Notre Dame Flexes to Complete Perfect ACC Season

Ryan Colsey ripped a left-handed bomb to give Virginia a 9-8 fourth-quarter lead on Notre Dame, much to the delight of 6,497 fans at Klöckner Stadium – the largest home crowd at Virginia in more than a decade.

It was a moment, but not one too big for a Notre Dame team with plenty of championship mettle.

A year ago, Notre Dame rallied past Virginia in the NCAA semifinals on the way to its first national championship. On Saturday, Notre Dame turned to its newcomers down the stretch in an 11-9 victory to wrapped up a 4-0 record in ACC play.

Brown grad transfer Devon McLane tied the game 9-9 for Notre Dame with 10:40 to play and a little over a minute later freshman Jordan Faison gave the Irish the lead for good.

Speed Kills

Faison blows by his defender and scores his 1st of the day and we are back in front at 10-9! Watch on ESPNU.#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/0KgsKw4w2h

— Notre Dame Lacrosse (@NDlacrosse) April 27, 2024

McLane, who finished with three goals, added an insurance goal with 3:40 left.

Irish star Pat Kavanagh also made his presence felt in a game in which he became Notre Dame’s all-time leading scorer.

Back-to-back goals by Payton Cormier gave Virginia a 7-4 lead early in the third quarter, but Notre Dame scored the game’s next four goals. Kavanagh scored the first goal of the run and assisted on two others. He finished the game with four points (2g, 2a), giving him 274 to pass the mark of 274 set by Randy Colley in the mid 1990s.

Notre Dame has won eight straight games and will carry a 10-1 record into the ACC tournament in Charlotte where it will meet a familiar opponent – Virginia.

The Cavaliers have now lost three straight games – to Duke, Syracuse and Notre Dame – but edged out North Carolina for the final spot in the ACC tournament.

Cormier led the Cavaliers with four goals.

UNC Upsets Rival Duke, Misses ACC Tourney

A frustrating season for North Carolina ended on a high note, a 15-12 upset over rival Duke, but it wasn’t enough to get the Tar Heels into the ACC tournament.

Duke, North Carolina and Virginia finished in a three-way tie for third place in the league at 1-3 and the tie-breaker came down to goal differential in the games between the three schools – capped at five. Duke had a plus-2 goal differential, Virginia finished at zero and North Carolina was minus-2.

North Carolina went on a crazy run with three goals in the final 20 seconds of the first half to take a 9-4 halftime lead and led by as many as nine goals in the fourth quarter, but Duke scored the final six goals of the game to get close and end up securing the No. 3 seed.

Logan McGovern had three goals and four assists for North Carolina (7-7), Dominic Pietramala scored four goals, Collin Krieg made 15 saves and Brady Wambach won 16 of 24 faceoffs.

Aidan Danenza led Duke with three goals and an assist.

Princeton Upsets Yale, Cornell Takes No. 1 Seed in Ivy

Princeton’s Michael Gianforcaro, the USA Lacrosse Player of the Week this past week, made 16 saves and held Yale to a season-low eight goals in a 15-8 Tiger victory that clinched an Ivy League tournament berth for Princeton.

Cornell wrapped up the No. 1 seed for the Ivy League tournament thanks to the Yale loss and then wrapped up the outright Ivy League regular season title with a 15-10 win over Dartmouth.

Ginaforcaro had plenty of help in shutting down Yale’s potent offense. Andrew McMeekin won 20 of 26 faceoffs to help Princeton control possession and Coulter Mackesy scored five goals to get the offense going.

Yale’s Matt Brandau, the nation’s leading scorer, was held to three points (2g, 1a), matching his season-low total. He has 97 points in 14 games this season.

Princeton and Yale will meet again in the Ivy League semifinals at Cornell.

Cornell got seven points from star C.J. Kirst (4g, 3a) and goalie Wyatt Knust continued his second half of the season emergence with 18 saves. Dartmouth goalie Mason Morel made 20 saves against a Cornell offense playing without 60-point scorer Michael Long.

Cornell will host Penn in the Ivy semifinals.

Streaking Saint Joseph’s Wins A-10 Title

Saint Joseph’s won its 10th straight game, beating Richmond 10-9 to capture the No. 1 seed for next week’s Atlantic 10 tournament.

The Hawks struggled to get going offensively against Richmond’s stout defense and trailed 6-3 midway through the third quarter. Saint Joe’s then flipped the game with a six-goal run – three of them from Carter Page – and held off the Spiders down the stretch.

Page finished with four goals and Levi Anderson had four assists for the Hawks who will play at host Massachusetts in the A-10 semfinals.

Lance Madonna and Dalton Young each had two goals and an assist for Richmond who will play High Point in the other A-10 semifinal.

Notable Results

Michigan and Penn State advanced in the Big Ten tournament’s opening round. The Wolverines downed rival Ohio State 15-9 while Penn State beat Rutgers 14-8.

Grad transfer Justin Tiernan (Lehigh) had three goals to set Michigan’s single-season record with 47 and Michael Boehm had two assists to become the first player in school history with 100 career assists. Michigan will play Johns Hopkins in the semifinals at Ohio State.

Penn State got 18 saves from Jack Fracyon and Chase Mullins won 15 of 20 faceoffs to help the Nittany Lions stay in control. TJ Malone paced the offense with four goals and three assists Penn State will play Maryland in the semifinals.

Siena outscored Marist 4-1 in the final quarter to win 12-9 in the MAAC opening round and Manhattan rallied from a six-goal deficit to beat Quinnipiac 14-13 in the other game.

Andrew Arcuri made 12 saves in Siena’s victory and Ryan McCarthy, Caden Olmstead and Patrick Radomski each had two goals and an assist. Siena will play No. 1 seed Sacred Heart in the semifinals.

Manhattan scored seven fourth-quarter goals and nine of the last 11 goals in the game to rally past Quinnipiac. Quinn Bowler and Scott O’Connor each scored three goals for the Jaspers and Kyle Gucwa had two goals and four assists. James Basile’s goal with six seconds left was the winner.

Merrimack stunned Bryant 16-14 behind five goals from Kasey Mongillo and 20 saves from Henry Vogt. The victory, coupled with UAlbany’s 18-10 win over Binghamton got Merrimack the No. 4 seed for the America East tournament where it will play at host and top-seeded UAlbany. Vermont, a 15-13 winner over UMBC behind four goals from Charlie Pope, earned the No. 2 seed and will have a rematch with the Retrievers in the other America East semifinal.

Air Force, Jacksonville and Utah all won on Saturday and the three teams finished in a three-way tie at the top of the league standings at 8-1.

Air Force beat Robert Morris 14-11 as Josh Yago (5) and Turner Ashby (4) combined for nine goals and the Falcons will host the ASUN tournament as the No. 2 seed.

Utah dominated Queens 25-8 to earn the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye. Jordan Hyde had six goals for the Utes.

Jacksonville blew out Bellarmine 22-7, but Utah’s win denied the Dolphins the No. 1 seed. Jacksonville, which got a combined 13 points from Jackson Intreiri (3g, 4a) and Jacob Greiner (3g, 3a), is the No. 3 seed and will meet Robert Morris in Tuesday’s first round.

Hofstra closed its season winning 11-9 over Long Island rival Stony Brook. The victory eliminated Stony Brook from CAA tournament contention, giving the final spot in the league to Drexel. Sean Henderson made 15 saves in the win and John Madsen and Anthony Mollica each scored three goals.