESPN2/WatchESPN | Buy Tickets (Limited) | Live Stats | Tournament Central – Hofstra
HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. – After taking down the #1 team in the nation, UAlbany will head back to Long Island to take on 6-seed Notre Dame on Saturday, May 17th at 2:30 p.m. at James M. Shuart Stadium in Hempstead.
The game will be broadcast live nationally on ESPN2 and online on WatchESPN. Eamon McAnaney, Quint Kessenich and Paul Caracaterra will be on the call.
This quarterfinal game will be hosted by Hofstra University. It will proceed the Maryland-Bryant game, which starts at noon. The victor of UAlbany-Notre Dame will play the winner of Maryland-Bryant in the NCAA semifinals in M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore next weekend.
The Great Danes, standing #15 in the USILA Coaches Poll and #14 in the Warrior DI Media Poll, took down Loyola 13-6 in Baltimore to advance to the quarterfinals. The America East champion has won eight-straight and enters Saturday at 12-5. Notre Dame, ranked #5 in each poll, defeated Harvard 13-5 in the NCAA First Round. The Fighting Irish is 10-5 and won the ACC title this season.
UAlbany is in the NCAA Quarterfinals for the second time in Division I history and first time since 2007. That year, the Great Danes took then-undefeated Cornell to overtime, but fell to the Big Red 12-11.
This is the second meeting all-time between the two programs. The schools met in South Bend on March 1, 2008, with Notre Dame edging the Great Danes 8-7.
Two Tewaaraton finalists, brothers and All-America East First Team players lead the top offense in the country at 16.12 goals per game. Lyle Thompson stands with 74 assists and 48 goals to total 122 points, the highest-scoring season in DI history, flanked by Miles Thompson, who has the second-highest-scoring season in DI history with 115 points off 79 goals and 36 assists. All-America East Second Team player Ty Thompson adds 39 goals for the UAlbany attack unit to total 166 goals this year.
The UAlbany defense is anchored by All-America East First Team Blaze Riorden in between the pipes. Riorden saved 13 shots in the win over Loyola and stands 13th in DI with a 55.2% save percentage and allows 11.10 goals per game. Defensive captain and All-America East First Team member Doug Eich leads the close defense with 13 caused turnovers and 23 ground balls, while All-America East Second Teamer Cody Futia has caused 15 turnovers and has 24 ground balls.
Notre Dame stands 14th in DI in scoring offense with 11.93 goals per game. Standing 10th in DI with 4.13 points per game is All-ACC and ACC Tournament Most Valuable Player Matt Kavanagh, a sophomore attack who stands with 32 goals and 30 assists. Junior attack Conor Doyle is second in scoring on the team with 28 goals and 12 assists.
The Fighting Irish allow 9.47 goals per game, 23rd in DI. The primary goalie, who has started the last seven games, is junior Conor Kelly, who has a 50% save percentage and allows 10.43 goals per game. All-ACC defenseman Stephen O’Hara has caused 18 turnovers and scooped 29 ground balls, while 6-4 senior Brian Buglione has tallied 16 ground balls.
