PHILADELPHIA – The No. 1 Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse team captured its second-straight NCAA national title on Monday, defeating No. 7 Maryland by a score of 15-5 at Lincoln Financial Field to successfully defend its 2023 championship.
Notre Dame is the first team in a decade to win back-to-back men’s lacrosse NCAA national championships in consecutive seasons and the ninth team in history to accomplish the feat.
The championship is the second in program history, both coming under the direction of Baumer Family Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Kevin Corrigan.
The five goals allowed ties a program record for fewest in an NCAA Tournament game while the 10-goal margin ranks second in the postseason at Notre Dame.
Chris Kavanagh was named the NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player after scoring five goals in the title-winning performance. The five goals tied the program record for most goals in an NCAA Tournament game.
Pat Kavanagh, Liam Entenmann, Shawn Lyght, Devon McLane and Ben Ramsey also joined Chris Kavanagh on the All-Tournament Team.
Liam Entenmann was sensational in goal, making 16 saves while allowing just five goals in the win.
Pat Kavanagh set the Notre Dame program record for assists in an NCAA Tournament game with six on the afternoon.
The midfield depth was a major factor in the win, as eight different midfielders scored.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After the Terrapins recorded the first two goals of the game the Irish settled in and scored five of the last six of the opening 15 minutes of action to take a 5-3 lead after the end of the first frame.
The five Notre Dame goals came from five different players, as Will Angrick, Jake Taylor, Max Busenkell, Jalen Seymour and Eric Dobson found the back of the net. Pat Kavanagh was the distributor, assisting on two of the goals.
The Irish kept their foot on the gas in the second quarter, scoring the first five goals of the frame to go up 10-3 before Maryland pulled one back with an extra-man goal to make the score 10-4 at the half.
Chris Kavanagh dominated the second, scoring three straight for a hat trick in a span of six minutes. Reilly Gray and Devon McLane also tallied goals for Notre Dame to give the Irish six goals from midfielders in the first half.
Notre Dame carried its momentum into the second half, firing in the first four goals of the period to push the lead to 14-4. Jordan Faison scored a beautiful behind-the-back goal to start the scoring in the third and then Chris Kavanagh scored twice and Fisher Finley added another. Maryland pulled one back right before the end of the quarter to make the Irish lead 14-5 with 15 minutes remaining in the game.
Taylor closed out the scoring for the Irish Monday afternoon to give them the 15-5 victory over Maryland. Liam Entenmann finished with 16 saves, his 11th double-digit save count of the season.
NOTRE DAME NOTES
- The national title gives the University of Notre Dame 35 team national championships in athletics and men’s lacrosse is the fifth different program to win multiple titles.
- The Fighting Irish will play in its fourth NCAA Championship title game in program history and also for the second-straight year.
- The 16 wins and .941 winning percentage are both the best marks in program history for a single season..
- Notre Dame improves to 29-25 in NCAA Championships history, including a record of 24-11 over the last 13 tournament appearances.
- Notre Dame extends its win streak to 14 games, which is the longest since winning 15 consecutive games during the 2009 season.
- In the victory, the Irish leveled the all-time series against the Terrapins at 9-9 and have won three straight in the matchup.
- With the win, Notre Dame improves to 10-0 against teams ranked in the top-10 at the time of the matchup in 2024.
- The Irish are now 10-0 in games played away from South Bend this season.
- Notre Dame has now won 36 times over the last 39 games. Twenty-four of the 36 wins came against ranked opponents and twenty-five of the victories have been by five goals or more.
- The Fighting Irish end the 2024 campaign by setting the record for most goals in a season (266), assists in a season (160) and points in a season (426).
- The Notre Dame attack has finished in double-figures for goals in every game this season.
- Both Chris Kavanagh (81) and Pat Kavanagh (80) broke the previous Notre Dame single-season record for points which was previously set by Pat with 77 in 2023.
— ND —