No. 3 Notre Dame christened Arlotta Stadium in style with a 14-7 win over Denver Tuesday, and in doing so, the Irish snapped their two-game skid. Seven different players scored for the Irish in a victory that was one of Notre Dame's most comfortable of the season.
The Pioneers (3-4) opened the scoring with a goal just a few minutes after the opening faceoff, but the Irish (4-2) used goals by senior attack Neal Hicks and sophomore attack Sean Rogers to take a 2-1 lead just more than five minutes into the game. After Denver tied the game, Notre Dame senior attack Colin Igoe scored, and then senior midfielder Grant Krebs and junior midfielder David Earl each scored in the first three minutes of the second quarter to open up a 5-2 advantage.
Though the Pioneers added one shortly after, the Irish were no easier on the second Denver goalie, finding the back of the net twice more before halftime in order to head into the break with a comfortable 7-3 lead. Notre Dame came out of the locker room determined to keep its momentum and did just that, slotting home two more goals in the first five minutes of the second half.
Before the Irish could run away with the game, Denver scored three times before the third period ended, and then once more early in the fourth quarter. Faced with a suddenly tenuous 10-7 lead, Notre Dame reeled off four goals in just over five minutes to close the day's scoring.
Krebs, junior midfielder Zach Brenneman, and Rogers each recorded hat tricks for the Irish, while four other players scored for Notre Dame, including two goals from Hicks, who recorded a point for the 24th consecutive game. He leads the team with 16 points and 12 goals on the season. Igoe, freshman midfielder Steve Murphy, and Earl each had one goal.
As has been a trend this season in both wins and losses, the Irish dominated the stat sheet, taking 37 shots to Denver's 23 and winning 14 of 24 faceoffs, all by senior midfielder Trever Sipperly, who has won more than two-thirds of his faceoffs in the last three games.
Notre Dame returns to action on Saturday, hosting Ohio State at 1 p.m. in Arlotta Stadium.
