Notre Dame repeats as NCAA men’s lacrosse champion by routing Maryland at the Linc

As the final seconds ticked off the Lincoln Financial Field scoreboard, Notre Dame’s bench players streamed onto the field toward their goalie, lacrosse sticks flying in the air.

It was only the second time in program history that the Fighting Irish have been able to celebrate like that, after besting Duke a year ago on the same field. And with a 15-5 win over Maryland on Monday, Notre Dame successfully defended its national title in men’s lacrosse.

It had been the Kavanagh show once again. Two days after Pat and Chris Kavanagh both tallied hat tricks to help Notre Dame past Denver in their NCAA semifinal, the brothers shined again in the title game, combining for 11 points.

“It’d be hard to overstate the impact that the Kavanagh family has had on our program,” Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said. “We’re sitting here, right?”

A two-hour thunderstorm delay before the start of the game did not slow the Fighting Irish’s offense at all. Chris Kavanagh, a junior attackman, scored five goals, while Pat, a graduate student, had a season-high six assists.

» READ MORE: ‘It’s a dream come true’ for Garnet Valley’s Max Busenkell to help Notre Dame defend its NCAA lacrosse title

In the second quarter, Garnet Valley graduate Max Busenkell found Pat Kavanagh with a pass behind the Maryland cage, and Pat flipped the ball to his brother. The younger Kavanagh spun and fired the ball behind his back before Maryland goalie Logan McNaney could react.

“A lot of our game is just very instinctual,” Pat Kavanagh said. “Whenever we pick up a stick, mess around in [Notre Dame lacrosse stadium] Arlotta, or growing up on Long Island, we were always just practicing stuff like that, crazy trick shots, and being creative. … It also adds an element of fun to the game. And that’s always a goal for us, to have fun and play hard.”

The goal was Chris Kavanagh’s third in a row and gave Notre Dame (16-1) a six-goal advantage before halftime. And while he was responsible for the bulk of the scoring, the Fighting Irish also displayed depth in their offense. Ten players scored goals.

“I was coming on the bus, I was looking at pictures of me and Pat, when I was a freshman, sophomore, kind of crying for 25 minutes knowing it was my last game with 51,” Chris said. “It’s pretty emotional day. But we put in the work for a while. This is the last W we had to get, and we dug down deep, and we got one.”

The championship also marked a duel between two of the top faceoff specialists in the nation, Maryland’s Luke Wierman and Notre Dame’s Will Lynch.

Wierman, a West Chester native, won the opening draw, and Maryland’s Ryan Siracusa converted to put the Terrapins up less than a minute into the game. Maryland added another, but the Irish quickly responded with two goals of their own in less than a minute.

Busenkell scored unassisted to give Notre Dame its first lead of the game. From there, the Irish didn’t look back.

“We said one thing: Wierman can only really hurt us if we give up transition goals,” Corrigan said. “Will battled back and got back into the game, and then when we made our run, I think he was he was getting us some possessions there.”

Wierman finished the game winning 17 of 24 faceoffs, but his team was unable to capitalize on the extra possessions. Maryland (11-6) turned the ball over 11 times in the first half while causing only two Notre Dame turnovers. The Terrapins mustered 35 total shots to Notre Dame’s 42, and scored only a single goal in the second half.

Notre Dame goalie Liam Entemann, a graduate student, made 16 saves for a .762 save percentage. He also picked up six ground balls.

“This is what we play for, this is what we live for. These opportunities, the big games, the big moments,” said Entemann. “We don’t want to be anything other than best. We showed that today. And I’m sure Coach, Chris, and the rest of the team can celebrate this for a bit and it’s back to square one, back to the bottom of the mountain. Now, they’re chasing the three-peat.”