March 26, 2016
The second-rated University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team made valuable use of a dominant third period and then held off Ohio State for a 9-8 victory Saturday in front of 3,106 fans at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio.
The Irish three times in the first half fell behind by a goal, including 4-3 at halftime-as Notre Dame managed only 13 first-half shots.
Sophomore Notre Dame attackman Mikey Wynne tallied the third of his three goals a little less than four minutes into the third period. Midfielders Kyle Trolley and Brendan Collins and senior captain Matt Kavanagh (he had two goals and a pair of assists) followed suit over the next eight minutes, and that was enough to build a 7-4 advantage that proved to be the difference.
“We’re a little erratic at times and not putting the ball in the back of the net as well as we’re capable, but we had a 20-minute spurt to start the second half where we played really well,” said Irish coach Kevin Corrigan. “We were attacking and being aggressive and we just need to keep doing that.”
Wynne gave the Irish an early 1-0 lead at the 11:37 mark of the opening period-but the Buckeyes scored four of the next six goals the rest of the half and effectively limited the Notre Dame possession time.
Kavanagh and Wynne had the other first-half goals for the visitors, who won their 14th straight in the series. This marked the fourth one-goal Notre Dame series win in the last seven meetings between the two teams-and the third one-goal margin in as many weeks for the Irish in 2016.
Freshman Ryder Garnsey accounted for a man-advantage score at 8:26 of the final period to make it 8-5 for the Irish (now 6-1)-and senior attack Eddy Lubowicki tossed one in from Kavanagh at the 5:26 mark for a 9-6 advantage before Ohio State (now 5-5) scored twice in the final four minutes.
Ohio State’s Carter Brown cut the margin to 9-8 at the 2:27 stop of the last period-and Irish goalie Shane Doss (he made six saves overall) made a big-time stop on Brown at the 43-second mark to enable the Irish to run out the remainder of the clock.
The Buckeyes finished with a 32-30 lead in shots and a 27-22 advantage on ground balls. Ohio State had 12 turnovers (six in the decisive third period) to 11 for the Irish. The home team claimed 13 of 21 face-offs. Johnny Pearson led the Buckeyes with four goals and an assist.
Notre Dame remains on the road to face Atlantic Coast rival Syracuse at 5 p.m. EDT next Saturday on ESPNU.
| Score by Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| #2 Notre Dame (6-1) | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 9 |
| Ohio State (5-5) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 8 |
Ohio State Scoring:
Goals: Johnny Pearson 4, Carter Brown 2, Austin Shanks 1, Tyler Pfister 1 Assists: Shanks 2, Ryan Hunter 1, Pearson 1, Pfister 1
Notre Dame Scoring:
Goals: Mikey Wynne 3, Matt Kavanagh 2, Eddy Lubowicki 1, Kyle Trolley 1, Ryder Garnsey 1, Brendan Collins 1 Assists: Collins 2, Kavanagh 2, Trevor Brosco 1, Drew Schantz 1
Goalkeepers
Ohio State: Tom Carey, L, 60:00, 9 goals against, 12 saves
Notre Dame: Shane Doss, W, 60:00, 8 goals against, 6 saves