Oftentimes, the sign of a truly great lacrosse team isn’t one that pulverizes every opponent in its path. Notre Dame men’s lacrosse did plenty of that during the season’s first month, dominating Marquette on the road and playing impeccable defense against top-25 adversaries in Maryland and Michigan in March.
Instead, the best teams typically find different ways to win and, in any situation, can make the plays necessary to achieve the desired result. The Irish have been that over the last few weeks, prevailing late in top-three wins over Syracuse at home and Duke on the road.
But neither of those games required a true game-winning play. Sunday’s 18-17 defeat of No. 8 Cornell did.
With the outcome hanging in the balance late, Ben Ramsey and the Irish met the moment. The junior midfielder broke a 17-17 tie with six seconds remaining in regulation, willing Notre Dame to a sixth consecutive win and an 8-1 record.
Long before Ramsey’s heroic goal tingled the twine, Notre Dame set a special day in motion early on Long Island. Graduate goalie Liam Entenmann made program history with his first save of the day, setting the all-time Irish record at 634 stops and ending the day at 644. Moments later, graduate attacker Pat Kavanagh hit a milestone of his own, tying the game at one with his 100th career goal. Kavanagh joined the 100-goal club as the ninth player in Notre Dame men’s lacrosse history to hit the century mark.
As the first quarter unfolded, the Irish would open up a 6-2 lead on three straight goals in a 90-second span. Senior midfielder Eric Dobson struck twice in the period, beginning his march to a hat trick. Kavanagh, who assisted on the first of Dobson’s two tallies, recorded three points within the game’s first 10 minutes.
Even as leading Big Red scorer CJ Kirst pulled Cornell within two goals early in the second quarter, Notre Dame kept its foot firmly on the gas. After Kirst completed a hat trick with five minutes until halftime, the Irish posted two key goals in just 16 seconds. Sophomore long-stick midfielder Will Donovan tallied the second for the first goal of his career, surging Notre Dame’s lead to 11-7 at the break.
Though the Irish had led for 21 of the game’s first 30 minutes, the game played out too evenly to remain one-sided. Notre Dame and Cornell each controlled 19 faceoffs on the day and played within five units of each other in both the ground ball and shot categories.
Cornell picked the third quarter to come storming back, outscoring the Irish by a 6-3 margin with 14 ground balls to Notre Dame’s seven. Inside the period’s final five minutes, Ryan Goldstein posted back-to-back goals, giving Cornell a 13-12 lead — its first lead since 1-0.
But Notre Dame’s stars fired right back in the third quarter’s waning moments. Graduate attacker Jake Taylor scored the second of his three goals to tie the game before Kavanagh put the Irish back in front with 21 seconds to play.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better 15 minutes of college lacrosse than Notre Dame and Cornell played in the fourth quarter on Sunday. Just 41 seconds in, Hugh Kelleher leveled the score at 14. Notre Dame then reclaimed the lead on a Dobson goal, but Willem Firth quickly tied the game back up with another Big Red goal.
The two teams then went a long five minutes without scoring while deadlocked at 15-15. With hardly more than five minutes remaining in the game, Cornell broke the stalemate on a Michael Long goal. But Notre Dame responded immediately on Taylor’s third goal with four minutes to go. Kelleher scored another goal for Cornell, giving the Big Red a brief lead. However, just 16 seconds later, junior attacker Chris Kavanagh scored, tying the game at 17-17.
Within the final minute, Notre Dame’s defense — which Cornell had its way with in the second half — made a game-changing play. Freshman midfielder Jordan Faison caused a turnover with a massive wrap check at midfield, denying the Big Red a chance to take the final shot. Fifty seconds later, Chris Kavanagh possessed a ground ball and located Ramsey, whose 15-yard bounce shot won the game for Notre Dame.
Now 4-0 against top-10 opponents and on a three-game win streak against them, the Irish will get a respite next weekend against unranked North Carolina. The game, set for 11:30 a.m. next Saturday at Arlotta Stadium, marks the final regular-season home contest for Notre Dame.
