Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse: Irish use 3rd Quarter run, beat the Cavs 12-7

Notre Dame moves to 6-3 overall, 2-1 in the ACC with a big matchup looming in Chapel Hill

Photo Credit: Notre Dame Lacrosse Twitter

You know when they say “life sometimes comes at you fast?” Well last week that was the case for me as for the first time in a couple of years, I was not able to do my weekly write up on our Irish lacrosse team. Work and life got busy, but our good friends at 18Stripes had you covered though as here is their write-up on the Irish’s 14-9 loss to the Syracuse Orange.

Let’s be honest, it wasn’t pretty and for those of you who listened to David Brogan and me on the Exit 77 podcast – Episode 111, you heard some pretty SERIOUS commentary from David around the Irish, the outcome of that Cuse game and what our response needed to be moving forward. The Orange took it to our squad and it was unlike anything we had seen since 2022. A little over three years since the Irish had had someone beat us like that so it was definitely a tough one to watch.

No need to rehash that Saturday in the Dome, and this past weekend was a chance to turn the page and right the ship. With a spring that is getting closer and closer to the regular season being over, Saturday at Arlotta was a huge game between Notre Dame and Virginia. Win and we guaranteed a spot in the ACC tournament. Lose and post season hopes would have gotten to the point where doubt would have started to creep in. As David said on the podcast “leave no doubt,” and with that being the case, the opportunity was there to make a statement.

The early quarters at Arlotta were certainly a dog fight, and with the score tied 4-4 with a little under 4 minutes to go in the third quarter, the Irish went on to score the last four goals and the first three of the 4th quarter to take a commanding 11-4 lead over the Cavaliers. It was a run that was needed and one that we have certainly come to expect from our Irish over the last few years. Seeing that type of play from the boys on Saturday was soul-affirming and a reminder of what our Irish are capable of each and every game. Is that the run that sparks the back half of the season for Notre Dame? It could be something we look back at and remember for a long time. Time will tell.

Let’s get into it, and once again, as I was not able to watch live, we will cover off on more of the overall aspects of the game.

What I liked about Notre Dame on Saturday at Arlotta

Let’s start out with the attendance of 5,000 in the stands and on the berm in South Bend. It was a beautiful Saturday and the fans came out in droves to pack Arlotta. Terry Foy made note of it on the Inside Lacrosse podcast as he talked about over 1,500 people lined up to get into the stadium an hour before the game began. Paul Carcaterra has called our home field one of the best, if not the best venue in all of college lacrosse. Buoyed by a big slate of national, high level high school lacrosse games that surrounded the ND vs UVA matchup, Notre Dame was the epicenter of college lacrosse this past weekend. Amazing job by Coach Corrigan with what he has built over his career at Notre Dame. Something like this would have never happened not too long ago here in the Midwest, and to see the enthusiasm for lacrosse in Northern Indiana was something special. Kudos to all involved.

Notre Dame’s Defense came to play against the Cavaliers. Coming off one of our tougher performances, the backend had something to prove for our Irish. They did so and then some holding Virginia to four goals up until about 3 minutes to go in the game. The Cavs got three garbage time goals to make the final score 12-7, but when we needed our team to step up and show that last week was an anomaly, we saw a lock down performance. As we talked about this game on the podcast and stopping UVA, it started with shutting down their attack. Virginia’s starting three there combined for two goals and two assists on the day. Job well done and our defense led by Thomas Ricciardelli, Shawn Lyght, Will Gallagher and Nate Schwitzenberg balled out. Really strong work by the team and Coach Wellner coming back from the Dome and putting together one of our better performances on the season.

Thomas Ricciardelli was the starting point for two juice goals as he hit both Ben Ramsey and Christian Alacqua with perfect outlet passes that led to fast break scores. Nothing gets the crowd going more than a fast break goal by our SSDMs and Thomas got the work started by hitting his teammates in stride with excellent throws. He also got an assist on one of them. Awesome as well for Christian Alacqua on his first goal of the season.

Captains making big time plays is what we saw from Ben Ramsey on Saturday. When we needed it most, his goal in transition was what started our 7-0 run; it broke the tie and it got the crowd back into the game. Our squad was absolutely fired up as it was Ben’s first goal on the season, and just like in the game against Cornell last year, it came at one of the best times in a game that had yet been decided. I have said in the past, Ben has a very underrated shot and if he has the chance in transition to hit home, he usually does.

Speaking of Captains, with the Irish trailing 3-2 in the second quarter, we had the ball on the man-up and Chris Kavanagh hit home to make the score 3-3. It was his 135th goal in his Notre Dame career and moved him into second place all-time, passing Ryan Hoff. Only Randy Colley is left above Chris, and as the Kavanagh family dynasty continues here at Notre Dame, how lucky are we that we we get to see the last of the Kavanaghs continue to shine and climb up the record book.

