No. 1/1 Notre Dame Holds Off No. 3/3 Syracuse Comeback

Saturday, March 30

South Bend, Ind.

2 p.m.

Syracuse University

9-3, 1-1ACC

Notre Dame

6-1, 1-0ACC

Syracuse

Notre Dame

No. 1/1 Notre Dame Holds Off No. 3/3 Syracuse Comeback

3/30/2024 4:34:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. – A 5-1 fourth-quarter scoring run from the Orange was not enough to topple No. 1/1 Notre Dame (6-1, 1-0 ACC) as the No. 3/3 Syracuse men's lacrosse team's comeback effort fell short, 14-12, on Saturday afternoon in Arlotta Stadium.

The Syracuse (9-3, 1-1) offense was paced by Finn Thomson, who had three goals and one assist. Michael Leo and Christian Mulé each added three points, Leo had two goals and one assist while Mulé dished out three assists. Luke Rhoa (2g), Owen Hiltz (1g, 1a) and Jake Stevens (1g, 1a) were the other Orange performers to tally multi-point days.

Will Mark was a force in the cage with 15 saves for his second performance this season with 15-or-more stops. Riley Figueiras created a career-high three caused turnovers to lead the defensive unit.

Four Notre Dame players finished the game with two goals: Pat Kavanagh (2g, 1a), Eric Dobson (2g, 1a), Jake Taylor (2g) and Reilly Gray (2g). Chris Kavanagh tallied one goal and two assists while Will Angrick had one goal and one assist.

The Irish had the advantage at the X and on the ground. Notre Dame claimed 20 of the 29 faceoffs in the affair and grabbed 40 ground balls to Syracuse's 22.

How it Happened

The Orange stuck first as Thomson scored off a feed from Mulé. The Fighting Irish countered by scoring the next three goals, two from Gray and one from Ben Ramsey.
Birtwistle fired one in to stop Notre Dame's run. Thomson followed up with his second goal of the day to even the score at 3-3 with 2:12 left in the first quarter.
Notre Dame ended the first period on another three-goal rally. Dobson tallied one off a pass from Chris Kavanagh in an extra man opportunity, and Pat Kavanagh score two on his own before the end of the quarter.
Rhoa got one back for Syracuse to kick off the second quarter. Notre Dame finished the first half on a 4-1 scoring run that gave the Irish a 10-5 halftime lead. Devon McLane and Angrick scored two for the Fighting Irish before 'Cuse's Leo netted his first. Chris Kavanagh and Will Lynch each scored in the final minute of the first half to give Notre Dame a five-goal advantage at the intermission.
After the break, Thomson found Sam English for a goal. The Irish responded with back-to-back goals from Taylor to give them the largest lead of the game, 12-6, with 11:17 left in the third quarter.
'Cuse capitalized on their first extra man opportunity of the game as Hiltz nailed a shot off a feed from Stevens. Notre Dame retaliated one minute later as Jordan Faison netted the last goal of the third quarter and brought the Fighting Irish lead back to six.
From 13:37 to 12:04 in the fourth quarter, the Orange scored three consecutive goals. Thomson bagged his third for a hat trick, Joey Spallina put one past the keeper and Rhoa scored his second of the afternoon to cut Syracuse's deficit to three, 13-10.
Dobson scored one for Notre Dame with 6:45 to go. Stevens and Leo each scored one for the Orange that brought them within two, 14-12, with 2:43 left on the clock. The Irish defense held 'Cuse without a goal and effectively stopped the comeback effort.

Behind the Numbers

'Cuse finished their slate of games in March with a 5-1 record.
Syracuse suffered its first loss in regulation of the season. The other two losses this season came in overtime against Army and Maryland.
Notre Dame's Will Lynch won a commanding 19 of 26 attempts on the faceoff.
Both sides had success on the clear. Syracuse went 22-of-24 on the clear while Notre Dame was successful on 24-of-27 clears.
The Orange racked up 10 caused turnovers of the Irish's 17 total turnovers. Syracuse had 20 turnovers in the outing, 13 of which were forced by Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish took a slight 11-10 edge in the all-time series with today's result.

Up Next
The Orange have a quick turnaround before another top-10 competition against No. 7/7 Cornell this Tuesday, April 2 at 7 p.m. Tickets for men's lacrosse home games can be found at cuse.com/tickets.