CHARLOTTE – The No. 6 Fighting Irish fell to No. 12 Syracuse in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament on Friday evening by a final score of 14-12 at American Legion Memorial Stadium.
Notre Dame’s attack was led by a trio of Devon McLane, Will Angrick and Chris Kavanagh, each scoring two goals in the contest.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish spotted Syracuse an early three-goal lead, as the Orange put three past Notre Dame in the opening five minutes of play.
Notre Dame bounced back and managed to score three of the final four goals of the first frame to cut the lead to just one after 15 minutes of play. Kavanagh got the Irish on the board before Max Busenkell and Brock Behrman each scored their first of the day.
Jalen Seymour scored a shot on the run to level the score at 4-4 early in the second quarter. The Orange reeled off four straight goals to take their largest lead of the game at 8-4.
The Irish clawed back into the game, scoring the last two goals of the half to trim the Syracuse advantage to 8-6 through 30 minutes of action. The Irish goals came from Luke Miller and Jordan Faison, the first of the day for each.
Notre Dame came out of the locker room and scored on a beautiful transition passing sequence within the first minute of play to cut the Orange lead to one at 8-7. However, Syracuse scored a man-up goal at the 10:21 mark of the third to push the lead back to two.
After the goal the game was delayed for just over 50 minutes due to lightning in the area, sending both teams back to the locker room.
The Irish found the back of the net less than a minute into the restart to once again draw within one at 9-8.
However, Syracuse managed to score the next three goals over a 12-minute period to go back on top by four at 12-8 with over 14 minutes left in regulation.
Notre Dame finished the game by scoring four of the final six goals down the stretch but was unable to complete the comeback, falling 14-12 to the Orange.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will find out their postseason path when the NCAA selection committee releases the tournament bracket at 9:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 4. The broadcast will air on ESPNU.
— ND —