5/21/2023 other sports Edit

Notre Dame stifles Johns Hopkins to reach NCAA men's lacrosse semis

Notre Dame players celebrate a 12-9 NCAA Tournament quarterfinal victory over Johns Hopkins, Sunday at Annapolis, Md. (Notre Dame Athletics photo)

Eric Hansen • InsideNDSports

Publisher

For the sixth time in program history, the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team is headed to the Final Four.

Chris Kavanagh had an assist and three goals, including one with 2:16 left in third-seeded Notre Dame’s 12-9 NCAA Tournament quarterfinal victory over No. 6 seed Johns Hopkins, Sunday at Annapolis, Md.

The Irish (11-2) will play No. 2 seed Virginia (13-3) at 2:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia (ESPN2). No. 1 Duke (15-2) clashes with fifth-seeded Penn State (11-4) in the first semifinal, at noon. Saturday’s survivors return to the same venue Monday at 1 p.m. to play for the national title.

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Notre Dame, back in the national semis for the first time since 2015, will be seeking its first national championship. The Irish will have to go through Virginia, a seven-time champ that has beaten them twice already this season — 15-10 and 12-8 — to get to the title game for the third time ever.

On Sunday, they had to go through John Hopkins, a team with nine national titles in his rich history. And the Irish did it with defense and playing keepaway on offense.

ACC Defensive Player of the Year, senior All-America goalie Liam Entenmann amassed 10 saves, his 11th straight game with double-digit saves. Chris Conlin recorded a season-high four ground balls and added a caused turnover on the defensive end.

Jack Simmons had his first hat track of the season for the Irish, and added an assist. Jake Taylor continued his late-season surge, with three goals and now has eight in two NCAA Tourney games this postseason. Sophomore Jalen Seymour, with three goals all season heading into Sunday, added two goals.

Notre Dame outshot Johns Hopkins, 43-31, but only 18 of its shots were on goal, compared to the Blue Jays’ 19.

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