Donahue Records 200th Point in Loss to Notre Dame

Saturday, April 2

Syracuse, NY

5 p.m.

Syracuse University

5-3, 1-2ACC

#2 Notre Dame

7-1, 2-0ACC

Notre Dame

Syracuse

Donahue Records 200th Point in Loss to Notre Dame

4/2/2016 8:26:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Dylan Donahue became the program's 17th player to record 200 points in his career on Saturday, but No. 2 Notre Dame (7-1, 2-0 ACC) spoiled the occasion, defeating the No. 7 Orange (6-3, 1-2 ACC) 17-7 as Syracuse celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Nearly 200 former players made the trip to the Carrier Dome on Saturday to participate in the special occasion, with every former player brought out to midfield at the half. Jeff McCormick, a member of the Orange's first NCAA Championship team in 1983, addressed the crowd on behalf of the alumni in attendance, thanking the 9,074 fans in attendance for their support over the years.

As for the game itself, the Fighting Irish managed to control the contest from the opening faceoff and sending Syracuse to its third-straight loss.

"First, I'd like to congratulate Notre Dame," said head coach John Desko. "I thought they came into the Carrier Dome and played really well today, so my hats off to them. I'm very disappointed on our end. After a really good week of practice I thought that we were well prepared. We knew who they were and what they wanted to do offensively and their rides. We knew we had to be very efficient against these guys. We have been clearing the ball at a high percentage and we needed to keep doing that. We needed possessions off the face offs, which I thought we could get. We needed to be efficient offensively because they play great team defense so we needed to shoot well and limit our turnovers. We really didn't do any of that.

"Overall, I thought we could've done better offensively as far as finishing and limiting our turnovers. For us not to clear the ball is kind of a telling story. We didn't clear the ball well today. Mentally, something was wrong today."

Notre Dame quickly put themselves on the board, forcing an Orange turnover after the opening faceoff and getting a goal from Ryder Garnsey on the ensuing possession. The Irish extended their lead to two at the 11:06 mark in the first, as Kyle Trolley dodged by an Orange defender and found the back of the net.

After Syracuse managed to get a sustained possession offensively for the first time five minutes into play, Tim Barber started off the scoring for the Orange, wrapping around the cage to fire a shot past Notre Dame's Shane Doss, making the score 2-1 with just over nine minutes to play in the quarter.

But Notre Dame scored twice in 39 seconds to open a three-goal lead early. Bobby Gray buried a bouncing shot from the left side of the cage, before Mikey Wynne followed up Gray's goal on the next chance for the Irish, diving across the center of the crease and sneaking one past Warren Hill, causing Desko to call timeout.

The timeout appeared to be successful, as it stopped the Irish run and slowed down the game for the Orange. After trading possessions, Syracuse got back on the board courtesy of Ryan Simmons, who fired a 12-yard goal from the left side of the field off a pass from Nick Weston.

But the Irish transition game hurt the Orange for the first time on the afternoon, taking a fast break off an Orange miss down the field, Drew Schantz found Wynne in front of the cage to push Notre Dame's lead back to three with time winding down in the first quarter.

Starting the second with possession after a late Irish penalty, Dylan Donahue made history for the Orange. Catching a pass from Sergio Salcido in the middle of the field, Donahue became the 17th player in program history to reach the 200-point mark with his 14th goal of the season. The milestone point cut the Fighting Irish lead to two as they led 5-3.

Nearly a minute later, Notre Dame got a goal from their senior attackman Matt Kavanagh, who took the ball in from behind the cage and scored before being pushed into the crease.

Back-and-forth play ensued as the Orange's leading goal scorer Nick Mariano found the back of the net for the first time of the day, making the score 6-4 in favor of the Fighting Irish with 12:52 to play in the half.

But Kavanagh added two more goals, one from the right side of the crease with 11:59 to play and another 25 seconds later on a fast-break down the left side, to give Notre Dame an 8-4 edge and force another 'Cuse timeout.

The timeout slowed the Irish down, but couldn't jumpstart the Orange offense as an 11:22 scoreless drought ensued to follow. The streak led almost all the way into the half, before Trolley swept around the back of the cage and scored a one-handed goal for the Irish, sending the Orange into the locker-room with a 9-4 halftime deficit.

Out of the break, the Orange controlled possession early, with Jordan Evans capped off the possession with a behind-the-back goal in front of the cage. Derek DeJoe picked up the assist on Evan's highlight-reel shot, which cut the Fighting Irish lead to four.

Evans scored his second straight just over two minutes later, once again receiving a pass in front of Notre Dame's goalie. This time, Barber was the one who found the junior attack-man, helping to bring SU within three – but that's as close as they'd get.

Notre Dame scored eight of the final-nine tallies en route to a large win over their fellow ACC foe.

The Fighting Irish dominated most stat categories, including a 40-30 shots advantage, clearing 18-of-19 attempts, while Syracuse had a season-high eight failed clears, going 15-of-23.

Next, Syracuse will square off with Hobart in Geneva on Wednesday at 7 p.m.