The Irish remain at the top of the polls after defeating the Blue Devils 7-6 in an ACC matchup this past weekend.
Notre Dame got on the board first with an unassisted goal by sophomore midfielder Matt Jeffery, who scored the only point of the first quarter. Despite having the home advantage, the Blue Devils were kept scoreless as the first quarter concluded.
Notre Dame was not able to maintain their lead throughout the second. The Blue Devils finally seemed to have woken up, and the home team used their bustling crowd as a major advantage for the offense. While on the one-man advantage, Michael Ortlieb connected with Liam Kershis to tie the game for the Blue Devils. Less than a minute later, Irish senior midfielder Will Maheras found graduate midfielder Will Angrick to give the Irish the lead once again. Just after five minutes of play in the second, Ortlieb scored for Duke to tie the game again. After over seven minutes of back-and-forth defending, Brady Scioletti found the back of the net and gave the Blue Devils their first lead of the game heading into halftime.
The game had already promised to be a tough matchup, but fans were glued to their seats to see if the cat-and-mouse game would continue in Durham. Five goals were scored in the third quarter, with four consecutive goals by the visiting Irish. Jeffery scored two more unassisted goals, his one-man offensive show earning him his first hat trick of the year. Graduate midfielder Jalen Seymour scored with under six minutes remaining in the quarter with an assist by freshman midfielder Dylan Faison, who then scored his own goal three minutes later. Despite being down by two, Duke’s Benn Johnston scored with three seconds remaining in the third quarter, cutting Notre Dame’s lead to 6-5.
The fourth quarter was a battle of high intensity on defense, each team desperate to limit the other to keep the game close. After almost 10 minutes of play, Faison scored unassisted to put the Irish at seven. Less than a minute later, Johnston capitalized on a pass by Max Sloat and scored another Blue Devil goal, placing the home team down by two as the clock slowly ticked down. The Irish pulled out all the stops on defense to keep the Blue Devils from scoring but were outmaneuvered by a last-minute goal by Sloat to cut the Irish lead to one. With only eight seconds left, though, there were no more tricks to be pulled from the royal blue sleeves as Duke fell to Notre Dame at home.
The 7-6 win was not the high-scoring victory fans have come to expect from the Irish, but the win kept the Irish at No. 1 and in a fabulous position for postseason play as the season winds down.
Notre Dame will face No. 4 Syracuse for its last home game Saturday, April 25, at Arlotta Stadium. The game will begin at noon and will be televised on ACC Network.
