After playing three games in eight days last week, the Irish have stopped for a breath. They head into Sunday's game at Fairfield (Conn.) with a week of rest and preparation behind them. "We're kind of enjoying the opportunity we've had this week to get back and work on ourselves," Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said. "We went about three straight weeks where all we had time for was [working on] game preparation [in] practice. There comes a time where that starts to distract you from what you want to do. You spend too much time talking about other people and not enough time concentrating on yourself."Corrigan believes Notre Dame (5-3, 14th USILA coaches' poll) has benefited greatly from the downtime and is well prepared for the match. "We've had some real spirited and fundamental practices," Corrigan said. "They've been real competitive and I think that's been good for us."Fairfield (8-2) is ranked 20th in the latest USILA coaches' poll and brings a six-game win streak, highlighted by an 11-10 overtime victory at Penn State on March 26. The Stags have made a living on close wins this year, averaging 10.38 goals per game and giving up 7.98. "They've had a great year," Corrigan said. "They've won four one-goal games. They're competing very well. In a couple of the games they've been down three or four goals in the second half and still found a way to come back and win. I think more than anything else they're just really getting after it."Greg Downing and Mike Bocklet lead the Stags with 15 goals apiece on the year but no single player has stood out above the rest. "It's been something different for [Fairfield] in every game," Corrigan said. "They're getting very good goaltending and I think they're getting a lot of different people contributing on the offensive end
