The season ended for Notre Dame with a catastrophic loss to Denver in the NCAA quarterfinals, 16-4.
There aren’t many positive details to review, but Mikey Wynne did have a hat trick in the loss and Garrett Epple had an outstanding 5 caused turnovers and 7 ground balls. Sergio Perkovic had a goal and an assist in the final game of his outstanding Notre Dame career.
After winning the first faceoff and taking a 1-0 lead early in the game, Denver won the next 21 straight faceoffs, leading to complete domination of possession. The Irish were entirely inefficient with the possessions they did get, even going well over 15 minutes without as much as a shot. The final score flattered the Irish with Notre Dame scoring 2 near the end well after the game was out of hand. Owen Molloy came in for Shane Doss for the final 10 minutes of the game.
We had tons of notes from the game, but rather than relive this, we’ll instead look forward and have a season recap for our readers soon along with a tribute to our seniors and a look towards 2018.
As defensive coordinator correctly noted after the game:
I will close my eyes 2nite knowing that as good as this class was on field they will b better fathers-leaders-brothers in the years 2 come
— Gerry Byrne (@byrneirish) May 21, 2017
We enjoyed ever bit of this Notre Dame season and thank the team for their effort. #GoIrish
final note:
We were disappointed to read comments on other sites and twitter of our fans lashing out against this team and the coaching staff for “choking” “not capable of winning a championship” and being “satisfied with mediocrity.” These commenters do not understand lacrosse nor the trajectory of this team. Bad losses happen. All four quarterfinal games were disasters, not just that of the Irish. Notre Dame has made the quarterfinals 8 years in a row, something no other team did, and it’s important to know teams like perennial powerhouse Maryland have not won a championship in 40 years. Last year’s champion, North Carolina, waited over 20. Notre Dame has entrenched itself at the top and done in the right way. They have much to be proud of. We will be patient.
We just can’t seem to beat Denver in any sport. They regularly crush us in hockey and lacrosse.
FIRE CORRIGAN.
Not saying that at all. It just seems in those two sports, Denver owns us. The trajectory of both teams is strong, we just need to miss Denver in the play-offs.
I was just playing.
We think beating Denver is the litmus test. and let’s not be dismissive about Denver, they may be all on their own out west, but they are coached by the most successful coach in the history of lacrosse.
Glad to see our editor, and pride of Gunnery lacrosse, has jumped into the discussion. Eric- do you need the link to NDNation?
Lacrosse is a town in Wisconsin.
-ND Nation