Over 1000 fans were in attendance to watch our Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse (6-4, 3-1 ACC) suffocate the North Carolina Tar Heels (8-5, 1-4 ACC), 12-5. The Irish put together an all-around great performance led by ACC Defensive Player of the Week Arden Cohen.  The Irish travel to Syracuse for their second to last game of the regular season this Sunday at noon (ESPNU).

The Scoring

Eric Dobson’s 4 goal performance led the Irish against North Carolina.  Taylor continued his run with a hat trick, while Chris Kavanagh had 2 goals and an assist. Pat Kavanagh stood out again with a goal, 3 assists, and a stellar 4 ground balls from the attack position.  Angrick and Harris also had a goal each.

On the defensive end, Arden Cohen stood out with his 5 ground ball stat line earned while shutting down the great Chris Gray.  The all-time scoring record would not be earned while Cohen was wearing the #40.  Entenmann had another amazing day with 14 save on 19 shots.

At the dot, Lynch and Hagstrom combined to win 13 of 20, continuing their steady improvement over the season.

The team went 2 of three on the extra man, and held UNC to 17 of 20 clearing.

The defense holding the Tar Heels to 17% efficiency was a special showing of dominance.

The Plot

Pat Kavanagh opened the scoring for the Irish quickly, with UNC responding a few minutes later with a goal by Atlanta’s Nicky Solomon.  The teams slowly exchange goals in a defensive slugfest until Chris Kavanagh put the Irish up 4-3 to end the half.  The Irish missed out on a few good opportunities, and perhaps there was some worry that letting North Carolina stick around would come to haunt them.

Those worries were quickly put to bed by a Dobson onslaught.  The Floridian had a 3rd quarter hat trick and added his fourth at the start of the 4th quarter.  The offense scored freely while the defense completely stopped UNC for 38 minutes.  The game was effectively over before they moved the scoreboard at all. There was even time for the coaches to get a larger part of the roster some time on the field.  It was a strong showing by every unit on the team.

Notes

The two details Irish fans will be most pleased about are the continued improvement by the faceoff unit, and the more consistent scoring of the offense with Taylor in it.  Lynch is learning quickly, and Taylor forces defenses to make impossible choices.  Cover the Kavanagh-Taylor axis closely, and the Dobson-led midfield will crush you.

It can’t be said enough, the week to week effort by this team recovering ground balls and on the ride is something special.


Overall, Notre Dame will be pleased that every unit is in form at the same time and capable of playing a full game of solid lacrosse.  The team is peaking at the right time.

The Final Push

The Irish have two regular season games remaining. The first is a tricky road game at the Carrier Dome versus Syracuse (Sunday, May 1, noon ESPNU). Syracuse has had a difficult run and has been eliminated from playoff consideration.  They will play the Irish in their final game of the season where they will also celebrate their Senior Day.  The will be supremely motivated to end their season on a high note by knocking the Irish out of the playoff hunt. The Carrier Dome is always a challenging venue for visiting teams and particularly for goalies.

Notre Dame must be mindful that while they had a good game against the Orange at Arlotta, they were still on the wrong end of faceoffs, going 11 of 30 against Jakob Phaup.  The Syracuse midfield remains formidable, and like the Irish addition of Taylor, the Orange have added freshman Jackson Birtwhistle.  The attackman had 5 goals against Virginia last week and 10 in the last 3 games.

Survive and advance.

#GoIrish