Festive Atmosphere as Irish Ring in ACC Play Beating Syracuse

Playing its first game in two weeks and marking the beginning of ACC play, it almost felt like the start of a new season for top-ranked Notre Dame. Fittingly, the were plenty of revelers at Arlotta Stadium as the Irish rang in the “new year” with a 14-12 victory over a red-hot Syracuse team.

There was a one-handed goal by Jake Taylor, Liam Entenmann making an incredible diving save, a blink-and-you-miss-it faceoff win and goal by Will Lynch and a rowdy home-field field advantage in front of 5,000 fans to end the Orange’s five-game winning streak, but not before Syracuse made a late push.

SAVE OF THE YEAR? 🤯

LIAM ENTENMANN. LEGEND.#GoIrish☘️ | #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/Y9p1R9cX2e

— Notre Dame Lacrosse (@NDlacrosse) March 30, 2024

Back-to-back goals by Taylor, including the one-hander (the finish is pictured below) gave the Irish their biggest lead at 12-6 in the third quarter.

Syracuse’s defense, facing the nation’s No. 1 ranked offense for the second time in its last three games, then settled in. The Orange scored the first three goals of the fourth quarter and eventually got as close as the final two-goal margin when Michael Leo scored with 2:53 to play.

An ill-advised behind-the-back shot was saved by Syracuse goalie Will Mark, setting up a chance for the Orange to pull within one goal with about a minute and a half to play. However, Owen Hiltz’s high shot at the other end of the field was not backed up and Notre Dame ran out the clock.

Ten different players scored for Notre Dame, led by Eric Dobson, Reilly Gray, Pat Kavanagh and Taylor with two goals each. Lynch won 19 of 26 faceoffs, primarily against Syracuse’s Mason Kohn, in a matchup of two players ranked in the Top 10 nationally.

Finn Thomson led Syracuse with three goals, Leo and Luke Rhoa each scored twice and Christian Mule had three assists. Mark finished with 15 saves.

Virginia Rallies Past Harvard on Goalie Goal

Harvard, which surrendered 25 goals to Virginia last season, led the Cavaliers 10-6 in the fourth quarter before a sold-out crowd of 3,295 at Jordan Field, but No. 3 Virginia came storming back with seven straight goals to post a 13-10 victory over the No. 17 Crimson.

Virginia goalie Matt Nunes made 16 saves, but his biggest play of the game came with about five minutes to play when he crossed midfield, kept going to the goal and scored to give the Cavaliers an 11-10 lead it would not relinquish.

MATTHEW NUNES GOALIE GOAL FOR THE LEAD. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/jXrztMNMZK

— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) March 30, 2024

Virginia attackmen McCabe Millon and Connor Shellenberger were held without a goal, but did combine for five assists against a stout Harvard defense. Payton Cormier scored four times for the Cavaliers, but they also got boosts from other places with a pair of longpole goals (Tommy McNeal and Ben Wayer) and, of course, Nunes' goal.

Virginia, playing without top faceoff specialist Anthony Gobriel, won eight of nine faceoffs in the final quarter, helping the Cavaliers outshoot the Crimson 18-5 in the frame. UVa’s Thomas Colucci won 10 of 17 faceoffs in the game.

Harvard, which lost for the third straight time after opening the season 6-0, had eight different goal scorers and got three points each from Sam King (1g, 2a) and Teddy Malone (2g, 1a).

Army Comes Back at North Carolina

No. 4 Army, playing its final nonconference game of the regular season, fell behind No. 18 North Carolina 6-2 early, but rallied in the fourth quarter for a 13-12 win in Chapel Hill.

Evan Plunkett scored the game-winner with 52 seconds remaining, matching his career-high with four goals. 

Evan Plunkett for the win, ladies and gentlemen. pic.twitter.com/a3mCZeKgFI

— Army Men's Lacrosse (@ArmyWP_MLax) March 30, 2024

Sophomore goalie Sean Byrne made the first start of his career for Army (8-1) and made 19 saves.

North Carolina freshman Owen Duffy matched his career-high with five goals as the Tar Heels fell to 6-4.

Penn Knocks Off Cornell in Double OT

Cam Rubin’s goal in the second overtime gave No. 15 Penn an 11-10 victory over No. 9 Cornell, moving the Quakers to a 3-0 mark in Ivy League play.

