No. 2 Maryland men’s lacrosse headed south on Saturday afternoon with hopes of redemption after last year’s national title game defeat — meeting No. 1 Notre Dame in Atlanta, Georgia.
It was the Irish who took down the Terps in last year’s NCAA Tournament Championship to win their second national title in a row. Despite early dominance by the Irish, Maryland was able to respond in the second half. It held off a late fourth quarter comeback to complete a convincing revenge win, 11-10.
Notre Dame dominated possession to open play, keeping the ball throughout nearly the entirety of the first few minutes. It then capitalized off two early goals by Jake Taylor and Chris Kavanagh.
Maryland’s Eric Spanos and goalie Logan McNaney kept it close in the quarter, with Spanos answering on a goal of his own and McNaney contributing several key saves. When Notre Dame’s Jordan Faison scored another goal, Spanos responded with seven seconds left in the period, gridlocking the score at 3-2 after one quarter.
The Terps began the second quarter with their first faceoff win of the game. Though they weren’t able to capitalize on the possession to follow, Jack Schultz rifled a score home minutes later — tying the game up at three apiece.
A Braden Erksa goal was waived by the referees, but Daniel Kelly soon provided the answer in the form of a clutch go-ahead score. Notre Dame took it back after Taylor and Max Busenkell scored in quick succession, giving the Irish a 5-4 lead.
The score stayed locked until the end of the half. The Irish won nine faceoffs to the Terps two in the first two frames, keeping Maryland on its toes for a majority of the half.
“[It] just felt like we didn’t play great in the first half,” Maryland coach John Tillman said. “We asked the guys, ‘How would you grade yourselves?’ and they were like, ‘probably a C.’”
The Terps fixed their faceoff issue out of the break, doubling Notre Dame’s total of three. Bryce Ford scored back-to-back goals in a quick sequence to put the Terps ahead, 6-5.
Kelly was able to extend the Terps lead to two thanks to breakaway transition play. Jack Schultz scored his second goal to close the third quarter, keeping the Maryland lead at two after 45 minutes of play.
Kavanagh scored immediately to begin the fourth quarter, but the Irish momentum didn’t last long.
Erksa and Spanos answered with a two-goal flurry of their own to follow. Pressure defense in goal by McNaney kept the lead at three after crucial saves.
Fueled by Kavanagh, Notre Dame mounted a comeback through the remainder of the fourth period. Kavanagh scored two goals in the span of a minute to cut the deficit to one. A flag was called against Maryland on the second goal that put Notre Dame a man up on the next possession.
Despite being a man down, Maryland’s defense held its own while Kelly was able to respond with a clutch goal.
Faison accelerated down the field with nearly a minute and a half left to play, once more bringing the Irish deficit to just one. Notre Dame won a crucial faceoff to follow, giving it a chance to tie it up in the game’s final moments.
Notre Dame looked to Kavanagh, its hot hand. With just seconds left, Kavanagh took a shot, but McNaney lodged a crucial save — his 17th of the game — that allowed the Terps to run out the clock. Maryland remains undefeated, securing its biggest win of the season against the reigning national champions.
“If we won this game or lost this game, it [still] doesn’t change last year,” Tillman said.
Maryland hopes to continue its momentum next week as they return home to face Delaware at 12:30 p.m. next Saturday.
