In its last home game of the regular season, the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team beat North Carolina 14-6 in front of a crowd of nearly 3,300 people. This is the fifth loss in a row for the Tar Heels, who are 6-7 on the season and still have to play Duke in their regular season finale. North Carolina has not scored more than nine goals against the Irish in their last four meetings.
The two teams were pretty even through the first half of play, with the Irish only going into the locker room up by one at halftime. For the second time this season, the Irish were actually losing during the first quarter, but that did not last very long.
In the second half, however, Notre Dame came out swinging, outscoring their opponents 9-2.
It was a team win for Notre Dame, with junior attacker Chris Kavanagh getting three goals and two assists, graduate attacker Pat Kavanagh getting two goals and four assists and graduate midfielder Devon McLane getting three goals. Pat Kavanagh is now only three points away from tying the all-time Notre Dame scoring record. Liam Entenmann had 12 saves, bringing him to 658 saves for his career, and the defense was very disruptive in the field, securing 10 turnovers.
With the win, the Irish improved to 3-0 in the ACC before traveling to Charlottesville to take on Virginia this Saturday. They can also claim at least some part of the ACC title for the fourth time in program history. Then, of course, is the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, where the team will look to defend its national title.
The team should be in a good position to do that, too. Having put up strong performances all year, the Irish are definitely one of the teams to beat heading into the regular season’s final game and the postseason this year.
