From Flat to Foxborough: Penn State Completes Remarkable Comeback in Quarters

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Penn State looked like a team headed home for the offseason for much of Sunday’s NCAA quarterfinal against Notre Dame.

The Nittany Lions’ work in the final 20 minutes ensured there would be one more destination before the summer arrives: A trip to Foxborough, Mass., for the program’s third semifinal.

Fifth-seeded Penn State scored the final eight goals in a 14-12 defeat of the unseeded Fighting Irish, a riveting display fueled by Matt Traynor’s six goals and an assist, hat tricks by Kyle Lehman and Ethan Long and a switch to zone defense in the second half that flummoxed the two-time defending champions.

“I’ve been in the game a long time, and I’m not sure I’ve ever quite been a part of a win like that,” Penn State coach Jeff Tambroni said. “We went into halftime and honestly didn’t feel like anything was going well — offense, defense, faceoffs. To see this group … never stop believing in one another, it was just a lot of fun to be a part of.”

The Nittany Lions (12-4) remained undefeated in quarterfinal appearances and will meet top-seeded Cornell (16-1) on Saturday.

Chris Kavanagh and Devon McLane both had three goals and two assists for the Fighting Irish (9-5), who were held scoreless for the final 20:56.

It was an abrupt turn for Notre Dame, which shrugged off an early 2-0 deficit by building an 8-3 advantage by halftime. And while the Nittany Lions were initially pesky after the break, the Irish scored three goals in 72 seconds to go up 12-6 in the middle of the third quarter.

For the last few years, that was choose-your-score territory for Notre Dame. Yet even at that point, Penn State started to feel better about its offense.

Irish goalie Thomas Ricciardelli had nine of his 10 saves in the first half, and Tambroni believed his team’s shot selection was lacking early. There were also stirrings from Traynor, the Big Ten’s offensive player of the year who scored twice early in the third quarter and was starting to figure out his role for the day.

“I was being a little selfish in that first half — I didn’t have my head up that much trying to just dodging to score. I was getting tangled up a bit, and I had to take accountability for that in the locker room at halftime,” Traynor said. “I knew I was going to change it, and I think we started moving the ball a lot better in general.”

Yet the improved attitude went beyond Traynor, and it became apparent as Penn State edged back into it. Liam Matthews got one back to make it 12-7. Long and Traynor both scored in the final 67 seconds of the third quarter to trim the deficit to three. Suddenly, Notre Dame’s advantage was cut in half.

The Nittany Lions weren’t slowing down — and best of all, they believed.

“I felt like in the first couple possessions, we played with a ton of conviction, a ton of confidence, and as the first half went on, we weren’t committing to our dodges, committing to our cuts, committing to our passes, committing to our shots,” Tambroni said. “[Offensive coordinator John] Haus was just adamant about having the courage to go through. You’re not going to beat a team like Notre Dame if you’re going through this halfheartedly.”

Lehman, a sophomore attackman, didn’t have that problem all day, making shrewd decisions throughout. He also delivered a 10-yard dart early in the fourth quarter, then fired a 12-yarder off Ricciardelli’s stick that trickled in a little more than a minute later to make it 12-11.

And when Traynor traipsed down the middle with minimal resistance, Notre Dame’s lead had evaporated.

“To see that on this stage, that’s one of the best offensive performances I’ve been part of as a coach,” Tambroni said of Traynor’s game. “Just neat to see that against a team like Notre Dame on a stage like this, and hopefully, there’s plenty of it left ahead of us.”

With the Irish sputtering, Penn State didn’t need long to move ahead. Traynor scored yet again, and Long coolly swiveled a behind-the-back shot past Ricciardelli, permitting the Nittany Lions to play with a cushion.

The eight-goal run spanned only 12:10. It had to have felt longer for Notre Dame as its season faded to an end.

“We just relaxed,” Notre Dame defensive midfielder Ben Ramsey said. “I don’t know if it was a fatigue thing. It was more just we got too comfortable [and] didn’t stay on the things we do well.”

Penn State’s comeback — and the disappearance of Notre Dame’s offense, which didn’t muster a shot on goal in the final 18:58 — spelled an end to the Irish’s two-year run as national champions.

A three-peat was always going to be a challenge for a team that didn’t maul opponents the way its immediate predecessors did. Notre Dame was fueled by prodigious talent and deeply ingrained hunger in 2023 after a puzzling postseason snub a year earlier.

And last year’s encore? A team blessed with vastly better depth and talent than anyone else simply wore down opponent after opponent, roaring to a second consecutive title.

This team lost more games in the regular season (four) than those champions combined for (three). There was no shame in the step back, and the Irish were still miserable to contend with on the wrong day — as Ohio State learned in the first round when Notre Dame cruised to a 15-6 victory on the road.

“They have set the standard over the last couple years of what it means to be a champion, and I think that’s why this game means so much to our program,” Tambroni said. “Because you know if you go 60 minutes toe-to-toe with a team like that, you’re doing good things.”

The end proved stunningly anticlimactic for a game with such a comeback. Notre Dame kept spraying shots to the final minute, unable to directly challenge Penn State’s Jack Fracyon (nine saves) as it was baffled by the Nittany Lions’ zone.

“That was probably one of the most fun games I’ve been a part of,” Traynor said.

And it gave the Nittany Lions a chance to generate even more enjoyment. Next stop — remarkably — Foxborough.