Around this man-up goal by Chris Kav, while the Irish were 1-7 on the day on extra man opportunities, this was an example of what we have been hoping to see from our Irish. There was some good passing, Will Angrick drew his man toward him, Chris moved to some open space, caught the pass with momentum toward the goal and was able to hit home on a bounce shot from outside. It was exactly what we need to be able to do in order to not have the opposing team’s defense collapse so much on the inside. We have to get defenses to respect our outside shooting and this execution is hopefully something Coach Wojcik and the team can build off of as the season moves along.

Shout out to the SSDM unit as a whole. I think they all would have liked a do over from the game in Dome, but it was great to see Ramsey, Tyler Buchner, Logan Gutzwiller, Chris Reinhardt, Alacqua and Kyle Bergen play some very good lacrosse on Saturday. If we have the ability to rotate six guys into this role, it is only going to make us stronger and tougher to beat as the days get hotter and the games get played with fewer days rest in between (starting with the ACC tournament).

Two goals for both Jalen Seymour and Matt Jeffery on the day. Great to see these two continuing to pick up their games as the season moves along. They were able to beat their man one on one and get home for some nice scores. If these two can keep pushing the envelope and make defenses question who they are putting the long pole on, it will only make Notre Dame that much harder to defend.

We have come to expect some inventive goals from Jake Taylor, but I think the goal we saw on Saturday might take the cake. Not many times will you see a player trying to duck to get out of the way of a shot, have the shot him them, pick up the ball and whip it in over their shoulder into the side corner of the net. That was exactly what we saw in the third quarter and it only added to our impressive goal run to close out the frame. Additionally, Jake moved into fifth all time in goals with 123 and I don’t think it is crazy to think that by the end of this year, we could be looking at Chris Kavanagh and Jake Taylor sitting at #2 and #3 in all time goals for Notre Dame lacrosse. Call me if you had Jake in this position starting on the morning of April 2nd, 2022. Bueller? Bueller?

Notre Dame won the ground ball and turnover battle on Saturday and that is something that we know is key for our Irish. It has become a hallmark for our squad over the years so really good to see that not be in doubt with our play at Arlotta. Keeping that momentum going across these two statistics is something that we will want to steady our eyes on as the regular season comes to a close.

Let’s give credit to the players and the coaching staff for what we saw on Saturday. While the game got off to a quick 2-0 Irish lead, let’s be honest, after last week’s loss, being tied 3-3 at the half was not the spot we wanted to be in after 30 minutes. We came out and took control early in Q1, but following those first two goals, we gave up three straight to UVA before we got one back early in the second. But that would be it for the opening quarters. This could have been a moment for the team to start to question things, and with a slow start to the third, it was our defense that was making sure the game would stay even. Then came our outburst and our run that got everything back to a good place. It was needed and it is what good teams do in moments like that. It takes a lot during a lacrosse season to stay focused and to continue on a path that we all know is there. Micro-moments happen all the time and a good job by the team and the coaching staff to keep the ship sailing on Saturday and eventually create some tailwinds to pull away.

What’s Next

Okay, I am going to be honest. Notre Dame lacrosse and the University of North Carolina lacrosse DO NOT like each other. It’s pretty simple to say just that, and similar to the Syracuse matchup from a couple of weeks ago, we have owned the Tar Heels of late. Just like the Orange, if there is any year that the Heels want to prove themselves it is this season as they come in with a 9-2 record, ranked #5 in the country and it is their Senior Day. A win on Saturday for the Heels would give more validation to what they have been doing this year and cement themselves as a legitimate Final Four team. There is a lot on the line for UNC and I can only imagine the intensity they will come out with when the game gets underway at noon EST.

For our Irish, this is another MUST win. While a loss does not entirely doom things, it would continue to raise doubts as we hope to build our resume for the NCAA tournament. It would make winning against Penn an absolute must and then probably two wins in the ACC tournament in order to punch our May ticket. Win on Saturday and we guarantee ourselves no worse than the #2 seed in the ACC tournament, we get a top 5 victory and we continue to build our RPI with May not too far away right now.

This game is HUGE. It is an opportunity for our Irish to “leave no doubt” in the committee’s mind and a chance for us to put to bed the doubters from our game against Syracuse. The Tar Heels are going to be physical in this game, they are going to want to try and push us around and I think this is a chance for us to show everyone that the game in the Dome was not who we are. Ground balls are ours. Hustle plays are ours. Run outs to the end line are ours. Battles near the crease are won by us. The physicality of this game is won by us. This game is won by us.

I am FIRED UP and will be ready to go on Saturday. I know as well David will be fired up and we will be recording the Exit 77 podcast on Thursday night so keep an eye out for that once it is live. You will not want to miss it.

I finally feel like we have gotten to that point of the year where my mindset has changed, and for those of you have been following along with me for a few years now here on One Foot Down, we have reached that time of year:

“LET’S GO IRISH. TIME TO BE GREAT.”