ANNAPOLIS, Md. – For the sixth time in program history, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse team is heading to championship weekend after defeating No. 6 Johns Hopkins by a final score of 12-9 on Sunday afternoon at Navy – Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
The Irish advance to the semifinals and will face No. 2 Virginia on Saturday, May 27 in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field. The game will air on ESPN2. Buy tickets here.
Notre Dame had a balanced attack on Sunday, as three players posted hat tricks in the victory. Chris Kavanagh and Jack Simmons each had four points off three goals and an assist. Jake Taylor also found the back of the net three times and Jalen Seymour matched his career high with two goals.
In the cage, First Team All-American Liam Entenmann made 10 saves while allowing just nine goals.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish and Blue Jays played a tightly contested first quarter, as Johns Hopkins struck first before the Irish answered with goals from Jack Simmons and Chris Kavnagh to go up 2-1 midway through the quarter. Both sides scored two more in the frame to make it 4-3 in Notre Dame’s favor after the opening 15 minutes of action.
The Blue Jays leveled the score at 4-4 in the first minute of the second stanza before the Irish closed strong with the last three goals of the half to take a 7-4 lead into the intermission.
The Irish increased its lead to four goals by the end of the third quarter. Johns Hopkins scored the first two goals of the quarter to trim the margin to one at 7-6 but Notre Dame responded with three straight to end the period, courtesy of two goals from Taylor and one from Simmons.
Notre Dame extended its lead advantage to five at 11-6, its largest of the day, following a goal from Seymour to open the scoring in the fourth. JHU managed to score three of the final four goals but never truly threatened the Irish in the final 10 minutes of play, as Notre Dame punched its ticket to Philadelphia for Championship Weekend.
ND STAT OF THE GAME
Notre Dame’s defense held Johns Hopkins to just nine goals off 19 shots on target. The 19 shots on goal are a season low for the Blue Jays.
ND NOTES
- Notre Dame improves to 23-25 in NCAA Championships history, including a record of 18-11 over the last 12 tournament appearances.
- The Irish have now advanced to Championship Weekend on six occasions, also reaching the semifinals in 2001, 2010, 2012, 2014 & 2016.
- The Irish are now 3-4 against the Blue Jays in the all-time series and have won each of the last two matchups in the NCAA Championships..
- With 10 saves, Liam Entenmann extends his double-digit save streak to 12 games.
- Chris Kavanagh has a career-high 58 points on the season and the Kavanagh brothers each have over 50 points on the season.
- Jake Taylor finished with three goals and now has nine straight multi-goal games.
- Jack Simmons matched his career high for points in a game with four and tied his season high for goals in a game with three.
- With an assist in Sunday’s matchup, Pat Kavanagh became the first player in Notre Dame history with 50 or more assists in a season. The senior has 50 on the year.
- Chris Conlin recorded a season-high four ground balls and added a caused turnover on the defensive end.
UP NEXT
The Irish advance to the semifinals and will face No. 2 Virginia on Saturday, May 27 in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field. The game will air on ESPN2. Buy tickets here.
— ND —