May 21, 2014
Game Notes 
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#7 MARYLAND (13-3)
vs.
#6 NOTRE DAME (11-5)
NCAA Championship Semifinal
Saturday, May 24 – 3:30 p.m. (ET)
M&T Bank Stadium – Baltimore, Md.
TV/INTERNET
ESPN2
WatchESPN
RADIO
WestwoodOne
Sirius/XM Ch. 91
WestwoodOneSports.com
LIVE STATS
SETTING THE STAGE
– Sixth-seeded Notre Dame (11-5) will face No. 7 seed Maryland (13-3) Saturday in the semifinals of the NCAA Championship. Faceoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. (ET) at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md.
– The game will be aired on ESPN2 and WatchESPN. Eamon McAnaney (play-by-play), Quint Kessenich (analyst) and Paul Carcaterra (reporter) will be on the call.
– WestwoodOne will be covering the game on Sirius/XM Radio (Ch. 91). Jason Benetti (play-by-play), Mark Dixon (analyst) and Jason Horowitz (reporter) will call the action.
– The Fighting Irish and Terrapins split two meetings this season. Maryland won the regular-season matchup (12-8), while Notre Dame was victorious in the ACC semifinal showdown (6-5).
– The Irish are riding a season-best five-game win streak. Four of those wins have come by a single goal.
– The winner of the Notre Dame-Maryland contest will take on the winner of Saturday’s first semifinal between Denver and Duke on Monday in the national title game.
IRISH RETURN TO CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND
– This is the third Championship Weekend appearance in the last five seasons for Notre Dame and the fourth trip overall in program history. The Irish were semifinalists in 2001 and 2012 and they were the national runner-up in 2010.
POSTSEASON SUCCESS
– The Fighting Irish are 9-4 in the NCAA tournament over the last five seasons.
– Notre Dame and Duke are the only two schools to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship in each of the last five campaigns.
– Notre Dame and Maryland are the only two programs to earn a spot in the NCAA Championship field in each of the last nine seasons.
ANOTHER MEETING WITH MARYLAND
– Saturday will be the eighth meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Maryland. The Terrapins hold a 5-2 edge in the series.
– The Irish have won the only two neutral-site showdowns (2010 NCAA quarterfinals & 2014 ACC semifinals).
– This will be the fourth time Notre Dame and Maryland have met in the NCAA Championship. Maryland won in College Park (14-11) in the first round of the 1995 tournament and the Terrapins were victorious at Notre Dame (7-3) in the first round of the 2009 tournament. The Irish bested Maryland (7-5) in the 2010 quarterfinals in Princeton, N.J.
QUITE A COMEBACK
– Notre Dame trailed Albany by five goals (12-7) with just over eight minutes left in Saturday’s quarterfinal showdown. The Irish responded with four goals in a span of 1:52 to slice the deficit to one. Following a Great Dane goal, Notre Dame scored twice in 1:41 to tie things up (13-13) with just over three minutes left to play. Matt Kavanagh netted the winner 1:31 into overtime.
– The Fighting Irish forced seven turnovers in the final nine minutes of regulation.
– It was the second time this season that Notre Dame overcame a five-goal deficit in the second half. The Fighting Irish were down 8-3 at North Carolina (March 1) early in the third quarter before scoring five straight times to tie the game less than 30 seconds into the final period. Notre Dame went on to top the Tar Heels, 11-10.
KAVANAGH IS CLUTCH
– Matt Kavanagh’s overtime goal versus Albany was his third career overtime game winner. Last season, he scored in overtime against Penn State and North Carolina (3ot).
– Kavanagh scored the final goal with 6.5 seconds left in the 6-5 win over Maryland in this season’s ACC semifinals.
POSTSEASON PERFORMER
– Matt Kavanagh has 12 goals and six assists in four career NCAA tournament games. He has three hat tricks in tournament play and has registered at least three points in all four contests.
KAVANAGH KEEPS COMPILING BIG NUMBERS
– Matt Kavanagh’s 65 points (35g, 30a) are the most for a Notre Dame player since Tom Glatzel had 67 (40g, 27a) in 2001. Randy Colley owns the program record for points in a season with 74 (49g, 25a) in 1995. Kavanagh is two assists shy of tying Mike Sullivan’s school record that was set in 1990.
