COLUMBUS – The No. 10/8 Notre Dame turned in a complete performance in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon, defeating No. 2/2 Ohio State by a score of 15-6 to advance to the quarterfinals in Annapolis, Maryland, next Sunday.
Notre Dame’s attack was led by the duo of Chris Kavanagh and Jake Taylor, as each registered a hat trick with three goals. Kavanagh added two assists and Taylor had one in an impressive performance.
The Irish dominated the faceoff dot, led by senior Will Lynch, who finished winning 17-of-23 faceoffs while scooping up 13 ground balls, which tied his career high.
Junior Thomas Ricciardelli was equally impressive in goal for Notre Dame, making 15 saves while allowing just six goals to record the victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish opened the scoring off a rip on the run from Will Angrick to put Notre Dame on top just over five minutes into the game. The Buckeyes then responded with the final two goals of the first frame to take a 2-1 lead after the opening 15 minutes of action.
The hosts scored within the first two minutes of the second quarter to push their lead to two at 3-1.
However, the Irish responded in emphatic fashion, reeling off a 6-0 run over a nine-minute span to go on top 7-3 with just two minutes remaining in the first half.
Kavanagh played a huge role in the spurt, scoring twice while adding two assists. Jeffery Ricciardelli, Devon McLane, Ben Ramsey and Jake Taylor also added scores during the stretch.
Ohio State managed to pull one goal back right before the halftime break, scoring with eight seconds left to make the halftime score 7-4 in favor of Notre Dame.
The Buckeyes scored the first goal coming out of the half to trim the lead to 7-5 but the Irish once again responded with a big run, this time to put the game out of reach.
Notre Dame scored five unanswered over a 15-minute span to take a controlling 12-5 lead early into the fourth quarter. Taylor scored twice to go along with goals from Angrick, Max Busenkell and Chris Reinhardt.
After an Ohio State goals with just under 11 minutes left stopped the run, the Irish put an exclamation mark on the performance by scoring the final three goals of the day to leave with a 15-6 win.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Irish have won each of the last six NCAA Tournament games by at least four goals, dating back to the 2023 national championship game.
NOTRE DAME NOTES
- The Irish improved to 37-13 against Ohio State in the all-time series.
- Notre Dame improves to 30-25 in NCAA Championships history, including a record of 25-11 over the last 14 tournament appearances.
- The Irish have now won nine straight NCAA Tournament games.
- Notre Dame has advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship in 13 of the last 15 NCAA Tournaments.
- With three goals in the win, Kavanagh now has 148 career goals, which is the second best mark in program history.
- Kavanagh’s five points give him 237 in his career, ranking third all-time in program history for career points.
- Kavanagh now has 27 career hat tricks with seven coming during the 2025 campaign.
- With two points, Devon McLane now has 198 in his collegiate career.
- Taylor’s three goals gives him 128, passing Mikey Wynne (126) for fourth on the all-time career scoring list at Notre Dame.
- Reinhardt’s goal was the first of his career.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will take on No. 5 seed Penn State in the NCAA Championship quarterfinals with a trip to Championship Weekend on the line. The Irish and Nittany Lions will play on Sunday, May 18 in Annapolis, Maryland at Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The game will air on ESPNU.
— ND —