In the spirit of baseball season, Notre Dame is making this a double-header weekend.
Coming off a heart-breaking 9-8 loss to No. 19 Denver two weeks ago in Chicago, the Irish will look to bounce back with two games this weekend. They begin Friday, taking on the Quinnipiac Bobcats at the School Field in South Bend at 4 p.m. Then the team will travel to Bethlehem, Pa. to play the Mountain Hawks of Lehigh Sunday at 1 p.m.
The Irish have never lost in five total games against Quinnipiac and Lehigh.
With the April 5 loss to Denver, the Irish, who are currently tied for the No. 10 ranking in the USILA coaches' poll, fell to 7-2 overall and 1-1 in the Great Western Lacrosse League. Quinnipiac (7-2, 1-2 GWLL) is coming off an 11-10 overtime win over Air Force and will undoubtedly be looking to pull off a late-game comeback of their own against the Irish.
After resting up Saturday, the team will take the field against a 6-8 Lehigh team that is averaging 6.36 goals per game this season, compared to a goals-against average of 8.29 per game.
Notre Dame will look once again to its solid crop of upperclassmen to lead it this weekend. Junior attackman Ryan Hoff, who scored six goals in last year's contest against Quinnipiac, leads the team with 22 goals this season. He is followed by fellow junior attackman Duncan Swezey, who has scored 16 this season and led the team with four goals in last year's 14-2 win over Lehigh. Senior midfielder Michael Podgajny rounds out the top three scorers with 15 goals.
In net for the Irish will be senior Joey Kemp, a two-time All-American whose 6.75 goals-against average ranks him seventh in the nation. Kemp didn't allow a goal in 37 minutes in last year's win over the Mountain Hawks, and he will undoubtedly look to do the same come Sunday.
