Pat Kavanaugh Leads ND to 22-8 Win Over SU
By Tyler Melito
CitrusTV Men’s Lacrosse Beat Reporter
To quote Toby Keith, “Every dog has its day dog, but today dog just ain’t yours.” That almost certainly applies to Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse (6-5, 2-4 Atlantic Coast) as they fall to Notre Dame (7-3, 3-3 Atlantic Coast) by the final score of 22-8.
By looking at the final score, it would be hard to believe that this was a tie game after the first quarter, but that was the case. The ACC foes were knotted up at three goals a piece. Then, the second quarter happened. In the first matchup between these two teams, the Fighting Irish scored nine goals in the second quarter. Today, they were able to one-up that mark with ten goals. In the two games between the Orange and Irish, Notre Dame has the same number goals in the second quarter, 19, as Syracuse did in the 120 minutes of lacrosse played.
As was the case last time, Pat Kavanagh was the star of the show. Four goals and five assist in round one against the Cuse. Today he was even better, setting a single-game record with 10 total points, five goals, five assists. The performance pushed his season totals to 23 goals, 36 assists, 59 total points and if he was not a firm favorite for the Tewaaraton award for the nation’s top player entering today, he has surely done so after this performance.
Postgame, Syracuse head coach John Desko would call Kavanagh’s performance “He is terrific… He sees the field well, he understands their offense. When the ball is in his stick, you can just see the Notre Dame players working harder off the ball because they know that if they get open he is going to find them.”
Top to bottom, the Fighting Irish played significantly better than the ‘Cuse. Here is the breakdown:
● Shots: Notre Dame(63), Syracuse(43)
● Shots on Goal: Notre Dame(31), Syracuse(22)
● Faceoffs Won: Notre Dame(20), Syracuse(12)
● Clears: Notre Dame(17 for 20), Syracuse(11 for 15)
The list goes on but you get my point. Liam Entenmann, the net minder for Notre Dame has a strong day, 11 saves on 17 shots faced. The thing with him was that it was the timeliness of his saves. On multiple occasions, Syracuse had opportunities to halt these extended runs by the Irish, but were simply unable thanks to Entenmann standing tall in between the pipes.
Speaking of extended runs by Notre Dame, from 8:44 remaining in the first half after Jamie Trimboli cut the Orange deficit to two and made it a 7-5 game, the Fighting Irish went on a 14-1 run until 4:45 remaining in the fourth, which includes an 8-0 to start the second half.
On where this team goes from here with one game remaining, Desko said “I am glad we have that game[against Robert Morris]. It is a chance [for] another week of practice, figure out who they are and come out and try to play really well so that when we are being looked at by the selection committee, the guys will feel better about themselves heading into the NCAA’s.”
Not many bright spots to point to for Syracuse and after what has been a tumultuous week, one can only imagine that this will certainly not help them as they try to fight and remain in consideration for receiving a bid into the NCAA Tournament. They will have a chance to get one more win on their resume, Friday May 7 at 4pm inside the Dome against Robert Morris.
@MelitoTyler | tylermelito@gmail.com
