Marcus Freeman snaps pic with Notre Dame lacrosse's Brian Tevlin after Final Four game winner
Notre Dame lacrosse upset Virginia in overtime to earn a return to the national championship game for the first time since 2014. And the overtime goalscorer and hero of the day Brian Tevlin got to pose for a quick photo with Irish football coach Marcus Freeman after the game.
Freeman, fresh off his first full season as the Notre Dame head coach, could’ve been doing any number of things with his Memorial Day weekend. But the Irish coach made a point to make it to Philadelphia to see some high-level lacrosse.
“Moving on to the natty,” a tweet from the Notre Dame football account with the picture of Freeman and Tevlin said.
After Duke had dispatched Penn State in the first semifinal in overtime — three ACC teams made the Final Four in 2023 — the Cavaliers and Irish gave a fitting encore performance, carrying play on into sudden-death overtime themselves.
And all game, Virginia and Notre Dame never created much separation from the other. The Irish held a 4-3 lead after one quarter, but Virginia tied the score at 6-all by half. Then the Cavaliers got the jump in the second half, taking a 9-8 lead into the final frame.
In the last 15 minutes of regulation, things got frantic. Notre Dame had knotted the score at 11 with less than a minute to play. Virginia took a 12-11 lead with :52 left. Notre Dame took just 20 seconds to answer and send the game to overtime.
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In overtime, the Irish never gave the Cavaliers a chance. A faceoff win by Will Lynch gave Notre Dame the ball. Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan took a timeout with 3:40 to go in overtime.
After the break, Tevlin — who had an assist and two shots on goal at that point — took the ball, rolled to the middle and faked a dodge before diving to the cage. He flicked an odd-angled shot into the back of the net, sending Notre Dame to the championship and himself to a one-off encounter with Freeman.
Not a bad way to kick off Memorial Day weekend for the Irish.
Duke and Notre Dame will faceoff at 1 p.m. on Memorial Day on ESPN with the national championship on the line. The two squads have played once already this season in regular season ACC play as Notre Dame toppled the Blue Devils in South Bend, 17-12, on April 8.