– Kavanagh matched a school record with seven goals in the win at Ohio State on March 25. The seven tallies tied the program standard held by Colley (1993 vs. New Hampshire) and Ryan Hoff (2007 vs. Drexel).
– He is the first Notre Dame player to register 30 goals and 30 assists in a season.
– Kavanagh has 10 multiple-goal games this season (seven hat tricks) and he has 21 multiple-goal games during his career (11 hat tricks).
FIGHTING IRISH ON A ROLL
– Notre Dame’s 6-5 win over Maryland in the semifinals of the ACC Championship ignited a current five-game winning streak. All five of those Irish opponents were ranked at the time of the meeting and its the first time in program history that Notre Dame has captured five straight wins over ranked teams.
– The Irish are averaging 13.2 goals per game during the winning streak.
– Notre Dame has combined to score 60 goals in the last four contests. Those are the most goals in four straight outings for the Irish since the 2008 season when they also had 60 goals in four games.
KEEPING IT CLOSE
– Four of Notre Dame’s last five games have been decided by one goal and the Irish have won them all.
– Notre Dame’s two wins at the ACC Tournament came down to the final seconds. Matt Kavanagh scored the game winner against Maryland with seven seconds left and Conor Kelly’s save off a Kevin Rice shot with two seconds remaining sealed the victory over Syracuse.
– Against Army, Notre Dame’s ride forced a turnover that led to Conor Doyle’s game winner with 20 seconds left in the regular-season finale.
– On Saturday versus Albany, Kelly saved a Ty Thompson shot with four seconds left in regulation and Kavanagh netted the game winner as the Irish topped the Great Danes in overtime, 14-13.
– The Fighting Irish are 5-2 in one-goal games this season.
GETTING OFFENSIVE
– Notre Dame is averaging 12.1 goals per game this season, which is on pace to be the highest average for the Irish since they had a 12.1 mark in 2008.
– The Irish have scored 15 or more goals in a game five times this season (three times against a ranked opponent). That’s the most since Notre Dame netted 15-plus goals on six occasions in 2008.
DYNAMIC DUO
– Matt Kavanagh (35) and Conor Doyle (30) are the first pair of Irish teammates to score 30 goals in a single season since 2001 when Tom Glatzel (40) and John Harvey (30) accomplished that feat.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
– Notre Dame has six players with a double-digit goal total – Matt Kavanagh (35), Conor Doyle (30), John Scioscia (27), Sergio Perkovic (23), Jim Marlatt (13) and Nick Ossello (11).
– Six Fighting Irish players had a multiple-goal effort on Saturday against Albany (Kavanagh 3, Doyle 2, Scioscia 2, Perkovic 2, Ossello 2, Westy Hopkins 2).
HIGHS AND LOWS
– Notre Dame has averaged 14.0 goals per game in its 11 wins, while the Irish have been limited to 7.8 goals per game in their five setbacks.
– The Fighting Irish are allowing 9.0 goals per game in their victories and 11.2 in the losses.
SCIOSCIA ON A SCORING BINGE
– John Scioscia (Sr./A) has combined to score 12 goals in the last three games. He tied a career-best mark with six goals versus Army in addition to assisting on two scores. Arguably his biggest play of the game occurred in the final minute when he forced an Army turnover, picked up the ground ball and assisted on Conor Doyle’s game winner.
– Scioscia tallied four goals against Harvard and two versus Albany. He has seven multiple-goal games this season.
Conor Doyle IS CONSISTENT
– Conor Doyle (Jr./A) is the only Fighting Irish player to notch a point in all 16 games this season. His overall point streak stands at 19 games and he has scored a goal in 18 straight contests, which is tied for seventh-longest streak in the nation.
EXTRA-MAN EFFICIENCY
– Notre Dame boasts the nation’s second-best man-up offense. The Fighting Irish have scored on 35 of their 64 man-up opportunities this season (.547).
– John Scioscia has a team-best 10 man-up goals, while Sergio Perkovic has nine. Conor Doyle and Eddy Lubowicki both have five man-up tallies.
