SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish turned in one of the most dominant second halves in recent memory, outscoring No. 10/9 Ohio State 11-1 over the final 30 minutes of play to win by a final score of 16-3 and remain unbeaten on the season.
The attack was led by Eric Dobson, who had a career day with a personal best five points off four goals and an assist. Chris Kavanagh matched Dobson with five points of his own off three goals and two assists while his brother Pat chipped in two goals and two assists. Quinn McCahon also had a notable afternoon with a goal and two assists.
The Irish defense put in a monster performance as a unit, led by All-American goalie Liam Entenmann’s 13 save performance while allowing just three past him. Chris Fake locked down one of the best attackmen in the country in Jack Myers, allowing him to record no points on the day.
Sophomore Will Lynch had a productive day at the dot for the Irish, after losing the first four faceoffs of the day, the FOGO bounced back to finish 11-of-18, winning 11 of his final 14 on the afternoon while collecting a game-high seven ground balls.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish opened up the scoring, as Dobson fired in a shot on Notre Dame’s first possession of the day to make it 1-0. The visitors answered by cashing in on the extra-man opportunity before the Irish scored the final two goals of the period to make it a 3-1 game.
Chris Kavanagh began the second quarter by scoring his second goal of the day to extend the lead to 4-1 and then the Irish and Buckeyes each added one more to make it a 5-2 game at the halftime break.
Notre Dame was dialed in during the third quarter, turning in one of the most impressive 15 minute stretches of lacrosse, as it outscored Ohio State 7-0 in the period. Dobson scored the first two goals before McCahon, Griffin Westlin, Chris Kavanagh, Jake Taylor and Pat Kavanagh joined in with goals of their own to blow the game wide open at 12-2 heading into the fourth frame.
The Irish went on to outscore the Buckeyes by a margin of 4-1 over the final 15 minutes of play to claim the emphatic 16-3 win in a top-10 matchup.
STAT OF THE GAME
The Irish defense was absolutely suffocating, holding the Ohio State attack to just three goals in the game, including just one in the final 30 minutes of action. The three goals represent the fewest goals the Buckeyes have scored in the shot clock era and their lowest mark since losing 6-1 to Maryland on April 18, 2015.
NOTRE DAME NOTES
- The victory pushes Notre Dame’s active winning streak to 11 games, the longest active streak in the country for men’s DI lacrosse.
- The Irish improved to 35-12 against Ohio State in the all-time series.
- The Notre Dame defense finished with 13 caused turnovers and have now caused double-digit turnovers in every game this season. Twelve different Irish players recorded at least one caused turnover in the win.
- Each of Notre Dame’s last three wins have come against ranked teams and the Irish have outscored the opposition by a combined margin of 44-23 in those contests.
- The Irish defense has held opponents to 10 goals or less in four of five games this season.
- Dobson set his career high for points (5) and matched his career high for goals (4).
- Chris Kavanagh now has 18 goals through five games, recording a hat trick in all five games.
- Pat Kavanagh surpassed the 100-assist milestone for his career, becoming the fifth player in program history to do so. With 101 career assists, Pat is just 10 shy of breaking the program record held by David Ulrich.
- Pat Kavanagh finished with four points, giving him 168 in his career. That total breaks a tie for seventh all time in program history with Joe Franklin.
- Entenmann recorded a season-best save percentage, stopping 81.25 percent of the shots he faced (13-of-16).
UP NEXT
The Irish wrap up their non-conference schedule with a short trip north to play Michigan in Ann Arbor at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 18.
— ND —