CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish put an exclamation point on its regular season with an emphatic 18-9 victory over RV/#17 North Carolina at Dorrance Field on Saturday afternoon.
The Kavanagh’s both turned in monster performances with 13 combined points. Pat had a game-high seven points off a goal and six assists, which ties his season high. Chris tied his career high for goals with five and added an assist to finish with six points.
Jake Taylor and Eric Dobson both had notable afternoons in attack, each recording a hat trick with three goals. Ross Burgmaster scored his first career goal and Will Lynch also scored his first goal of the season.
In cage Liam Entenmann turned in a productive day, making 11 saves while allowing nine goals. The Irish defense in front of him caused chaos all afternoon, forcing 12 turnovers, led by short-stick midfielder Ben Ramsey with three.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish came out firing in the first quarter, scoring the first four goals in the opening eight minutes of action to take an early 4-0 lead. The Tar Heels fought back with three straight goals of their own to trim the advantage to 4-3 before Notre Dame struck twice off scores from Dobson and Chris Kavanagh to make it 6-3 after the end of the first frame.
Notre Dame’s defense put the clamps on the Tar Heels in the second stanza, holding the host attack scoreless. The Irish offense poured in four goals in the period to stretch the lead to 10-3 at the halftime break.
The Irish outscored North Carolina 4-3 in the third quarter to move the score to 14-6 heading into the final frame. Will Lynch scored his first goal of the year off a faceoff win and then the Kavanagh brothers scored the final three of the period with Chris finding the back of the net twice and Pat once.
Notre Dame put the finishing touches on the impressive win by winning the fourth quarter 4-3 to make the final score 18-9.
ND STAT OF THE GAME
Notre Dame’s first nine shots on goal found the back of the net for a goal in the win. UNC’s first save of the afternoon came with 6:39 left in the second quarter.
ND NOTES
- The Irish now hold the advantage against the Tar Heels in the all-time series with a record of 12-11. Notre Dame has won four of the last five in the matchup.
- The nine-goal win marks the most lopsided in the ND-UNC series.
- Notre Dame caused 12 turnovers, marking the ninth time this season it has recorded double-digit caused turnovers in a game.
- Pat Kavanagh broke his own record for assists in a season for the second time, as he now has 45 on the year.
- Pat Kavanagh finished with seven points and has now recorded at least three points in all 12 games this season.
- With 11 saves, Liam Entenmann extends his double-digit save streak to 10 games.
- Chris Kavanagh has a career-high 51 points on the season and the Kavanagh brothers each have over 50 points on the season.
- Jake Taylor finished with a hat trick and now has seven straight multi-goal games.
- With three goals, Eric Dobson has a hat trick in four of his last five games.
UP NEXT
The Irish will find out their path in the upcoming NCAA Championship at 9:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 7 as the NCAA Selection Show will air on ESPNU. The first round of the tournament will be played on Saturday, May 13 and Sunday, May 14.
— ND —