– The Irish also have three man-down goals this season. Matt Kavanagh and Liam O’Connor scored seven seconds apart in a man-down situation against Ohio State, while Scioscia netted a man-down tally versus Duke.
NEAR COMING UP BIG FOR NOTRE DAME
– Jack Near (Jr./SSDM) currently has a career-best six-game point streak.
– He had two assists, including the one on Matt Kavanagh’s game winner with seven seconds left, in the 6-5 win over Maryland in the ACC semifinals. He scored what proved to be the game winner in Notre Dame’s 15-14 victory over Syracuse in the ACC title game.
– Near tallied a career-high two goals against Army in the regular-season finale. He scored one goal versus Harvard in the first round of the NCAA tournament and had an assist against Albany in the quarterfinals.
– Near has nine goals, five assists and 24 ground balls this season.
KELLY IN THE CAGE
– Conor Kelly (Jr./G) has started each of the last six contests. He has a 5-1 record in that span to go along with a 10.95 goals-against average and a .504 save percentage.
– Kelly made a career-high 17 saves against Harvard in the first round of the NCAA tournament. He has registered a double-digit save total four times in the last six games.
– Kelly played a major role in Notre Dame winning the ACC title. He stopped 12 Maryland shots in the semifinals and had eight saves against Syracuse in the final.
– Overall this season, Kelly is 6-2 with a 10.7 goals-against average and a .480 save percentage.
– Freshman Shane Doss has started seven contests and carries a 5-3 record with an 8.5 goals-against average and a .479 save percentage. He stopped a season-best 11 shots at Syracuse on March 29.
IRISH IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP
– This is Notre Dame’s ninth straight appearance in the NCAA Championship (a program record) and 19th trip overall. Notre Dame owns a 14-18 record in the tournament. Every appearance has occurred under head coach Kevin Corrigan.
– Last season, the Irish earned the tournament’s No. 2 seed (a program best) and defeated Detroit (9-7) in the first round. The Fighting Irish fell to Duke (12-11) in the quarterfinals in Indianapolis.
– Notre Dame’s best performance in the NCAAs was a finalist finish in 2010. The Irish have been to Championship Weekend four times (2001, 2010, 2012, 2014).
– This is the seventh time overall – and sixth time in the last seven seasons – the Fighting Irish have earned one of the eight national seeds for the NCAA Championship. The Irish also were seeded for the 2001 (5th), 2008 (6th), 2009 (7th), 2011 (4th), 2012 (4th) and 2013 (2nd) tournaments.
– Notre Dame is 5-1 at home (4-0 at Arlotta Stadium) in the NCAA tournament.
FIGHTING IRISH CLAIM ACC TITLE
– Notre Dame bested Syracuse 15-14 to claim the ACC Tournament title in its inaugural appearance. The Irish exploded with a 6-0 run in the third quarter to claim a 13-8 lead. Notre Dame survived a late rally from the Orange and the game was sealed when Irish goalie Conor Kelly saved a close-range shot from Kevin Rice in the final seconds.
– Matt Kavanagh, the tournament MVP, paced the Irish with four goals and two assists. Jim Marlatt had three goals and one assist, while Conor Doyle posted two goals and three assists.
– The Irish had six different players score all six of their goals in the 6-5 win over Maryland in the semifinals.
– It was the third conference tournament title for the Irish in their fifth appearance in such an event. Notre Dame won the only two Great Western Lacrosse League Tournaments ever held (2008 & 2009).
ACC ACCOLADES
– Matt Kavanagh (So./A) and Stephen O’Hara (Sr./D) were selected to the 2014 All-ACC Men’s Lacrosse Team. The Fighting Irish standouts were among 18 players named to the all-conference squad, which was voted on by the league’s six head coaches.
– Kavanagh (MVP), O’Hara, Conor Doyle (Jr./A) and Conor Kelly (Jr./G) were selected to the ACC All-Tournament Team.
STATE OF AFFAIRS
– Maryland will be the ninth different state Notre Dame has played in this season (California, Florida, Indiana, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are the others). The Irish competed in seven different states during their first nine games of the season.