2:24: Albany-Notre Dame will play in 29:40 here. Lets hope for a closer game than the Maryland/Bryant contest, however, we will certainly have some offensive fireworks with the Thompson trio.
3:10: Back from the press conferences. Missed the first three goals but Matt Kavanagh living up to his twitter handle. 4-0 Notre Dame as Kavanagh scores his second goal of the game.
3:12: Everyone says ooooooooooooooooooh as Lyle Thompson goes underhanded into the top left corner running from GLE to get Albany on the board 4-1, Notre Dame.
3:15: Albany goes man up and Miles Thompson hits pipe off hip as Notre Dame kills the penlty. Then Miles comes back and beats Kelly. Miles now has 80 goals, yes 80! 4-2 Notre Dame.
3:19: Miles Thompson just flips it over the shoulder under all kind of durress to cut the lead to one. I kid you not, everyone erupted in this press box. I mean are you kidding me!? 4-3 Notre Dame, also back-to-back faceoff violations by Notre Dame’s Liam O’Connor isn’t helping the cause.
3:21: As expected, the Albany crowd is strong here with a loud defense chant. And Matt Kavanagh misses the net with no backup between.
3:22: At the end of the first quarter, Notre Dame is up 4-3. Buckle up, this is going to be fun.
3:28: Notre Dame stops the bleeding as Jon Scioscia scores off an assist from Connor Doyle. 5-3 Irish.
3:29: Connor Doyle looks to feed off the dodge from behind and had Trevor Bosco open but he was handcuffed. Albany gets possession.
3:31: Albany answers as John Maloney scores off a feed from Miles Thompson. 5-4 Notre Dame.
3:34: Pat Cotter gets shut down by Blaze Rioden as Albany now gets possession to try and tie it.
3:35: Albany ties it up as Miles Thompson scores his 82nd of the season. Assist goes to Lyle Thompson. Words cannot explain some of these goals. All tied up at 5.
3:39: Pat Cotter with a forced shot for no reason. Easy popcorn save for Rioden as Albany gets possession.
3:41: Trevor Bosco rips one past Riorden to make it 6-5 in favor of the Irish. Bosco’s eighth goal of the season. If Notre Dame can get points from outside of Doyle and Kavanagh, the Irish will be in good shape.
3:46: Westy Hopkins tries one off the crease, off stick high on Riorden, but is denied as the Thompsons and company try to tie it up with two minutes remaining in the half.
3:47: Ryan Feurstein shoots but it is saved by Kelly and goes out of bounds. Albany calls a timeout with 1:30 left in the half. Do you really need to run a play here when you have the Thompsons? Can’t you just do what they did in Hey Arnold where the coach says give the ball to Tucker?
3:50: Albany calls another timeout with 54 seconds left in the half here. 6-5 Notre Dame still.
3:52: Notre Dame’s defense holds tight and forces the turnover. Jack Near has the shot but Riorden makes the save as time expires. 6-5 Notre Dame here at the half. I think this is more of what we expected from these quarterfinals.
3:54: Matt Kavanagh has two goals to lead the Irish with Scioscia, Brosco, Doyle and Osello each having one. Miles Thompson has three goals and an assist while Lyle has one goal and one assist.
3:56: Notre Dame leads Albany as they have outshot the Great Danes 19-14. Riorden has six saves while Kelly only has two. Liam O’Connor has won nine faceoffs while Artie Mararapese took over Harry Erickson and won all four of Albany’s faceoffs.
4:09: About to get underway for the second half here. Kelly remains in cage for the Irish. Connor Russell of Albany gets set to take his first faceoff of the game. That makes three for the game for Albany. Liam O’Connor wins it and Albany continues to have no answer.
4:12: Sergio Perkovic has a point blank shot stuffed by Riorden but Notre Dame comes up with the loose ball and settles on O again.
4:14:Jim Marlatt shoots low and Riorden saves it again and Albany scoops the ground ball and goes the length of the field. Ty Thompson scores it off a pass from Doug Eich to tie it up at 6 here. Perfect fast break game and Thompson shoots it high to low.
