Notre Dame men’s lacrosse survives sloppy start, beats Albany in NCAA Tournament

Sloppy. Sleepy. Unfocused. Undisciplined.

Those words almost never describe Notre Dame men’s lacrosse, typically a team that executes extremely well. But during first half of Notre Dame’s NCAA Tournament game against Albany on Sunday at Arlotta Stadium in South Bend, they did. Those 30 minutes couldn’t have gone much worse for the top-ranked Irish, who made unforced error after unforced error and trailed 5-4 at the break.

If Albany came out on top, ESPNU analyst and former Virginia star Matt Ward said near the end of the second quarter, it would have been the biggest upset in men’s college lacrosse history. No. 1 Notre Dame made sure that didn’t happen by playing like themselves in the second half.

The Irish beat Albany 14-9, but they can’t afford to start like they did Saturday again if they hope win back-to-back national championships.

“Message at halftime was, ‘We were not very good,'” Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said. “We didn’t have enough energy. We weren’t making simple plays. They came in with a good game plan to make it hard on us.”

After the break, though, the Irish looked like the team that stormed its way through the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament by beating two heavyweights in Virginia and Duke by a combined 19 goals. They showcased the pretty passing, ferocious finishing and connected, team lacrosse that made them the overwhelming favorite to win it all.

“I think we just kind of got a feel for the game,” junior attackman Chris Kavanagh said. “We just regrouped as a unit, got back to our fundamentals. Thirty minutes for the rest of our season, so we just left it all out there and came with a jump in our step.”

Notre Dame’s issues began early, committing 6 turnovers in the first half. Each and every one of those turnovers were uncaused; it ended the half with 11 turnovers, three of them caused.

Balls seemed to go right through sticks. Ill-advised feeds were thrown into traffic. Errant passes traveled hopelessly out of bounds. Everything that could have gone wrong for Notre Dame offensively in the first half did.

After graduate student midfielder Devon McLane scored off a feed in front from graduate student attackman and Tewaaraton Award finalist Pat Kavanagh just more than two minutes into the game, the Irish only put the ball in the net once more in the first quarter. They built a three-goal lead in early in the second, but Albany stormed back.

The Great Danes scored the next 4 goals, two of which came during a man-up situation. Senior midfielder Carter Parlette committed a targeting foul to the head or neck area, giving him a three-minute, non-releasable penalty. Albany’s Amos Whitcomb scored midway through the man advantage, and then an unforced error really took its toll.

Notre Dame won the ensuing draw with 55 seconds left on the penalty, and it could have killed the rest of it from there. But the Irish got caught offside, giving possession right back to Albany and giving freshman attackman Ryan Doherty a chance to score with seven seconds to go.

On offense, when the Irish did get shots off in the first half, they were often attempts from too far away from the net mouth or from poor angles. Notre Dame didn’t work as a cohesive unit on the offensive end, and it hurt the Irish on the scoreboard.

“We were trying to get home runs early in possessions in the first half, and that is exactly the thing not to do with a team that was playing us the way they were playing us,” Corrigan said.

When the second half began, though, Notre Dame tightened the screws offensively. The Irish eliminated mistakes, only turning the ball over five times after halftime.

The other key to Notre Dame’s second-half surge: The Kavanaghs, Pat and Chris, took over. The latter opened the scoring in the third quarter with a rising missile into the back of the net, and he assisted on a goal from sophomore midfielder Max Busenkell less than a minute later.

Later, Pat Kavanagh broke wide open on the backside as Notre Dame transitioned from defense to offense and graduate student defenseman Marco Napolitano found him for an easy goal. The pass represented Napolitano’s first career point.

Nos. 50 and 51 combined for 8 second-half points.

“They’re the energy of our team,” Corrigan said about the Kavanaghs. “Not just the plays they make, scoring and shooting or assisting, but the way they ride. And you saw the energy that gave our team.”

The Irish pulled away in the fourth quarter and won somewhat comfortably, despite the slow start. Albany didn’t quit, though, and ended its season with an impressive effort on both ends of the field.

Notre Dame will move on to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament, where it will face No. 8 Georgetown on Saturday. The Hoyas beat Penn State 12-9 earlier on Sunday.

Georgetown defeated Notre Dame 11-10 in overtime Feb. 25. The mistakes the Irish made in that game, Corrigan noted, were not unlike the ones they made in the first half of Sunday’s win.

Notre Dame had not lost before that day, and it has not lost since.