ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The No. 8/7 Fighting Irish never trailed in a complete, wire-to-wire 19-7 victory over Michigan on Saturday at U-M Lacrosse Stadium to improve to 4-2 on the season. The 12-goal victory marks the largest by margin in the series against the Wolverines.
The dominant Irish attack was led by Chris Kavanagh, who posted a seven-point performance off four goals and three assists. Jake Taylor, Will Angrick, Devon McLane and Will Maheras each finished with two goals in the winning effort.
Senior FOGO Will Lynch was masterful at the dot, winning 13-of-16 faceoffs and matching his career high in ground balls with 13 to give the Irish possession after possession.
In goal Thomas Ricciardelli turned in an efficient performance, making 10 saves while allowing just six past him.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish controlled the majority of the first quarter of play, outscoring the hosts 5-1 over the opening 15 minutes of action. Angrick opened the scoring off a wing dodge on the first possession of the day to make it 1-0 early for Notre Dame.
After a Michigan score leveled it at 1-1 at the 12-minute mark the Irish responded with four straight goals to close out the first frame. McLane scored twice along with goals from Kavanagh and a behind-the-back finish from Taylor to give ND the four-goal advantage.
The Irish were able to extend the lead to five at the half, winning the quarter 3-2 to make the halftime score 8-3. Notre Dame scored the first two goals of the second stanza before Michigan answered with two of their own. Kavanagh then completed his first half hat trick with his third goal at the 3:06 mark to send the Irish to the break up five.
Michigan scored the first goal of the second half to trim the lead to 8-4 and then it was all Irish the rest of the way. The attack erupted for seven goals in the final seven minutes and change of the third quarter to take a commanding 15-4 lead into the final 15 minutes of action. Impressively, all seven goals were scored by different players in the run to blow the game open.
Notre Dame carried its momentum into the fourth quarter, pushing their run to nine straight scores off goals from Maheras and Brock Behrman. After two goals from the hosts Jeffery Ricciardelli got on the scoresheet before Gavin Burlace scored the first of his career as the Irish went on to win by a score of 19-7.
STAT OF THE GAME
Twelve different ? scored for the Fighting Irish in the victory and 10 of the 19 goals came off an assist.
NOTRE DAME NOTES
- The Irish improved to 7-1 against Michigan in the all-time series, including each of the last five matchups.
- Notre Dame has defeated Michigan by double digits in each of the last three contests.
- With four goals on the day, Kavanagh now has 131 career goals, which ranks third all-time in program history.
- Kavanagh’s seven points give him 206 in his career, becoming just the fourth player in program history to reach 200-career points. He joins his brothers Pat (301) and Matt (225) along with fellow Irish great Randy Colley (273).
- Kavanagh’s hat trick was his fourth hat trick of the season and 24th of his career.
- Taylor moved up to a tie for eighth in program history for career goals, as his two-goal performance on Saturday gives him 115 career goals tying him with Chris Dusseau on the all-time list.
- Matt Jeffery and Gavin Burlace each scored their first career goal in the win.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame has next weekend off before opening up ACC play at Arlotta Stadium against No. 6/8 Duke at noon ET on Saturday, March 29. The game will air on ESPNU and admission is free.
— ND —