Special Teams Extra Special in Notre Dame Rout of Syracuse

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Notre Dame enjoyed an extra-special afternoon with its specialty units Saturday.

The second-seeded Fighting Irish scored five man-up goals — including three early in the fourth quarter as a consequence of a full-time, two-minute penalty — tacked on a man-down tally and burned off a pair of locked-in penalties in the first half on the way to a 15-7 rout of sixth-seeded Syracuse in the NCAA semifinals before 24,396 fans at Scott Stadium.

Josh Yago had three goals and four assists and Thomas Ricciardelli made 14 saves for Notre Dame (13-2), which advanced to Monday’s title game against top-seeded Princeton (16-2). It will be the first time since 1976-85 that the top two seeds will play in the final in back-to-back years.

And Notre Dame will chase its third national title in four years — a feat not accomplished since Princeton’s threepeat from 1996-98 — thanks to its impeccably opportunistic play with a man advantage and its equally stingy work when it committed a spate of early penalties.

“At this point in the year, I don’t know who’s going to show up, what area of the game is going to show up for us,” Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said. “Fifteen games in, we know somebody’s going to show up. It’s different guys, different games, different units. For us to do what we did on man-up and man-down today, it’s huge. It’s probably the difference in the game today.”

Notre Dame was 5-for-6 on extra man, while Syracuse was scoreless on eight shots in five extra-man chances.

Finn Thomson scored four goals for the Orange (13-6), who were bounced in the semifinals for the second consecutive season.

“They took it to us,” Syracuse coach Gary Gait said.

Notre Dame scored the first four goals, immediately flirting with a rout of its ACC rival. But Syracuse scored three in the final two minutes of the first quarter, then went man up for a guaranteed two minutes on Thomas Porell’s illegal body check.

Not only did the Irish limit the Orange to just two shots — one on cage — but also they generated a settled, man-down goal as Teddy Lally deposited Will Maheras feed to make it 5-3.

And when Porell committed a cross check for another full-time penalty after Thomson scored in the middle of the second quarter, Notre Dame shrugged that off and later added Yago’s first goal to make it 7-4 at the break.

“Anytime we’re able to kill a penalty, especially when it’s locked in or two minutes locked in, it [gives] a ton of energy because one, you’re not necessarily supposed to make that stop every time,” defenseman Shawn Lyght said. “All year, our two-minute penalties have actually been pretty good even though we’ve struggled with 30 seconds or other ones. Since we changed our man-down, we’ve been really good and well connected.”

Lyght got the better of Syracuse’s Joey Spallina in a matchup of Tewaaraton finalists, limiting the senior attackman to a pair of assists but no goals on six shots. Still, a Spallina pass helped ignite another three-goal Syracuse run late in the third quarter to get the Orange within 9-7.

It was then the Orange’s turn for an ill-advised hit. Louis D’Agostino was flagged for a two-minute, full-time cross check on Matt Jeffery with 15.6 seconds left in the third. Notre Dame held the ball for the rest of the period, and by the time Syracuse saw possession again, Brady Pokorny, Yago and Luke Miller had all scored on the extended man-up to effectively finish things.

Syracuse didn’t score in the final 16:39.

“We talked about it a lot, and we did a pretty good job during these playoffs of being smart about playing tough, playing physical but playing smart,” Gait said. “We lost both the special teams battle on the man up, not finishing on our end, and then giving up five goals on the other end [on man down]. Their goalie play was outstanding, their man up was outstanding. They shot with conviction. We had plenty of opportunities, and unfortunately didn’t hit the net when we needed to.”

The Irish added three more goals after the early fourth-quarter flurry. Ten Notre Dame players scored on the day, and 13 registered a point.

“We play such an unselfish brand of lacrosse, and this late in May, it works because guys are tired, longer games, possessions matter,” Yago said. “So when we get deeper into possessions and share the ball the way we do, most goals are assisted so it’s going to be hard to stop us because of how we play.”

Brock Behrman had two goals and two assists for the Irish, while Max Busenkell had two early goals. The senior has scored five goals this season, all against Syracuse.

While Notre Dame advanced to its fifth national title game, the Orange were denied their first Memorial Day appearance since 2013. Gait repeatedly cited that his team was the only semifinalist back from last year, and there is clearly more justification for elevated expectations at the traditional power than there was for much of the last decade.

Yet for a senior-laden team that embraced a title-or-bust ethos, Saturday offered a sudden end for a program still seeking its first national championship since 2009.

“I’d just say don’t get fat and happy,” Thomson said. “You have back-to-back final fours. It’s definitely a pretty special thing. When we got to this place, it was in rougher shape and we’ve kind of built it back up to where it is now. Obviously, we didn’t get the job done, but we left it in a better spot than we found it.”