🚨 CAM RUBIN IN DOUBLE OT 🚨 @PennMensLax outlasts @CornellLacrosse in an Ivy battle. pic.twitter.com/GkmFlA3ifj

— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) March 30, 2024

Cornell, which came into the game with the nation’s No. 3 offense, scored six times in the first quarter despite six saves from Penn goalie Emmet Carroll. Penn’s defense then put the brakes on the Big Red offense, limiting Cornell to just four goals in the final 56 minutes of play.

Carroll matched his season-high with 17 saves and has had double-digit saves in all 10 of Penn’s games this season.

Rubin scored six times for Penn (7-3, 3-0) and Griffin Scane was the only other multiple goal scorer, finishing with a pair.

C.J. Kirst scored four times for Cornell (5-3, 2-1) which hosts Syracuse on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in the USA Lacrosse Top 20

No. 8 Georgetown won its seventh straight game, beating Providence 15-10. Trailing 5-2 early in the second quarter, the Hoyas closed the half by scoring the next nine goals. Alexander Vardaro had four goals and two assists for the Hoyas (7-2, 1-0 Big East).

Matt Brandau became Yale’s all-time leading goal scorer as the No. 10 Bulldogs beat Brown 16-10. Brandau had four goals and two assists, giving him 177 career goals to break the school record of 174 set by Ben Reeves.

RECORD BREAKER

Matt Brandau is Yale's all-time goal scoring leader! Career goal No. 175

📺 | (ESPN+) https://t.co/mfhjugA7OM#ThisIsYale pic.twitter.com/ScQnQqLPO7

— Yale Men's Lacrosse (@YaleLacrosse) March 30, 2024

No. 11 Denver held Villanova scoreless in the third quarter to spur a 9-6 win over the Wildcats. Michael Lampert and Cody Malawsky each had two goals and two assists for the Pioneers (7-2, 1-0 Big East).

No. 14 Princeton got 14 saves from Michael Gianforcaro, who allowed just two goals, in a 15-5 win over Dartmouth. Coulter Mackesy scored four goals for the Tigers (6-3, 2-1 Ivy League) while Dartmouth goalie Mason Morel made 21 saves.

No. 17 Boston University scored a season-high 22 goals in a 22-6 win over Holy Cross. Brendan Kelly (6g), Vince D’Alto (1g, 6a) and Louis Perfetto (4g, 2a) paced the Terriers offense.

No. 19 Richmond opened Atlantic 10 play with a 19-8 victory over St. Bonaventure. Aidan O’Neil (5g, 2a) and Dalton Young (3g, 4a) each had seven points for the Spiders.

No. 20 Rutgers’ offensive woes continued as Ohio State picked up a much-needed win, beating the Scarlet Knights 14-8. OSU junior Alex Mariner scored a career-high five goals and Jack McKenna scored three as the Buckeyes stayed above .500 at 6-5 and evened their Big Ten record at 1-1. Shane Knobloch had two goals and two assists for Rutgers, but the Scarlet Knights (6-4, 0-2 B1G) have now been held to single digits in all four of their losses.

Notable

Navy overcame an early 4-0 deficit after going scoreless for the first 24 minutes of the game to beat Colgate 10-9, handing the Raiders their first loss in Patriot League play. Dan Daly made 15 saves for Navy and Henry Tolker had three goals and an assist for the Mids.

UMass scored nine fourth-quarter goals to stun Hobart 13-12. The Minutemen, who had lost three straight one-goal games, got two goals from Mike Tobin in the final two minutes to rally for the win. Conor Foley had five goals for UMass and Matt Knote made 18 saves.

Matt Bohmer had five goals and Jesse Jason scored four as Saint Joseph’s won its sixth straight game, beating High Point 15-7 in its Atlantic 10 opener.

Towson edged Stony Brook 9-8 to open up CAA play with a 3-0 record. Matt Constantinides won 16 of 20 faceoffs and also scored a goal.

Jackson Palumb scored the last two goals of the game, including the game-winner with five seconds left, as UAlbany won 14-13 at UMBC. The Great Danes have started America East play with a 3-0 record.

Sacred Heart is the lone unbeaten team in MAAC play after routing LIU 17-6. The Pioneers (7-4, 5-0) have now won five straight games and got four goals from Tucker Spencer while Carson Spooner topped 100 career points after scoring three goals and adding an assist.

Sam Lufti scored the game-winner in overtime as Hofstra beat Monmouth 8-7. Lufti, Rory Jones and Justin Sykes each had a pair of goals for the Pride.