Former MacArthur goalie Rodgers holds fort for Irish in semifinal win over Cornell

BALTIMORE - The small chair looked as if it would buckle under the bulk of Notre Dame goalie Scott Rodgers. The 6-4, 255-pounder from MacArthur sat outside his team's locker room, happily wearing the grit and grime of victory on his face and body.

"You've got plenty of time before the interviews," a Notre Dame official said. "Go take a shower."

So Rodgers emerged in the interview room 20 minutes later, freshly showered and wearing a suit and tie. Quite a different look from the impenetrable suit of armor he appeared to be wearing in the Fighting Irish's 12-7 victory over Cornell Saturday that sent Notre Dame into the NCAA men's lacrosse championship game for the first time in school history. It will face Duke tomorrow afternoon at M&T Bank Stadium.

Neal Hicks led the Irish with four goals and Zach Brenneman of East Hampton scored three. Steve Mock of Huntington had a hat trick for Cornell.

Rodgers was especially tough in the first quarter, making eight saves as Notre Dame built a 4-1 lead. Given its patient, time-consuming style of offense and the virtual brick wall in net for Notre Dame, Cornell never really had a chance.

"If you take nine shots on goal in the first quarter and you come out with only one goal, you don't feel very good about yourself," Cornell coach Jeff Tambroni said.

Cornell actually scored the first goal of the game on a shot by David Lau of Cold Spring Harbor, prompting Rodgers to crack, "I thought it was going to be a long day."

It was - for the Big Red. Rodgers, who finished with 16 saves, robbed Ryan Hurley on a low turnaround shot with 11:20 left in the first quarter. Three minutes later, he stoned Mike Bronzino. He also snared a high shot at point-blank range by Christopher Ritchie of Mount Sinai after a beautiful feed by Rob Pannell of Smithtown West.

"We took shots where we thought they'd go in," said Pannell, the nation's leading points-per-game scorer, who was limited to two assists. "We thought if we shot high, we'd beat him, but he stayed high in the first half. We probably should've switched up and shot low a little more. But he made some great low saves, too."

Rodgers said he "got lucky on a couple of shots" but acknowledged: "After a couple of saves, I was in their heads. They like to come down the alley, but I take of a lot of space in the middle of the cage."

Brenneman and Hicks scored twice each as Notre Dame built a 6-3 first-half lead. Hicks' goal with 16 seconds left before halftime was a big one and Brenneman made it hurt even more when he scored unassisted early in the third quarter to make it 7-3. Cornell crept to within 7-5, but Rodgers stood tall and the Fighting Irish pulled away with a four-goal fourth quarter.

One of those goals came from freshman middie Steve Murphy, the former All-Long Island football and lacrosse star from Floyd. Playing on the second unit, Murphy fired an unassisted high, hard one into the top shelf for a 9-5 advantage.

"Offensively, we didn't necessarily play well, but we made plays," Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said.

Defensively, Rodgers made plays right from the start and took Cornell out of its game.

"We might've been a little impatient after that first quarter," Pannell said.

Hurley, who had two goals and an assist for Cornell, was a bit more blunt, saying, "We took some dumb shots in the second half."

The smartly dressed goalie might've had a bit to do with that.