FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — After the first quarter of Sunday’s game, Duke found itself down 3-1 and had been outshot by the Fighting Irish 13 to six. They picked up just three groundballs, compared to Notre Dame’s nine, and won just one-of-five faceoffs. If things continued this way, the Blue Devils were going to be in trouble.
While Duke marginally improved in those statistical categories, those trends largely continued throughout the remainder of the game. But when the final horn sounded, head coach John Danowski and his staff were the ones celebrating a 7-5 victory thanks to their defense, specifically sophomore goaltender Dan Wigrizer.
“This was our best performance defensively and that’s part of just gaining experience together and playing together,” Danowski said. “Defensively, after giving up 14 goals last week, I think our guys took it personally. I know our coaches took it personally, so that was a tremendous focus.”
Wigrizer, who suffered a concussion last week and missed the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, made six of his 14 stops in the first quarter alone as Notre Dame repeatedly attacked the Blue Devil goal.
“They were going to start taking shots right away, which they did,” Wigrizer said. “The first possession they had, they just kept shooting and shooting. Unlike last year, when they had 10 total shots on goal in the championship game, they got a lot of shots on goal today.”
Last season, assistant coach Pat DeBolt worked with Wigrizer on staying composed in goal and not thinking too much. When all was said and done, Wigrizer became just the sixth freshman goalie in NCAA history to lead his team to a national championship
“When I first came in here, I used to always tell him, ‘Just take a big breath. Take a big breath.’” DeBolt said in the middle of last season. “If you ever watch us during warm-ups I’ll say, ‘Wiggy just take two big breaths for me and just relax. Find the ball,’ That was probably the biggest thing that he had to overcome as far as just his breathing and just calming himself down so he’s not really tense.”
The results were on display on Sunday as Wigrizer demonstrated great poise in goal despite not having DeBolt on the sidelines, who joined Ohio State’s coaching staff this past offseason.
“I was just ready and prepared to be seeing shots the entire day. I just wanted to stay calm and relaxed and just let the shots come from them,” Wigrizer said. “It’s like riding a bike, playing goalie, so I just didn’t let that get to my head that I hadn’t seen too many shots. Today I just decided to stay calm and relaxed and that helped me out.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.