After falling behind 4-0 in the first 15 minutes, the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team used an 11-2 second half to earn a massive 12-6 road win over then No. 5 North Carolina. The victory improved their conference mark to 3-1, putting them in pole position to earn one of the top two seeds in the ACC Tournament. They currently sit atop the conference, having played all four of their games. They will keep the No. 1 seed if North Carolina defeats Syracuse this Saturday, but the Orange would steal the top spot with a win, owning the head-to-head tiebreaker over Notre Dame after their 14-9 victory on April 5. Now sitting at 7-3 overall, the win also bolsters Notre Dame’s strong resume ahead of the NCAA tournament, propelling them to No. 6 in the national rankings. While the Irish historically play fewer games than other teams in the country, head coach Kevin Corrigan built a schedule with elite ACC competition and weekly non-conference opponents ranked in the top 25, all in preparation for May. They will play their final regular season contest of the season at home against Penn on Saturday, April 26.
The Tar Heels started on the front foot, firing 16 shots on goal to Notre Dame’s nine in the first period. They converted four of these attempts, including a man-up goal with 31 seconds remaining in the frame. Brady Wambach’s dominance at the dot fueled the early surge, with the sophomore winning four of his five faceoffs in the first 15. Senior Chris Kavanagh got the Irish on the board with just under a minute remaining in the second period to bring the score to 4-1 in favor of the Tar Heels.
Graduate forward Jake Taylor scored the first goal of the second half, cutting the deficit to two, 4-2, early in the third. North Carolina’s leading scorer, Dominic Pietramala, answered minutes later, taking advantage of another man-up opportunity. While senior Will Lynch was on the losing end of the faceoff battle in the first half, the veteran flipped the script in the third, winning seven of his nine draws to power the Irish run. His faceoff win set up a transition goal for Kavanagh that made the score 3-5. Notre Dame’s leading point-getter erupted in the quarter, scoring three, including a pair of highlight-reel goals. He went airborne at point-blank range for the first, finishing through illegal contact to tie the score at 5-5. The second was an off-balance, righty cannon that he unleashed after ducking under a Tar Heel double team. The Tewaaraton Award hopeful reminded everyone why he’s one of college lacrosse’s best, willing his team into the driver’s seat in the game.
He had help from the prolific scoring output of the Irish midfield; senior midfielder Jalen Seymour tallied two while freshman Matt Jeffery, junior Will Maheras, sophomore Jordan Faison, senior Ben Ramsey and graduate Devon McLane all got on the scoresheet with one apiece. Seymour’s first was part of the three consecutive goals that evened the score at 5-5 in the third. After Ryan Levy and Kavanagh traded goals, Maheras finished a perfectly executed final possession, leaving only 13 seconds on the clock and taking the first lead of the game 7-6. The Irish would carry the momentum of their first lead into a dominant fourth quarter performance, where they won 5-0 and shut the water off for the Tar Heel attack.
Junior netminder Thomas Ricciardelli put in another stellar showing in the cage, saving nine North Carolina shots with a .600 save percentage. Junior Will Donovan led the rope unit, forcing three turnovers and scooping a career-high six groundballs. The sophomore longstick duo of Shawn Lyght and Nate Schwitzenberg locked down the explosive attacking duo of Pietramala and Owen Duffy, holding the two to a combined one goal and one assist. The 12-6 victory was a reminder from Notre Dame to the rest of the country that college lacrosse still runs through South Bend.
The Irish will wrap up their regular season on Saturday afternoon against Penn, with faceoff set for 2 p.m. at Arlotta Stadium with ESPNU providing the broadcast.
