PHILADELPHIA – After scoring three goals in the final three minutes of regulation, the No. 3 Fighting Irish clawed their way back and forced overtime against No. 2 Virginia in the NCAA semifinal at Lincoln Financial Field.
Faceoff man Will Lynch won the opening faceoff of overtime and set the final stage to complete the comeback with the Irish calling timeout once they had possession.
Brian Tevlin faked a pass to Eric Dobson and got to the cage before finishing with very little angle to work with to send the bench into mayhem and the Irish into their third national championship game in program history.
Tevlin’s goal gave Notre Dame the 13-12 comeback win in an instant classic.
Notre Dame will face No. 1 Duke on Monday at 1 p.m. ET in the NCAA Championship final. The game will air on ESPN.
Eric Dobson led the attack with a game-high five points off four goals and an assist. Jake Taylor, Pat Kavanagh and Jack Simmons each added two goals in the victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish came out firing, as Dobson beat his man to the right and found the back of the net with his off-hand on the opening possession to put the Irish up 1-0. Notre Dame doubled its advantage just over a minute later with an on the run goal from Simmons to make it 2-0 inside the first two minutes of play.
Virginia answered with three straight to take its first lead of the afternoon with three minutes in the frame but Notre Dame finished strong with a goal from Simmons and a beautiful behind-the-back feed from Pat Kavanagh to Jake Taylor, who finished with a twister right before the first quarter horn to give the Irish a 4-3 lead after the opening 15 minutes.
The Cavaliers scored the first two goals of the second stanza to retake the lead at 5-4 over the first four minutes of the quarter. Notre Dame responded by tying it at 5-5 off a transition goal from Ben Ramsey. Both UVA and the Irish added a goal before the half to make it a tie game at 6-6 heading into the halftime break.
Dobson completed his hat trick in the second minute of the third quarter, putting the Irish in front 7-6. The see-saw affair continued with the Cavaliers scoring the next two to reclaim an 8-7 advantage. Both teams tacked on one more before the end of the period, as the Irish trailed by one at 9-8 heading into the final 15 minutes of regulation.
The Cavaliers scored two of the first three goals of the fourth quarter to push their lead to two goals at 11-9, their largest of the day. Trailing by two with less than three minutes remaining, Dobson found Chris Kavanagh in front of the crease, who finished to cut the Virginia lead to one with 2:38 left in regulation.
The Irish won the ensuing faceoff and Dobson this time played the role of scorer, firing in his fourth of the day to level the score at 11-11 with 52 seconds remaining.
Virginia once again responded, scoring on the next possession to go back in front with just under a minute left on the clock at 12-11.
With the season on the line Lynch once again came up huge, winning the faceoff to setup Tevlin feeding Taylor, who used a twister finish to send the game into overtime and set the stage for Tevlin’s heroics.
ND STAT OF THE GAME
Notre Dame won the faceoff battle, going 16-for-28 on the afternoon, including winning six of the final nine in the fourth quarter and overtime. Will Lynch led the team with a 13-for-22 effort from the dot, adding seven ground balls.
ND NOTES
- Notre Dame improves to 24-25 in NCAA Championships history, including a record of 19-11 over the last 12 tournament appearances.
- The Irish have now advanced to Championship Monday on three occasions, also reaching the title game in 2010 & 2014.
- The Irish are now 2-0 against Virginia when playing in the NCAA Tournament, also winning the matchup in the 2012 quarterfinals in Chester, Pennsylvania.
- Notre Dame held the UVA offense to 12 goals for the second time this season, its lowest output of the year.
- Pat Kavanagh set the all-time program record for most points in a single season in the win, finishing with three points to bring his season total to 76. Pat passed his brother Matt, who was the previous record holder with 75 points.
- With 11 saves, Liam Entenmann extends his double-digit save streak to 13 games.
- Jake Taylor finished with two goals and now has 10 straight multi-goal games.
- Jack Simmons finished with three points and has now recorded seven points over the last two games (5G, 2A).
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will face No. 1 Duke on Monday at 1 p.m. ET in the NCAA Championship final. The game will air on ESPN.
— ND —