The sun shone down on Notre Dame’s men’s lacrosse team (No. 8, 4-0) as they defeated Cleveland State (2-5) in a blowout, 19-5, on Saturday in Arlotta stadium. This win maintained their perfect season and extended the winning streak to four.
The Irish had 14 different scorers, led by sophomore attack Pat Kavanagh with four, junior attack/midfielder Griffin Westlin who had two and junior midfielder Quentin Buchman with two of his own. This was Kavanagh’s third hat trick, and he achieved it within 12 minutes of the start of the game.
Westlin and Kavanagh also had three and one assists, respectively. Senior attack Mikey Drake, first-year Eric Dobson, junior midfielder Quinn McCahon and first-year attack Bryce Walker all also made both the scoring and assisting lists.
The Irish defense locked down the Vikings as best as possible, and starting goalie sophomore Liam Entenmann made nine saves in the first three quarters before he and relief goalie senior Matt Schmidt held down a shutout in the fourth quarter. In keeping them to five goals, the pair marked a season low in goals for the Vikings.
Notre Dame stayed on the offensive for most of the game. The Irish dominated in getting shots off (57-30) and in the faceoffs, winning 22 out of 28 faceoffs. Graduate student Kyle Gallagher won 12 of his 13 faceoffs and recovered eight ground balls. The other eight of twelve went to graduate student Charlie Leonard, who also had four ground balls and a goal.
The Irish will take the field again at home at noon on Saturday, against the Virginia Cavaliers, hoping to extend their winning streak to five.
