Epic second half drives the Irish to a 12-6 victory over the Tar Heels

Notre Dame outscores UNC 11 – 2 over the final 30 minutes of the game, move to 7-3 overall; 3-1 in the ACC

Photo Credit: Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse Twitter

There are micro-moments that make up a college lacrosse season. Most of them we notice as they are big plays / events that cause us to stand up and cheer; others can go unnoticed or can get forgotten because they get washed away in the flow of the game or the overall outcome. But those micro-moments, even though they might get set aside, were still there and they were still big moments within the game.

Take for example Notre Dame’s comeback win over Virginia in the 2023 National Semifinal. Most will remember Eric Dobson’s winding goal to tie the game; Jake Taylor’s twister to tie the game again; Brian Tevlin’s overtime goal to win it for the Irish. Those are micro-moments that some of us play back in our minds a LOT. Other micro-moments, like Liam Entenmann’s save on Griffin Schutz with just over three minutes to go with the Irish down by two, was just as huge, but it can be forgotten in the unreal Irish finish and win which then led to our first ever National Championship two days later.

On a beautiful and sunny Saturday afternoon down in Chapel Hill, our Irish put on master-class micro-moment that lasted the final 30 minutes of the game as we came back from a 4-0 first quarter deficit to win by a final score of 12-6. It was an epic second half for our Irish lacrosse team and it reminded the rest of the country what our team is capable of when we are playing Notre Dame lacrosse. It was “soul-affirming” and in a season where the college lacrosse landscape has shifted on a weekly basis, our Irish once again tilted the field towards us. It was a 30 minute micro-moment that could come to define our season.

The “Exit 77” podcast and Episode 113 has you covered as David Brogan and I took a look at the comeback performance while also checking ahead to this weekend’s Senior Day game against the Penn Quakers. Our friends at 18Stripes also have you covered as they looked at the win over the Tar Heels.

Let’s get into it here, going to cover off on the game in a similar fashion to the last few weeks with an overall look at everything.

What I liked about Notre Dame on Saturday at Dorrance

No other place to start than with our Notre Dame defense. What a performance on Saturday against a Tar Heel offense that had been one of the more dominant ones throughout this season. We held UNC to six overall goals with four of them coming across the first 15 minutes of the game. That means only two goals allowed across the final 45 minutes, and with much of the hype around this matchup focusing on Duffy and Pietramala, we held them to a total of two points on the afternoon. Two points. It was a complete performance that has to be recognized on all the different levels of our defense: goaltending, close defense, LSMs and SSDMs.

This seems to be a repeat of last week’s column, but Shawn Lyght, Will Gallagher, Nate Schwitzenberg and Thomas Ricciardelli all played at an extremely high level on Saturday. They neutralized the Heels offense and did not allow their individual stars to breathe. It was textbook team defense and it is scary how well this unit has been playing over the last eight quarters as we have only allowed 13 goals across that time period. I think it is about time we start talking about the Irish having multiple All-Americans on this defensive unit.

The SSDM unit got off to a slow start, but buckled down from there. After giving up a couple of early goals, the unit got things together, and as the afternoon progressed we locked down Carolina in the second half to the tune of only one goal coming on six versus six. Great work by Ben Ramsey, Christian Alacqua, Chris Reinhardt, Tyler Buchner and Kyle Bergen. Included in this overall awesome play was Ben’s coast to coast goal in the 4th quarter and his being named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week.

Our LSMs were all over the field on Saturday. When they weren’t winning ground balls on the faceoff wings, they were all over their covers causing turnovers. They were dominant in the middle of the field and they were an integral part in a quick transition score as Greg Campisi got the faceoff ground ball, hit Will Donovan who then hit Devon McLane who finally hit Chris Kavanagh for our third goal. Tons to like around what Donovan and Campisi are doing right now with the overall toughness and ferocity they bring to our Irish.

The Notre Dame midfield, collectively, played a really strong game. After a first half where our offense struggled to even get a shot on goal, we saw what we have come to expect from our middies – they were able to beat their man from a variety of positions / angles and get home for goals:

Jalen Seymour two on the run the goals; one righty and one lefty.

Jordan Faison with a question mark from behind X to give us a two goal cushion.

Matt Jeffery with an amazing cut where he put his defender on skates.

Will Maheras with a rocket from the outside that stung the corner.

It was what we have been looking for across our midfield over the last few weeks. If defenses are going to crowd the box and not let Jake Taylor beat them, then we need our midfield to take control, win their one on one matchup and force defenses to stop us from attacking. Continued replication of this in the weeks ahead will make us very difficult to defend; our middies will have the confidence to hit their outside shots, but if the slides start to come, we can find attackmen open in the crease or backside.

The Notre Dame faceoff unit went 10-22 overall during the game, but when it mattered most in the 3rd, Will Lynch and Colin Hagstrom won the first seven faceoffs of the quarter. This group delivered as we were able to get back into the game and not allow Carolina to extend their four goal lead from the halftime break.

The Notre Dame attack unit had six goals and one assist on the day. They were led by Chris Kavanagh’s four goals as he willed the Irish back into this game. Starting with our first goal of the game with a little less than a minute left to go before half, he then had a hat trick across the third quarter with a highlight reel goal to tie the score at 6-6. Once again, in the biggest moments, there was Chris Kavanagh separating himself and showing why he is one of the best players in all of college lacrosse. Devon McLane and Jake Taylor each had one goal on the day, and once again, if teams are going to short stick Devon or force Jake to be more outside, we have the opportunity to make defenses re-think their strategy with our ability to adapt and create mismatches.

Other micro-moments I liked on Saturday:

Shawn Lyght winning the run out on an early shot by the Tar Heels

Thomas Ricciardelli winning a run out from his goalie spot

Ben Ramsey with a nice trail check to cause a turnover

Kyle Bergen de-cleating Dominic Pietramala

Pietramala’s shot hitting the pipe when UNC was up 4-1 and looking to make it 5-1

Jordan Faison taking the ball behind to X and giving defenses another problem to consider

Chris Kavanagh coming back to help on the clear

Brady Pokorny gaining confidence by taking one from the outside on man-up

Whatever was said by the coaching staff and players at half time

What’s Next

It’s Senior Day and that means it could be the last home game for our seniors / fifth year seniors. It will be a special day for everyone involved in Notre Dame lacrosse as the Irish take on the Penn Quakers at 2 PM EST at Arlotta. It’s been a disappointing season for the Quakers and while they are not where they thought they would be at this point, they still have an extremely strong defense that will look to give the Irish trouble. They have some seniors of their own who would like nothing more than to ruin the day in South Bend.

If there is one thing I would like to see our Irish do this upcoming weekend – that would be play a full game exactly like we did in the second half in Chapel Hill. We have shown that this team is capable of outstanding lacrosse, but too often we have had long stretches where our offense has not lived up to expectations. Across Syracuse, Virginia and now North Carolina, we have had some pretty long timeframes where no goals could be found. Let’s make this game on Saturday a lull-free game.

Congrats to the all the Notre Dame players and families who will be celebrating on Saturday. The journey with Notre Dame began for most of them four or five years ago, but this weekend is not the end. There is so much more ahead for this Irish team this year and a strong showing on Saturday and then in the ACC tournament could mean that the Irish are hosting a first round NCAA tournament game at Arlotta.

Let’s Go Irish! Let’s get a big win and keep this momentum going. There is only one place that we all want to go from here. Let’s create a new micro-moment.

“Time to Be Great.”