Irish Top Cavaliers: Notre Dame Rebounds Back After Syracuse With 12-7 Win vs Virginia

In a jam-packed Arlotta Stadium, Notre Dame men's lacrosse had an electric end to the third quarter to beat Virginia 12-7.

Photo by The Irish Tribune

On a Saturday with zero clouds in sight, a UV index of up to six (allowing me to start tanning), and a 5,000+ fan-packed Arlotta Stadium, today was a perfect day for #9 Notre Dame men's lacrosse to take on the Virginia Cavaliers. The winner of today's matchup would take the lead in the all-time series between the two schools.

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The Irish jumped ahead first, going up 2-0 in the first few minutes of the game off the backs of Jake Taylor and Jalen Seymour with help from Chris Kavanagh and Devon McLane. As the first quarter progressed, Virginia quickly answered within less than two minutes with a goal of their own by Will Inderlied to put the Cavaliers down by only one. Nearly ten minutes would pass before Virginia eventually tied the game at two a piece with a goal from Truitt Sunderland, which was assisted by Ryan Colsey. The first quarter would end tied at 2-2.

Virginia would open up the 2nd quarter scoring with a goal of their own within the first two minutes by Colsey on his own, who assisted the previous goal for Virginia, giving UVA its first lead of the day at 3-2. Chris Kavanagh would tie the game back up alongside Will Angrick within a couple of minutes, thanks to having an extra man advantage after a cross-checking penalty of Virginia's Hudson Hausmann. The rest of the half would be unscoreful with an additional Virginia cross-check penalty and Jordan Faison offside penalty sprinkled in. Halftime would commence with the game tied at 3-3.

Notre Dame's Matt Jeffrey would give the Irish the lead back, 4-3, and at the 10:56 mark, with a goal of his own to open up the 3rd quarter. Virginia's John Schroter would be charged with a slashing infraction after Jeffrey's goal. A little over five minutes would pass until Virginia would end up responding with a Jack Walshe goal after Notre Dame's Will Angrick committed a holding penalty, giving UVA an extra man.

A couple more minutes would pass until Notre Dame started to pull away with a four-goal performance in the last 3:30 of the 3rd quarter. Ben Ramsey (3:27), Chris Kavanagh (2:15), Jake Taylor (0:52), and Jalen Seymour (0:10) would all contribute unassisted goals in the final minutes of the quarter with no penalty help needed. The 3rd quarter ended with the Irish starting to pull away with a score of 8-4.

The 4th quarter didn't look much better for Virginia. The Irish would pile on another three straight goals against the Cavaliers over nearly nine minutes (12:25-3:27), thanks to unassisted scores from Matt Jeffrey, Christian Alacqua (his first goal of the season), and Devon McLane. With the Irish owning the majority of the 4th quarter, Virginia finally responded with a three-goal stretch from Mikie Harmeyer and Thomas Mencke (who account for the last two of the three-goal stretch from UVA).

Unfortunately for Virginia, their efforts were not going to be enough for the Irish as their dreams were cut short as Notre Dame's Jeffery Ricciardelli would notch his 11th goal of the season and put the last nail in the coffin for Virginia in the final 30 seconds of the game. The Irish would end up topping Virginia 12-7 to give Notre Dame the advantage in the series and put them at 2-1 in ACC play and a record improvement to 6-3 on the year.

What’s Next for the Irish?

Notre Dame will travel down to Chapel Hill to face #7 North Carolina this coming Saturday at noon on ESPNU before the Irish travel back home the following week to close out the regular season against Penn.

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