On Saturday, May 18, the No. 1 University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team defeated No. 8 Georgetown University 16-11 at the James M. Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, New York. With the victory, Notre Dame will advance to the NCAA men’s lacrosse semifinals for the second year in a row where they will play the No. 5 University of Denver in Philadelphia.
The Fighting Irish finished the year ranked first in the nation at 12-1 in regular season play. Their sole loss of the season came to Georgetown on Feb. 25 in South Bend, Indiana. Pat and Chris Kavanagh exacted revenge for the Irish with eight total goals to lead Notre Dame to the win. Chris Kavanagh became the tenth player in program history to pass the 100-goal milestone. Graham Bundy Jr. scored five goals for the Hoyas in the loss.
The Irish kicked off the game scoring in the first minute where Devon McLane scored his 32nd goal of the season from Chris Kavanagh. In the early going, the Hoyas were able to stick with Notre Dame thanks to strong defense. The number two-ranked defense in the country played a tight man-to-man coverage against the Irish throughout the first quarter. Through ten minutes, the score remained until Reilly Gray and Chris Kavanagh opened the floodgates for Notre Dame. Georgetown’s Jack Schubert got the Hoyas on the board late in the first quarter to cut the Irish lead to two.
The Georgetown defense started to break down in the second quarter. Chris Kavanagh broke free for two goals to extend Notre Dame’s lead. Georgetown goaltender Anderson Moore made six saves in the second quarter, but the Notre Dame offense became too much. The Irish led 7-2 after 30 minutes.
Entering the second half with a five-goal lead, fans of the Irish cheered loudly which created an atmosphere unlike Shuart Stadium had seen all year.
The Hoyas silenced the crowd out of the gate with a goal in the first minute. To that point, first-team All-American goalie Liam Entenmann was only challenged to make three saves. Moore didn’t save a single Notre Dame shot in the third quarter as the traditionally-strong Hoya defense turned the ball over time and time again.
Moore’s struggles continued in the fourth quarter. Notre Dame’s lead grew to as many as eight goals with under ten minutes left to play. To the Hoya’s credit, they battled the entire game, even going on a four-goal scoring run in the final few minutes.
Georgetown could not recreate the magic that took place in South Bend in Feb. and fell to No. 1 Notre Dame 16-11 in the end.
Notre Dame takes on Big East conference champion No. 5 Denver in the semifinals on Saturday, May 25. The winner will meet either No. 6 University of Virginia or No. 7 University of Maryland on Monday, May 27.
Photo courtesy of Hofstra Facilities
