May 8, 2016

Final Stats | Photo Gallery | Box Score

An offensive veteran and a rookie attackman paved the way for the University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team Sunday at Arlotta Stadium as the sixth-ranked Irish closed out the regular season with a 13-7 triumph over Army West Point.

Senior captain Matt Kavanagh contributed a pair of goals and four assists (his third gave him 100 in his career), while freshman Ryder Garnsey had a game-high four goals of his own and a season-high-tying six points. That came in front of 1,829 fans on a near-perfect, sunny, 66-degree day in South Bend, as the Irish head into the postseason on a high note after breaking a two-game losing streak.

Junior Notre Dame goaltender Shane Doss permitted only three goals in more than 51 minutes of work (his best statistical outing since allowing two goals to Detroit in 47 minutes in late February), and the Irish scored all five goals of the second period to build a 9-2 edge at the halftime break.

Notre Dame’s defense held the Black Nights (10-7) off the scoreboard for a 23:33 period after the second Army goal. The visitors finally scored again just less than four minutes into the second half–but that prompted a four-goal run by the Irish that created a commanding 13-3 advantage.

“This was an important game for us in a lot of ways,” said Irish coach Kevin Corrigan. “But nothing more than feeling good about where we are and the quality of our play at this time of year. I think we can feel that way after the game we played today.”

Senior Trevor Brosco gave the Irish a lead they would never relinquish a minute and a half into the contest, and the first of Garnsey’s four tallies came about 90 seconds later. Coming out of a 5-2 lead after one period, Kavanagh provided the assists on three straight Irish scores, two by Garnsey who last week was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Freshman of the Year.

Brosco’s second goal (on a Garnsey assist) followed by Kavanagh’s second goal with :05.8 until halftime made it a seven-score Irish lead at the break. Those nine goals matched the top-scoring first half in 2016 for Corrigan’s crew (since it built a 9-4 advantage by the halfway mark a month ago at Syracuse).

Notre Dame (10-3) broke it open with consecutive goals by Pierre Byrne (his first of 2016), Garnsey, senior Eddy Lubowicki (his first since the March 26 Ohio State game) and senior Carl Walrath (his first of the year)–as Army this time went 20:40 without a point.

Garnsey’s six points tied his total from the win at Syracuse (he had five goals that night).

The Irish outshot Army 46-28, forced 18 Black Knight miscues and won 11 of 17 face-offs through the first three periods. Senior Notre Dame captains and defenders Matt Landis and Eddy Glazener each had two caused turnovers. Eight different Irish players scored goals–and only against North Carolina (nine) did Notre Dame top that figure. The 13 goals marked Notre Dame’s sixth double-figure scoring outing of 2016.

The win pushed the Irish total into double figures for the 11th consecutive season. It marked the third consecutive year Notre Dame finished its regular season by defeating Army.

The Irish await announcement of the 2016 NCAA Championship bracket at 9 p.m. EDT Sunday on ESPNU.

— by John Heisler, senior associate athletics director

Score by Period 1 2 3 4 F
Army (10-7, 5-3 Patriot League) 2 0 1 4 7
#6 Notre Dame (10-3, 3-1 ACC) 4 5 2 2 13

Army Scoring:
Goals: Jimbo Moore 2, Luke Poulos 1, Shea Mullins 1, Conor Glancy 1, David Symmes 1, Connor Cook 1;
Assists: Ted Glesener 1, Cole Johnson 1
Notre Dame Scoring:
Goals: Ryder Garnsey 4, Trevor Brosco 2, Matt Kavanagh 2, Mikey Wynne 1, Brendan Collins 1, Pierre Byrne 1, Eddy Lubowicki 1, Carl Walrath 1; Assists: Matt Kavanagh 4, Ryder Garnsey 2, Mikey Wynne 2, Brendan Collins 1
Goalkeepers
Army: AJ Barretto, L, 53:03, L, 13 goals against, 8 saves; Matt Isnardi, 6:57, 0 goals against, 1 save
Notre Dame: Shane Doss, W, 51:29, 3 goals against, 10 saves; Conor Kelly, 8:31, 4 goals against, 1 save