Notre Dame Eventually Finds Footing, Advances to NCAA Semifinals

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Second-seeded Notre Dame needed some time for its offense to find its footing — figuratively and literally — in Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinal against Johns Hopkins.

Once it happened, the Fighting Irish were well on their way to the final weekend of the season.

Josh Yago had four goals and three assists and Matt Jeffery added two goals and three assists as the Fighting Irish earned a 15-9 victory at Shuart Stadium to advance to the semifinals for the eighth time in program history.

“Second half, I was just really proud of our guys and how they came back and turned it more into our game,” Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said. “[We] played fearlessly. We didn’t come out in the second half [saying], ‘Gosh, it’s a one-goal game.’ We came out like, ‘Let’s make some plays and win this thing,’ and that’s what we did.”

Notre Dame (12-2) will face either third-seeded North Carolina or sixth-seeded Syracuse next Saturday in Charlottesville, Va., in the semifinals as it continues to pursue its third national title in four years.

Hunter Chauvette scored twice and added two assists for the unseeded Blue Jays (10-6), who were denied their first Memorial Day weekend appearance since 2015.

Both teams struggled to get traction on the new turf field Hofstra laid down earlier this year. The school couldn’t get the field installed last fall because it was contracted to play host to high school football games. It was further delayed by January cold and eventually the ice storm that bedeviled the Northeast and snarled early season lacrosse schedules.

Hofstra didn’t play a men’s game on campus until March 21, and even with about a half-season of usage, the artificial surface maintained some of the slickness of freshly manufactured turf.

“It doesn’t really matter, it’s part of the game and part of the play,” Hopkins midfielder Matt Collison said. “You play on whatever field you play on. They play on the same field. It was a topic of conversation for minutes at shootaround on Friday, but we got done with that pretty quick.”

The Blue Jays had little to quibble with in the first half, when there were six ties and no team created any separation. Notre Dame thrived in the handful of transition opportunities it generated, but Collison’s goal on the doorstep off a Chuck Rawson pass with nine seconds left in the half tied it at 6.

The Irish were unbothered with the tight score and seemed at ease after a halftime discussion. Yago bounced one in while coming off a screen less than three minutes in to claim the lead for good, then fed Brock Behrman on the next possession.

Tyler Spano won the ensuing faceoff, and Behrman set up Jeffery about a minute later to make it 9-6.

“Just play loose and aggressive, and I think we did,” Yago said of Notre Dame’s locker room discussion. “We hammered three right away, and after a start like that, it was hard to look back.”

Not helping matters was the loss of ace short stick Reese DiCicco, who collected three ground balls in the first half but injured his right forearm on the opening faceoff of the third quarter. Athletic trainers attended to him as the Irish opened the lead, and DiCicco eventually sported a large ice pack and took off his helmet.

“I didn’t notice any emotional reaction from guys,” Hopkins coach Peter Milliman said. “You take one of the top guys off the field, it’s going to have an impact. It was tough. Faceoffs were a little tough to come by without some ground balls on the wing. It’s the way the game plays. Injuries are a part of it, unfortunately.”

While the Irish surged in the second half, Hopkins could not string enough useful possessions together to keep pace. A slower pace was always going to suit the methodical Blue Jays better, and it wasn’t too much of a surprise Hopkins finished with five shot clock violations.

But as Notre Dame pulled away, the Blue Jays had as many turnovers as shots (five apiece) in the third quarter as the Irish went up 11-7 at the end of the period.

Hopkins finished with 17 turnovers, one shy of the season high it set last week in a first round victory at Cornell, as it lost in the quarterfinals for the third time in four years.

“The pace in the first half, I don’t know if I’d say it was ideal, but it was probably not unexpected,” Milliman said. “I thought we had the right thoughts, the right conversations and were coming out of halftime the right way, but we made a few mistakes early and they capitalized. I think those three goals pretty quick set us up for a little more of a challenge than we were able to handle.”

As for Notre Dame, it had its second consecutive efficient offensive showing since arguably its worst game of the season, a 15-10 loss to Virginia in the ACC semifinals.

The Irish made a third of their shots in an 18-5 drubbing of Jacksonville in the first round, then shot 36.6 percent against the Blue Jays.

Its emerging offensive presence is Jeffery, a sophomore who set a career high with five points last week and then matched it Saturday. Then there’s Yago, the graduate transfer from Air Force who figured his career was over when the Falcons lost at Maryland in the first round last season but found a one-year opportunity to extend his career in South Bend.

He’s the Irish’s steadiest player, and his season-high seven points Saturday gives him a team-best 47 on the season

“I think right now, I’m playing with house money,” Yago said. “What other better feeling is there to keep playing the game I love with guys that I love? We’re going to play on championship weekend, so that’s awesome.”

It’s a familiar place for Notre Dame, which will play in the semifinals for the seventh time since 2010. Only Maryland (11) and Duke (nine) have done so more in that span.

But success from the recent past was not on Corrigan’s mind Saturday, just the flexible manner his roster approaches the game. It was especially apparent on offense against Hopkins as all six offensive starters enjoyed multi-point games.

It is not an offense featuring players with narrow skillsets, and it is both an easier way to play and a visually more appealing one. It also makes the Irish exceptionally dangerous entering the season’s final weekend.

“I don’t think it’s a lot different than what we’ve been doing all year,” Corrigan said. “Finishing the ball is a big part, and I think we’re doing a better job of doing that the past couple of games. I think that makes it hard to defend us is right now, I couldn’t tell you who our best player is, so I’m certain that the people watching us don’t have a lot better idea than I do.”