In rematch of '24 championship, Logan McNaney, No. 2 Maryland lacrosse throttle No. 1 Notre Dame for 11-10 win
Maryland men's lacrosse remained perfect and handed Notre Dame a taste of revenge after last year's national title game loss.
Top-ranked and two-time defending national champions Notre Dame came into Bobby Dodd Stadium with nine preseason All-Americans littered across its roster. The Terps had a single player earning any such honors - sixth-year senior and 2022 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, goalie Logan McNaney.
With 20-seconds remaining in the game, McNaney (61.5 percent) made his 16th and final save of the game by stuffing Tewaaraton front-runner Chris Kavanagh one-on-one to secure an 11-10 Terps' win. Not that McNaney carried the Terps' defense. To the contrary, McNaney didn't even make all the saves the Terps had on the day.
A suffocating Maryland defense, led by Will Schaller (1gb, 2ct, 1sv) and LSMs Jack McDonald (1a, 1gb) and AJ Larkin (1a, 1gb, 1ct), held the nation's most efficient offense nine goals below its season average. The Irish came into the game with nearly a 49 percent offensive efficiency, but the Terps defense held the Irish to just under 26 percent efficiency today.
It didn't look that way at the start of the game.
Notre Dame jumped out early. Jake Taylor, who Georgetown shut out last week but killed the Terps last season, got open in the middle of the crease and put a behind-the-back shot past McNaney. Less than a minute later off a shot clock reset and scramble, Chris Kavanagh was open on the low wing. He beat McNaney, and the Terps trailed 2-0 just three minutes in.
With Maryland's face-off unit struggling early, the Terps had little possession.
On the Terps' first offensive possession after moving the ball down the left side, Zach Whittier (1a, 2gb) dodged down the alley. He rolled back and found Eric Spanos (3g, 1a) cutting in the high crease. Spanos ducked under a check and beat Thomas Ricciardelli (9sv, 45 percent) high, and the Terps drew back to a 2-1 deficit.
The Terps spent most of the first quarter on defense and struggled to get shots against Notre Dame's active defense; the Irish, however, continued their early season form of turning the ball over.
With just under two minutes remaining, Notre Dame football star Jordan Faison dodged toward the middle of the field but rolled back to his right hand. He beat McNaney low on a jump shot. That gave the Irish a 3-1 lead.
The Terps gained one last possession in the first quarter, and Spanos cashed in a shot off an alley dodge with just seven seconds remaining. The Terps trailed 3-2 at the end of the quarter.
McNaney made four saves in the quarter to keep the Terps in the game, but Notre Dame won all six face-offs in the opening quarter. The Terps only took four shots in the quarter but got all of them on goal while Notre Dame got up 14 shots with only seven on goal.
The teams traded turnovers and saves to open the second quarter.
Freshman Jack Schultz (2g) took the ball on the right side of Notre Dame's defense after a long Terps' possession. He got under All-American Ben Ramsey and beat Ricciardelli high to tie the game at 3-3.
The Terps earned a man-up when Braden Erksa (1g, 1a), an Atlanta native, got under his defender and appeared to score a goal while being pushed. The referees reviewed the play and found that Erksa had landed in the goal mouth but was pushed. That pulled the goal off the board, but the Terps got a man-up opportunity, which the Irish killed off.
At the other end of the field, the Terps settled in and were helped by a consistent flow of Irish turnovers.
The Terps took their first lead of the game. Matthew Keegan and Bryce Ford (2g, 1a) played a two-man game on the left side of the Irish defense. Ford took the ball to the middle of the field and found Daniel Kelly (3g) alone in the crease. Kelly ducked under a stick check, carried the ball to the middle of the field, and beat Ricciardelli low. The Terps led 4-3.
Notre Dame tied the game at 4-4 less than a minute later. Taylor again found himself with a step ahead of his defender and beat McNaney. The Irish retook the lead on their next possession when Max Busenkell was alone at the side of the goal when Will Angerick threw a one-handed pass from the ground to him for an easy goal. The Irish retook the lead at 5-4.
The Terps had a chance on an extra-man to tie the game, but Ricciardelli made a save to kill off the penalty.
Notre Dame had a final possession for the half but could not get off a quality shot.
Trailing 5-4 at halftime, the Terps had to feel lucky. Notre Dame outshot the Terps 22-11 but could only get 10 of their shots to the Terps' nine on goal. The Irish dominated the face-off by a 9-2 advantage. Without McNaney's five saves and Notre Dame's nine turnovers, the Terps could have trailed by more.
The Terps won the opening face-off of the second half but turned the ball over. Schaller forced a Kavanagh turnover to give the Terps possession. The Terps attacked the Irish defense from up top. After switching the ball from the left to the right size of the field, Ford dodged hard down the alley and beat Ricciardelli low to tie the game at 5-5.
McNaney then stoned a one-on-one shot from Devon McLane, but the Terps couldn't get a shot off in time before a shot clock violation. The defense forced another Notre Dame turnover, and Maryland started to turn the possession advantage back their way.
The Terps ate deep into the shot clock. Spanos drove down the right alley with 10 seconds left on the shot clock. He threw a skip pass across his body back to the top where Ford was alone. Ford stepped into a shot and beat Ricciardelli. That gave the Terps a 6-5, which they would not relinquish.
The defense forced another turnover on the next possession, and the Terps' offense went back to work again but couldn't find the net. Notre Dame, however, committed their 13th turnover of the game with an offsides. Spanos had his shot saved, however.
Schaller, a defender, then made a diving save off a failed Terrapins' clear. McNaney lost possession of the ball near midfield, and Notre Dame's Chris Jeffrey picked up the ball and jetted toward an open goal. He fired at the open net, but Schaller dove to knock the ball away.
The Irish kept possession on the run out, but Schaller then forced a turnover on Faison. Larkin scooped the ball in traffic and raced upfield. He offloaded a pass to Kelly, who rifled a low shot past Ricciardelli.
Schaller was responsible for a two-goal swing, and the Terps led 7-5.
Taylor answered back on a high slot goal, which closed the Terps' lead to 7-6 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter.
Sean Creter won the next face-off. The Terps took two shots on the possession but couldn't find the goal. Late in the shot clock, Spanos dodged to his left and passed to Schultz. Schultz pushed into the middle and fired a shot low past Ricciardelli to restore the Terps' lead to 8-6.
The Terps' defense forced another Notre Dame turnover as the third quarter expired.
Kavanagh then donned a Superman cape and scored a flying goal to draw the Terps' lead down to 8-7.
But another Notre Dame offsides turnover gave the ball to the Terps, who pushed right away. Defensive midfielder Zach Goorno (1a) had the ball on the right wing and zipped a pass to the middle of the field where Erksa caught the pass and fired a goal.
McNaney then snagged his 12th save and threw an outlet pass upfield. The Terps ran a perfect fast break with Erksa playing tick-tac-toe to Spanos, who pump-faked and scored over Ricciardelli. The Terps' lead expanded to 10-7 with under 12 minutes left in the game.
McNaney then robbed another Notre Dame shooter with 10 minutes left to give the Terps' another possession. The Terps didn't score, but Notre Dame felt all the pressure in the game. McNaney stuffed a between-the-legs shot on Notre Dame's next possession.
Taylor spot fed Kavanagh cutting across the field, and Kavanagh broke the Terps' momentum with a goal. The Terps led 10-8 with under seven minutes remaining in the game.
