Junior attack John Scioscia scored a career-high six goals as No. 4 Notre Dame utilized a dominating second quarter to power itself to a 17-5 win over Marquette in the teams' first ever meeting Tuesday evening.
The Irish (7-2, 1-1 Big East) outscored the Golden Eagles (2-5) by a 6-0 margin in the second stanza to take over a game that saw Notre Dame only up 2-1 after 15 minutes.
The victory came on the heels of a 12-10 upset loss to then-No. 19 St. John's (7-2, 2-1) on Saturday, which pushed the Irish from their No. 1 national ranking. Notre Dame fell behind the Red Storm 10-6 after three periods and couldn't complete a
late rally.
Irish coach Kevin Corrigan said Saturday's game influenced Notre Dame's slow start Tuesday before the Irish settled down in the second quarter.
"I think our guys were very anxious about the way that we played last game. I don't think we played great, I don't think they felt great about it and I think we were anxious to get back on the field and make up for it, and sometimes you're trying too hard to make up for it and you force things a little bit," Corrigan said. "When we settled down, we had a lot of different guys making plays and we just did a good job of playing well and together."
Scioscia entered the game with two career goals but exploded for four in the first half, including a goal with one second left in the first quarter to break a 1-1 tie. The Summit, N.J., native also added an assist on the evening.
Corrigan said Scioscia's strong performance will increase his role in Notre Dame's offense.
"John has really done a great job," Corrigan said. "He played great in the fall. He was part of our mix coming into the season and then really just hadn't gotten much of an opportunity this spring. My decision, not anything he had done wrong. Just us feeling like we needed to limit the number of guys that were playing.
"And frankly he got a great opportunity today and he took advantage of it like you read about. He was terrific, and I couldn't be happier for him, and I couldn't be more proud of the way he handled not getting a chance before now and just continuing to work and wait his turn and when he got it, he jumped on it."
Junior midfielder and face-off specialist Liam O'Connor missed Tuesday's game after suffering an injury Saturday. Corrigan did not describe the injury or give a specific timetable for O'Connor's return but said he will be out the rest of the week and be evaluated week-to-week.
Corrigan said the win over Marquette was important to put the Irish back on the right track.
"It's not that we lost our confidence or anything [against St. John's] - I mean we've beaten more top teams than anyone in the country at this point - but you want to get back out on the field, you want to feel good about what you're doing and having a game like today was good for us," he said. "Plus, you get a chance for a lot of guys who haven't had a lot of opportunity to play up until now to play a lot."
The Irish are back in action Sunday when they travel to Providence, R.I., to face the Friars in a game beginning at 1 p.m.
Contact Sam Gans at sgans@nd.edu
