Despite a promising first half, Virginia men's lacrosse suffered its third straight defeat Saturday, falling to No. 9 Notre Dame on the road. The Cavaliers (5-7, 0-3 ACC) couldn't staunch the second-half explosion put on by the Fighting Irish (6-3, 2-1 ACC) and walked off the field with a 12-7 loss that shoved their hopes of a postseason appearance even further into the ground.
The first two quarters of the game were evenly matched, with each team scoring twice in the first quarter and once in the second. In most cases, Virginia put itself in good positions against the Irish, blocking shots and making it hard for the hosts to score.
Yet after coming out of the locker room for the second half, the Cavaliers could not continue to tame Notre Dame, even though the beginning of the third quarter looked as though the same battling energy would continue. In the first nine minutes, each team again scored once each to bring the score to 4-4. That is, until the Irish's senior midfielder Ben Ramsey got ahold of the ball and scored with less than three and a half minutes left in the period.
Ramsey's goal triggered something in Notre Dame — from that moment on, the Irish were completely unstoppable. In the final minutes of the third quarter, three different Notre Dame players tallied unassisted goals, slicing through Virginia's defense with ease. The Cavaliers entered the fourth quarter trailing 8-4, their largest deficit of the game to that point.
It got worse, with the Irish scoring seven goals in a row, bridging the third and fourth quarters, before Virginia stopped the bleeding. To its credit, Virginia responded with a renewed effort late in the fourth quarter. It scored three goals in the final few minutes — including back-to-back finishes from senior attackman Thomas Mencke. But the game, by then, had long been over.
Statistically, the game was closer than the score suggested. The Irish took 11 more shots overall, but the two teams were nearly even in shots on goal — 21 for Notre Dame to 20 for Virginia. Still, the Cavaliers struggled to capitalize on their chances when it mattered the most.
In the goal, senior goalkeeper Matthew Nunes played the entire game, and the energy from the rest of the team extended into the deepest part of the defense as well. Nunes was on fire in the first half, coming up about even in saves in comparison to Notre Dame junior goalkeeper Thomas Ricciardelli — however, in the third quarter, Nunes failed to make a save and allowed five goals. Similarly, in the fourth quarter, Nunes only blocked one of five shots on target.
The physicality of the game also stood out. After a relatively clean first quarter, each team committed two penalties in the second, setting the tone for a bruising second half. By the end of the game, Virginia had been called for seven penalties compared to five for Notre Dame — a notable jump considering the Cavaliers had not been called for more than six penalties in any of their previous three games.
Virginia, it increasingly seems, only has two more games before the chapter closes on this season. A game against Lafayette next Saturday at Klöckner Stadium will be nothing to sniff at, as the Leopards defeated No. 15 Boston University this weekend.
Then it will be a home game against No. 12 Duke to close the regular season. And that will likely be it. The loss to the Irish puts the Cavaliers 0-3 in ACC play, meaning that even if they pull off an upset in their final conference game against Duke, it may not guarantee a spot in the ACC Tournament.
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