Notre Dame lacrosse rolls past Ohio State and into the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals..

Notre Dame lacrosse rolls past Ohio State and into the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals

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SOUTH BEND — Notre Dame lacrosse made sure there was no repeat of its last-minute meltdown on March 8 against Ohio State.

With attackmen Chris Kavanagh and Jake Taylor recording matching hat tricks, the two-time defending national champions rolled to a 15-6 win over the fourth-seeded Buckeyes on Sunday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio.

Leaving an overflow crowd disappointed, unseeded Notre Dame improved to 9-4 with its ninth straight NCAA Tournament win. The Irish have outscored their opponents 131-74 during that streak.

Ohio State, ranked second in the latest poll, closed its year at 14-3.

Notre Dame advances to face fifth-seeded Penn State (11-4) in a May 18 quarterfinal in Annapolis, Md. The Nittany Lions outlasted Colgate 13-11 on Saturday in their NCAA Tournament opener.

“We had contributions from pretty much every spot on the field, which is kind of unusual,” Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said. “It was a really good performance all around. Coming out of a week of exams, you never quite know. But I thought our energy was terrific, and the focus of our guys was great.”

Ohio State closed the margin to two early in the third period before the Irish caught fire again. Taylor scored two of the next three goals for the Irish, including a breakaway that made it 10-5 midway through the third.

Kavanagh, named a Tewaaraton Award finalist during the week, recorded his 29th career hat trick. It was Taylor’s first three-goal game since March 29.

Second-period surge spells the difference

After spotting the Buckeyes a 3-1 edge, Notre Dame ripped off six straight goals on its way to a 7-4 halftime lead. The Irish held possession for all but 3 ½ minutes in the 15-minute second quarter.

“That really took a lot out of our defense,” Ohio State coach Nick Myers said. “That was a combination of failed clears, faceoffs, stops. Credit Notre Dame. They made some plays in that moment to do that. From the 10-minute mark on in the second quarter, that’s where you felt like the game shifted.”

With face-off specialist Will Lynch doing the bulk of the heavy lifting, the Irish won 18 of 25 draws in a stark turnaround from the March 8 result.

“Leading up to that game, I’ll be the first one to admit I didn’t prepare as I should have,” Lynch said. “This week we really went through that film and dissected what went wrong in that matchup and certain techniques. We prepared great this week and we have to keep it going down the stretch.”

Junior goalie Thomas Ricciardelli, making his first NCAA Tournament start, saved 71 percent of the shots on goal, finishing with 15 saves in 21 chances.

“The defense was giving them shots I like to save,” Ricciardelli said. “I don’t want to say easy shots because no shot is an easy shot, but very savable balls. I appreciate them for giving me the opportunity to make a few saves, and I guess get hot in that regard.”

This marked the first time since 2010 that Notre Dame opened the NCAA Tournament on the road.

Notre Dame, which has made 18 of the past 19 tournament fields, has reached the quarterfinals or better all but once in its past 14 NCAA Tournament appearances.

Since 2019, Notre Dame is 11-2 in NCAA Tournament play with a pair of one-goal quarterfinal losses to Maryland (2021) and Duke (2019).

Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.