The Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team used another massive second half to earn a 10-8 comeback win over Penn in its regular season finale. The victory brought the Irish to 8-3 overall and on a three-game win streak as they head into postseason play. With North Carolina’s win against Syracuse over the weekend, they also secured the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament, setting up a rematch in the semifinals with the No. 4 seeded Orange on Friday in Charlotte.
In a packed Arlotta Stadium, the Irish lacked the energy to match in the first frame, falling behind 3-1 after 15 minutes. The Quakers opened the scoring early before senior attacker Chris Kavanagh came up with an answer during an extra-man opportunity with a little under five minutes remaining in the first. Two goals in the span of 30 seconds from Griffin Scane to finish the quarter put Penn back ahead by two. After a cagey start to the second quarter, the visitors rattled off three consecutive goals to extend their commanding 6-1 lead. Penn's Casey Mulligan and Ryan McLaughlin found the back of the net while Scane completed his first-half hat trick during the run. With 13 seconds left in the half, graduate midfielder Devon McLane cut the lead to four with a much-needed tally for the Irish.
That goal would be the start of a 5-0 run, as Kavanagh and McLane took over coming out of the break. Kavanagh began the scoring with his second of the day before McLane made the next three, evening the score at 6-6. Davis Provost momentarily stopped the bleeding for Penn before the Irish rounded out the quarter with three more goals in a row. Senior midfielder Fisher Finley evened the score at 7-7 before junior attacker Will Maheras gave Notre Dame its first lead of the game. Graduate attacker Jake Taylor would extend the lead only seconds later, taking the Irish into the final frame with a two-goal advantage. The Quakers wouldn’t go away, though, scoring within the opening 30 seconds of the fourth to cut the deficit to one. From there, the Irish defense shut the door, not allowing another goal for the remainder of the contest. Kavanagh completed his hat trick in the final three minutes of play to give Notre Dame some breathing room as it closed out the 10-8 victory.
During the three-game win streak, the Irish attack has exploded in each second half, outscoring opponents by a combined 28-8 in the final 30 minutes of play. They have kept opposing attacks in single digits during the streak, as well as in five of the last six contests. The stellar play of netminder Thomas Ricciardelli has played a big role in Notre Dame’s lockdown defense. The junior tallied seven saves on Saturday while forcing two turnovers and securing four ground balls. Senior draw specialist Will Lynch also dominated at the dot, winning 13 of his 19 faceoff attempts and adding six ground balls in the win.
While they may not be the undisputed favorites as they were last season, Notre Dame enters the postseason looking as dangerous as ever in 2025.
