#1 Seed Notre Dame to Play for the Championship Against #7 Seed Maryland
PHILADELPHIA, PA. 5/25/2024 –
Notre Dame, the defending champion, will be playing in the title game for the second consecutive year. The Fighting Irish earned their spot by defeating the Denver Pioneers 13 – 6. Will Notre Dame repeat? If so, they will need to get by the Maryland Terrapins who won a 12 – 6 decision over Virginia. An ACC vs. Big Ten matchup is in the offing. Let’s see who they got to the game on Monday.
First Semifinal #1 Notre Dame 13 Denver 6
The teams stayed in close proximity to one another until top seeded Notre Dame scored 3 unanswered goals near the end of the third quarter to tilt the game in their direction. The Fighting Irish lead 9 – 5 going into the last 15 minutes. Then ND exploded for back-to-back-to-back goals within 1:01 seconds to take command and decide the contest. Two straight goals were scored by midfielder Devon McLane, who had thee goals in the game. Nick Harris had the other goal.
It was an outstanding defensive effort by Notre Dame who held Denver to their lowest goals scored this season. Goalie Liam Entenmann made 12 saves facing 30 shots. Ground balls worked to the Irish advantage getting 44 while giving up 24. In addition Notre Dame faceoff specialist Will Lynch won 18 of 23 faceoffs. The other five were won by Alec Stathakis of the Pioneers.
The Kavanaugh brothers, Pat and Chris led Notre Dame with 3 goals each. PAt assisted twice and Chris once.
Michael Lampert and Richie Connell scored two times each for Denver. Goalie Malcolm Kleban faced 35 shots and made 10 saves. Denver finishes the year with a 13 – 4 record.
Second Semifinal #7 Maryland 12 #3 Virginia 6
Both teams came off a loss in the first round of their conference tournament. They had time to review and learn from their mistakes. They met on the turf at the Linc for the chance to play for the crown. Maryland and Virginia are long time rivals from their ACC days. The Terps are in the Big Ten now. They have met 98 times. The Cavaliers lead the all-time series now 50 – 48. In the 2021 final UVA down UMD 17 – 16. They know each other.
After falling behind 1 – 0 early Maryland regrouped by scoring the next four goals, two by Daniel Kelly who had 3 in the game. Virginia could not come to within 2 scores for the rest of the game. The Terps led 7 – 3 at halftime.
After intermission Maryland took control of the game by scoring twice in the span of 20 seconds within the first minute of the stanza on goals by Jack Koras and Eric Spanos. Virginia finally got back to back goals for the first time in the game late to get to within 12 – 5.
Defensively, Maryland held Virginia to its lowest goal output of the season, and tied their second lowest number of goals allowed. Cavs leading scorers Connor Schnellenberger and Payton Cormier were held to a goal and an assist each. Terrapins goalie Logan McNaney made 8 of the 9 saves that came off 39 shots from UVA players. Maryland won the faceoff battle 15 – 7, all from Luke Wierman who also scored a goal.
The Terrapins got production from their leading scorers as Daniel Maltz had 2 goals. Braden Erksa was credited with 2 assists. Eric Spanos found the back of the cage twice and helped 3 times. Overall, 11 Maryland players scored at least one point.
McCabe Million led Virginia with 2 goals. Six Cavaliers were in the scoring column.
Virginia finishes the season at 12 – 6.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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