It could be argued that No. 1 ranked Notre Dame had little to play for in Sunday’s title game of the ACC men’s lacrosse tournament.
And apparently you’d lose that argument. Badly.
Having likely already clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament with a Friday 18-9 rout of fifth-ranked Virginia in the ACC semis, the defending national champions encored with a 16-6 walloping of No. 6 Duke in Charlotte for the third ACC title in school history and first since 2018.
It marks the first time, though, the Irish won both the ACC's regular-season and tournament titles in the same year.
The Irish (12-1) find out their NCAA Tourney draw tonight during the bracket-reveal show that starts at 9:30 EDT on ESPN2. The fourth-ranked Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team (15-3) will find out its tourney assignment in the 9 p.m. EDT women’s lacrosse reveal.
Sunday marked the 10th consecutive win overall, matching the longest streak since 2012, and sixth straight victory for the Irish in their series with Duke, including a 15-12 regular-season victory in Durham, N.C., earlier this season and a 13-9 triumph in last year’s national championship game.
Chris Kavanagh contributed five points — three goals and two assists — to lead the nation’s No. 1 scoring offense that matched its season average. Jake Taylor had a hat trick, while Devon McLane, Pat Kavanagh and Reilly Gray scored two goals apiece for Notre Dame.
Goalie Liam Entenmann, named ACC Tourney MVP, recorded 12 saves against Duke (12-5), which came into the matchup as the nation’s third-highest-scoring team (15.4 goals per game). Blue Devils leading scorer Brennan O’Neill was held to a goal and no assists.
Joining Entenmann on the all-tourney team for the Irish were Will Lynch, Shawn Lyght, Chris Kavanagh, Taylor and McLane. Lynch was 15-of-21 on faceoffs against Duke.
Notre Dame is 7-0 this season against teams ranked in the Top 10 at the time of the matchup.
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