Notre Dame wins second consecutive lacrosse title with rout of Maryland

The Maryland men’s lacrosse team fell back to Earth on Monday — its unlikely postseason run ended with a 15-5 loss to Notre Dame in the national championship game.

The No. 1 seed Fighting Irish earned their second consecutive national title in dominant fashion, capping a one-loss season by dismantling the underdog No. 7 seed Terrapins.

With the victory, Notre Dame became the ninth men’s lacrosse team to secure back-to-back national titles. The Fighting Irish hadn’t lost since February and dominated opponents throughout the postseason.

“This is what we play for, this is what we live for,” Notre Dame goalie Liam Entenmann said. “We look for these opportunities: big games, big moments.”

Notre Dame’s dominant offense was powered by brothers Chris and Pat Kavanagh, who combined for 11 points. Chris finished with a game-high five goals. Pat, who will join the Premier Lacrosse League’s Boston Cannons next week, orchestrated the offense and recorded six assists.

“(Notre Dame) don’t have any weaknesses. We knew it’d be a big challenge,” Maryland coach John Tillman said. “They are awesome. They are worthy champions, they deserve it.”

The highly-anticipated matchup at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia was delayed for two hours due to inclement weather. Players had already warmed up and stood for the national anthem when storms started to roll in. Fans were asked to leave their seats as the squads returned to their locker rooms.

“You come off that rain delay and you don’t know what’s going to happen,” Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said. “You’re just hoping the guys are there and I felt like, emotionally, our guys stayed pretty into it.”

Maryland opened the scoring with a goal by midfielder Ryan Siracusa. The graduate student beat Entenmann just 34 seconds into the game, giving the Terrapins an early lead.

Attackman Eric Spanos added to the lead three minutes later with a bounce shot after a slick pass from Siracusa.

Then the defending champions woke up. The Fighting Irish went on a 10-1 run to establish a commanding 10-3 lead with time ticking down in the first half.

After a penalty by Notre Dame, Maryland used its 6-on-5 advantage to score a goal. The tally was its first in nearly 20 minutes of game action, narrowing the score to 10-4.

But the Terrapins couldn’t keep up with the high-powered Fighting Irish offense. Maryland goalie Logan McNaney, the 2022 NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, allowed 10 goals before securing his first save.

“I wouldn’t trade Logan for anybody, I just wouldn’t,” Tillman said. “Obviously, we didn’t let him see a lot of good shots to get him heated up. … I just wish we had given him some better ones to let him get into a flow.”

While Maryland’s netminder struggled, Entenmann found his stride after letting three shots into the net in the first nine minutes. The Most Outstanding Player in last year’s NCAA Tournament locked down the goal for the rest of the game, finishing with 16 saves while allowing just 5 goals.

“We just started making little plays as we’ve done all year,” Entenmann said. “Coach [Corrigan] always talks about not overthinking anything. Just make little plays one by one, that adds up to big plays.”

The little plays led to a scoring onslaught that continued in the second half as the Fighting Irish outscored the Terrapins 5-1 in the final 30 minutes. Maryland was outmatched.

“We maxed out what we could, and I’m not going to sleep really well, but I’ll sleep better knowing how much the staff, the kids, everybody put into it,” Tillman said. “There really wasn’t much we left on the table.”