After weeks of anticipation and emotional buildup for the rematch of the 2023 Final Four game, Virginia faced off against Notre Dame in a clash of collegiate lacrosse titans. However, any hopes of victory held by Virginia players and fans were crushed in the last quarter of play. Saturday’s matchup saw No. 6 Virginia, the national leader in ground balls, somehow allowed No. 1 Notre Dame, a distant 15th, to win the ground ball battle by a whopping 24. This ground ball dominance propelled the Fighting Irish (10-1, 4-0 ACC) to an 11-9 triumph over the Cavaliers (10-4, 1-3 ACC) at Klöckner Stadium before a crowd of 6,479, the stadium’s highest attendance mark in 11 years.
“Wow,” Coach Lars Tiffany said. “What an amazing day of lacrosse. What a tremendous crowd. That was awesome, to see Klöckner bursting at the seams.”
The home crowd enjoyed the afternoon — at least for a while. The two teams traded goals early — graduate midfielder Devon McLane opening the scoring for Notre Dame before freshman attacker McCabe Millon zoomed around his defender to answer.
Telltale cracks appeared for Virginia soon after, however, when junior attacker Chris Kavanagh scored from the doorstep for the Fighting Irish, unmarked, on a simple feed. The Cavalier defense, which submitted an altogether formidable performance, occasionally struggled to properly rotate and stop Notre Dame from wriggling into its chinks.
The first quarter ended tied 3-3, with Virginia controlling the faceoff dot and Notre Dame commanding the ground balls. Those themes remained as the game motored on, while another emerged as the second quarter began. The officiating became an unfortunately increasing target of Tiffany’s furious points and gestures as he stalked within his box, toeing the edge of the white lines.
That made sense, though, because the game grew rather unhinged. It started midway through the second quarter with an outrageous Virginia goal. Graduate attacker Connor Shellenberger, spinning around the crease, delivered a breathtaking pass through a thicket of sticks to graduate midfielder Jack Boyden, who spun and threw the ball backwards into the net. Meanwhile, ground balls grew more contentious, graduate attacker Payton Cormier scored an awkward goal — the ball squirmed past graduate goalie Liam Entenmann, Notre Dame’s celebrated netminder — and junior goalie Matthew Nunes produced more saves.
After the half had ended, the mayhem had subsided, and the dust had temporarily cleared, Virginia entered halftime clutching a 6-4 lead. It swelled into a 7-4 lead 16 seconds into the second half via a faceoff win that turned into a ground ball pickup by junior defender Ben Wayer, which then turned into a Cormier goal.
Then Virginia froze. Notre Dame scored four straight goals, holding Virginia scoreless for more than 14 minutes of game time. Cormier finally scored at the third quarter’s end to stanch the bleeding.
The fourth quarter arrived with the game knotted, with the stands crowded and packed and the eyes of the lacrosse world staring down. Virginia promptly recovered the lead, with sophomore attacker Ryan Colsey sending a low, blistering shot into the corner. Graduate midfielder Devon McLane scored a couple minutes later to tie it again, then freshman midfielder Jordan Faison scored for the Irish a minute later to take the lead.
Virginia pushed and pushed, trying desperately, but Notre Dame had an unbreakable hold over the final quarter. The Fighting Irish won all five of the quarter’s faceoffs, scooped up 16 ground balls to Virginia’s three and outshot the Cavaliers 12-2.
“We were just turning the ball over,” senior defender Cole Kastner said. “[We] gave them more opportunities than we gave our offense.”
Virginia still had a chance, though. Down a goal, the defense stood fast on a late possession, and a Notre Dame shot skittered wide, bringing up a restart with eight seconds lingering on the shot clock. The Fighting Irish made a pass, searching for a gap in the Cavaliers’ defense, but nothing materialized.
Then came McLane, slicing through the middle, stick aloft, practically crying out for the ball. The ball found him. He scored, flicking the ball past a lunging Nunes, as the shot clock expired. There are moments that make wins and those that make losses — this one made a loss for the Cavaliers.
The last couple of minutes featured more craziness, more whistles and yelling, but ultimately Virginia failed to score, and so the fans poured toward the exits. The Notre Dame win broke a six-game regular-season Virginia win streak in the series — nobody on the current Fighting Irish roster had ever won at Klöckner.
“So we’ve had this one circled for a while,” graduate attacker Pat Kavanagh said.
He and McClane led the Fighting Irish with four points, followed by Chris Kavanagh with three. On a quiet day for the Virginia offense, Cormier still shined with four goals, and Shellenberger had three points.
“I told the fellas, ‘Fellas, I have confidence in you,’” Tiffany said. “‘You should have confidence. We have to have this confidence. Yes, we’ve lost a couple games, but don’t let that sneak in. Don’t let that steal the belief we have in each other.’ And, unfortunately, something happened there in that fourth quarter where we just gave the ball away.”
Virginia’s focus now swivels to next week, where they will have another chance at the Fighting Irish, this time in Charlotte, N.C. in the ACC Tournament semifinals. Notre Dame is the No. 1 seed, and Virginia the No. 4. The rematch will occur Friday at 5 p.m., and the game will be broadcast on ACC Network.
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