When Irish men’s lacrosse lost to then-No. 3 Virginia last week, it was their first time tasting defeat in 364 days. On Saturday, they got back on track with a 20-12 road win against Syracuse, launching what they hope will be a similar streak.
The Irish win played out like three games in one. Notre Dame jumped on Syracuse in the opening minutes, taking a six-goal advantage early in the second period. The middle quarters belonged to the Orange, who shook off the slow start and fought back to take the lead in the fourth. But the decisive run ultimately came from the Irish. Having seen its big lead slip away, Notre Dame responded with nine consecutive goals to secure its sixth straight win against the Orange and improve to 7-1 (1-1 ACC).
One name on Syracuse’s (6-5, 0-3 ACC) scouting report that was likely written a little larger than the rest was Pat Kavanagh. The Irish senior attacker entered Saturday having recorded at least nine points in each of his four appearances against the Orange, including a pair of 10-point efforts that set — and then matched — Notre Dame’s single-game record. He would not reach those same lofty totals in his fifth time facing Syracuse. But he was no less impactful to the Irish victory.
Kavanagh did not waste much time before giving the Syracuse defense problems, and the rest of the Irish offense didn’t either. Senior attacker Jake Taylor scored the opening goal of the afternoon off a feed from graduate student midfielder Quinn McCahon. Notre Dame’s lead doubled soon after when Kavanagh found junior midfielder Eric Dobson for a long-range score.
Syracuse had no answer for the Notre Dame attack over the remainder of the quarter. Two Kavanagh goals bookended a score from senior midfielder Reilly Gray and the Irish led 5-0 before the Orange scored two straight to trim the deficit to three. That momentum was short-lived, however, as Taylor sent Syracuse back to square one by scoring the final goal of the first quarter and another to start the second. That gave Taylor his first hat trick of the season. When a Dobson goal stretched the lead to 8-2 shortly after, the Irish looked to be in total command.
But Syracuse came into the game riding a three-game winning streak and was not willing to let the Irish pull away without a fight. After being stymied by the Notre Dame defense for more than 20 minutes, the Orange scored five of the final six first-half goals. They entered the halftime break trailing 9-7, having quickly turned an apparent blowout into a tightly-contested game.
Despite the Orange’s strong finish to the first half, it was Notre Dame who came out hot to start the third quarter. Gray scored his second of the day less than 30 seconds into the half. Then, sophomore attacker Chris Kavanagh, the Irish’s leading scorer, put his first in the back of the net after a longer-than-usual wait.
Just as they did in the second quarter, though, the Orange had an answer, this time in the form of five consecutive scores. The fourth quarter began with the teams knotted at 11-11, and a goal from Syracuse’s Cole Kirst gave the Orange their first lead of the game with just 13 minutes remaining. Notre Dame, just one week removed from being undefeated and ranked first nationally, was suddenly in serious danger of dropping its second straight and starting ACC play with an 0-2 record.
In a crucial moment, the Irish remained focused and delivered one of their best extended stretches of play all season. The catalyst for Notre Dame’s big run was sophomore faceoff specialist Will Lynch. Faceoffs have been an area of inconsistency for the Irish all season, but Lynch was dominant against Syracuse. He was 23-33 on faceoffs in the game and began the fourth quarter with seven straight wins that helped propel Notre Dame into the lead.
Eight different Irish players scored goals in the final quarter of play. Two came from Chris Kavanagh, and Gray and Dobson added one each, giving all three players hat tricks along with Taylor, who led Notre Dame with four goals.
With the Irish leading 14-12 midway through the period and looking to pull away, Pat Kavanagh found graduate student attacker Griffin Westlin on the left side of the field, and Westlin put a bullet into the Syracuse goal. That assist was No. 111 for Kavanagh, making him the all-time assists leader at Notre Dame. He would not linger on that total for long, as his third assist of the game came minutes later when he linked up with younger brother Chris Kavanagh to put the Irish ahead 17-12.
Notre Dame scored its ninth straight when junior midfielder Carter Parlette created space with a nifty pass fake before putting a bouncing shot past the Syracuse goalie. That score, the Irish’s last, was the first of Parlette’s career. It also put Notre Dame past the 20-goal mark in Syracuse’s JMA Wireless Dome for the first time in program history. After having trailed in the fourth quarter, the Irish left New York as victors by a score of 20-12.
They now turn their attention to No. 4 Duke, whom they will host on Saturday. The Blue Devils (10-1, 3-0 ACC) come into South Bend playing at a higher level than nearly any other team in the country. After falling to Jacksonville on the road in February, Duke has won eight straight games, including a road victory against No. 1 Virginia on Friday. With the Cavaliers and No. 2 Maryland having lost over the weekend, the Notre Dame-Duke matchup will almost certainly feature a battle of the top two teams in the nation. Fresh off of their dominant closing stretch against Syracuse, the Irish will look to carry that momentum into what will be one of their most difficult tests of the season.
