April 19, 2014
Box Score | Photo Gallery 1 
| Photo Gallery 2
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Fifth-ranked Maryland scored the final four goals of the contest to take a 12-8 decision over No. 8 Notre Dame in Atlantic Coast Conference men’s lacrosse action on Saturday afternoon at Arlotta Stadium.
Sophomore attackman Matt Kavanagh tallied two goals and four assists for the Fighting Irish, while fellow attackman Conor Doyle also netted two goals. Mike Chanenchuk and Connor Cannizzaro both had three goals and one assist for the Terrapins.
Today was the ACC regular-season finale for both squads. The Fighting Irish will face the Terrapins again on Friday in the semifinals of the ACC Championship at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. Faceoff is schedule for 7:30 p.m. (ET). Notre Dame is the tournament’s No. 4 seed, while Maryland is the top seed. Duke (No. 2 seed) and Syracuse (No. 3 seed) will square off at 5 p.m. in the other semifinal. Both semifinals will be aired on ESPNU and WatchESPN as will the title game on Sunday, April 27 (1 p.m.).
Notre Dame (6-5, 2-3) trailed 6-3 at halftime and Maryland pushed the lead to four early in the second half on a Henry West goal. Kavanagh trimmed the deficit back to three before Matt Rambo put the Terrapins up 8-4 at the seven-minute mark of the third quarter.
The Fighting Irish offense then erupted with four consecutive scores in a span of 5:19 to even the game up, 8-8, with 11:36 left in the contest. Kavanagh started the uprising with 1:55 left in the third period and a Tyler Brenneman tally made it 8-6 by the end of the stanza. Jack Near sliced the Terrapin lead to one just over a minute into the final period and Doyle evened the affair for the first time all afternoon.
Maryland (10-2, 4-1) responded to Notre Dame’s 4-0 run with one of its own to close out the game. A Joe LoCascio goal at the 8:51 mark of the period gave the Terrapins the lead back for good and then three straight deposits, including one with the timer on, from Cannizzaro put the contest away.
“We came back and it was 8-8 with six or seven minutes to go in the game and we didn’t have the ball again,” Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said. “Literally, I don’t think we had a single six-on-six possession after that point. You can’t play the whole game at one end of the field. They kicked our butts in faceoffs all day long. That and us failing to clear a couple times hurt because you can’t win if you don’t have the ball.”
Charlie Raffa took every faceoff attempt for Maryland and he went 20-of-24. The Terrapins outshot the Fighting Irish 40-21. Junior goalie Conor Kelly made his first start since the North Carolina game (March 1) and made a career-high 14 saves for the Fighting Irish, while Niko Amato had nine stops for the Terrapins.
The Terrapins grabbed a quick 2-0 lead behind goals from West and Chanenchuk before Doyle put the Irish on the board with just under 11 minutes left in the opening quarter. A man-up deposit from Chanenchuk gave Maryland a 3-1 lead after one quarter.
Maryland extended the cushion to three on a Rambo goal, but a man-up tally from John Scioscia made it 4-2 with 8:45 remaining in the first half. The Terrapins converted on a man-up opportunity of their own as LoCascio scored and then it was Notre Dame’s turn to score with a man advantage when Sergio Perkovic found the back of the net to make it 5-3 with just over a minute left in the first half. Maryland was 2-of-3 in man-up chances, while Notre Dame was 2-of-5. A Chanenchuk goal with six seconds left on the clock gave Maryland a three-goal edge at halftime.
“We have to make some adjustments in our faceoff and we can’t dig ourselves a hole in the first half,” Corrigan said. “I’m proud of the way our guys came back because we were down and weren’t getting the ball. It’s not like we had a ton of chances but we didn’t quit and we didn’t lose our cool and we got ourselves back in the game with a chance to win. We just didn’t execute at the end of the game.”
April 19, 2014
Arlotta Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
#5 Maryland (10-2, 4-1) – 3 3 2 4 – 12
#8 Notre Dame (6-5, 2-3) – 1 2 3 2 – 8
Maryland (goals-assists)
Mike Chanenchuk 3-1, Connor Cannizzaro 3-1, Matt Rambo 2-0, Joe LoCascio 2-0, Henry West 2-0, Matt Dunn 0-1, Rustin Bryant 0-1
Goalie: Niko Amato (W, 60:00, 9 SVS, 8 GA)
Notre Dame (goals-assists)
Matt Kavanagh 2-4, Conor Doyle 2-0, John Scioscia 1-0, Sergio Perkovic 1-0, Tyler Brenneman 1-0, Jack Near 1-0, Jim Marlatt 0-1, Will Corrigan 0-1
Goalie: Conor Kelly (L, 60:00, 14 SVS, 12 GA)
— Sean Carroll, Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director
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