4:16: A flurry of saves being made by Riorden and Kelly. Riorden now has 10 saves and has been standing on his head. Also Notre Dame goes man down as Tyler Brenneman gets called for a push with possession.
4:18: Crease violation on Miles Thompson and Notre Dame gets possession. Kavanagh getting beat up while running around the field.
4:21: John Scioscia scores off a pass from Conor Doyle to put the Irish up 7-6. Nice ball control and patience on offense displayed by the Irish offense.
4:25: Liam O’Connor wins the faceoff but loses his stick (and the ball) and is called for illegal procedure. It then leads to an Albany goal to tie things up here at 7. Will Stenberg beats Kelly high and Lyle Thompson gets the assist.
4:28: Lyle Thompson again by going underhand at GLE for a goal. Make him a regular for the Top 10 Sportscenter list. Albany up 8-7. Same as the first goal.
4:32: Lyle Thompson with his third of the game and 51st goal of the season to put Albany up 9-7. Thompson now has five points. Notre Dame struggling to beat a suddenly red hot Blaze Riorden and Notre Dame has no answers for the Thompson magic show.
4:36: Ty Thompson scores on the door step off an easy feed from Lyle Thompson. The two connect off a nice find as Lyle draws the slide. Simply amazing to watch these guys play. Albany seems to be pulling away 10-7.
4:39: A couple of game notes, Lyle Thompson has tied Steve Marohl with 77 assists in a season. Marohl set that record in 1992. Safe to say that will be broken soon. Miles also three goals away from the single season record entering the day. He has also tied Jon Reese’s record from 1990. Reese played at Yale.
4:43: LSM Doug Eich goes coast to coast for the goal and Albany goes up 11-7. Even the defense is getting in on the fun! His second goal of the season.
4:44: Notre Dame with much needed possession here. But they lose it as Matthew Bertrams gets in on the scoring show as he scoops up the ground ball and goes coast to coast. Albany up 12-7. Six unaswered as Notre Dame takes a timeout.
4:47: Notre Dame has not scored since there was 7:03 left in the third quarter. It feels a lot longer than that.
4:49: Notre Dame wins the faceoff, let’s see if they can stop this bleeding. Will be tough as Riorden is feeling good. Kavanagh misses the net and the Irish lose the chase for the backup. Notre Dame getting outplayed here.
4:54: Notre Dame gets back on the board as Nick Ossello ends the scoring drought. 12-8 Albany.
4:56: And just like that, Notre Dame is back in this thing. 12-9 Albany as Westy Hopkins scores unassisted.
4:57: It is a three goal run as Conor Doyle scores off a feed from Jack Near. 12-10 Albany but the Fighting Irish are living up to their name.
4:59: Four unasnwered goals for Notre Dame! Sergio Perkovic scores this time and Liam O’Connor is turning this game around. 12-11 Albany as there is timeout on the field. We are in for a classic here.
5:01: Liam O’Connor gives Notre Dame another possession. Big saves by Riorden up closeand then the Irish hit pipe. Transition the other way as Ryan Feurstein comes down and rips one on Kelly. Kelly tipped it. 13-11 Albany.
5:04: Turnover by Albany in the clearing game leads directly to a Irish goal by Westy Hopkins. Now back to a one goal game at 13-12 Albany. 4:43 left.
5:07: Notre Dame ties it up at 13 with 3:02 left. Sergio Perkovic with his second of the day and 23rd of the season. Buckle up boys and girls!
5:11: Connor Kelly with a big save with two second left. We are headed to overtime, tied at 13! This is very fitting. I’m losing it here in the press box.
5:15: Notre Dame gets the faceoff and the first possession in overtime.
5:16: Timeout Notre Dame as Kavanagh with a really nice save on the endline. 2:45, Notre Dame ball.
5:18: Kavanaughty scores the game winner and Notre Dame heads to the Final 4! His third of the game to win it in overtime. A sad ending for the Thompson trio.
5:21: no single season records were broken by the Thompsons. They did tie them as previously mentioned. Notre Dame will not play Maryland in the Final 4. That’s it for me here as I head to the press conferences but what a day of lacrosse!
