The Cooldown: Notre Dame Regaining Golden Touch; Special Moment at Army-Navy

A week ago, after Notre Dame lost to Syracuse, I wrote that the Irish had fully shifted from the hunted to the hunter role. Midway through the third quarter on Saturday, with Notre Dame sparring with a struggling Virginia team in a 4-4 deadlock, I started to think that maybe the Irish had lost the magic that helped carry them to two straight national championships.

And then it happened.

First-year starting goalie Thomas Ricciardelli made a save and hit Ben Ramsey in stride on the outlet. The standout defensive midfielder carried it the rest of the way on the fast break and gave the Irish a 5-4 lead with 3:27 left in the third quarter.

Virginia won the next faceoff, but Notre Dame faceoff specialist Will Lynch came over the back of Virginia’s Henry Metz to force a turnover. With the shot clock winding down, Chris Kavanagh sold out and scored on an impossible angle with 2:15 left in the quarter.

VINTAGE KAVANAGH!

Take a bow Chris Kavanagh, his 2nd of the game is a #SCTop10 nominee with the diving finish. Watch on ESPNU.#GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/y87uXh7Itg

— Notre Dame Lacrosse (@NDlacrosse) April 12, 2025

You can’t talk about magic and Notre Dame and not talk about Jake Taylor. Taylor pulled off his latest trick on the next Irish possession. Jordan Faison’s shot was blocked and Taylor, while laying on the ground, picked up the ball and threw it over his shoulder with 52 seconds left in the quarter.

🤯🤯🤯

ANOTHER HIGHLIGHT GOAL! Jake Taylor moves to fifth in program history for career goals with 123 and the lead is 3! Watch on ESPNU.#SCTop10 x #GoIrish☘️ pic.twitter.com/oGN3mDEAC2

— Notre Dame Lacrosse (@NDlacrosse) April 12, 2025

“This quarter can't end soon enough for Virginia,” Paul Carcaterra said on the ESPNU broadcast.

But it didn’t.

Jalen Seymour scored with 10 seconds left in the quarter to make it 8-4 – four goals in a span of just over three minutes to completely flip the game.

Notre Dame carried the momentum into the fourth quarter and completed the 12-7 victory.

On a day when Cornell helped cement its spot as the No. 1 team in the country and Maryland showed that its very capable of beating anyone, the Irish reminded us that they have an explosiveness that could very well have them raising hardware on Memorial Day once again.

Random Observations

Navy didn’t get the storybook ending against Army, losing in overtime, but can you imagine a cooler moment as a father than getting to see your daughter sing the anthem before the game. Great stuff for Navy coach Joe Amplo and his daughter, Sophia.

A very special father-daughter moment ❤️

Sophia Amplo, daughter of @NavyMLax Head Coach Joe Amplo, sang the National Anthem before the start of the Army vs. Navy rivalry game. #NCAAMLAX x 🎥 CBS Sports Network pic.twitter.com/1RgMNB4TmO

— NCAA Lacrosse (@NCAALAX) April 12, 2025

Next Saturday should be fun with CAA-leading Towson hosting Fairfield in a big CAA contest. The Tigers were the CAA favorite coming into the season, but got off to a 1-5 start against a difficult slate. They’ve since bounced back with six straight wins, including a double-overtime win against Baltimore rival Loyola on Tuesday and a win over Hampton on Saturday. The feel-good Stags improved to 11-1, beating Delaware 13-10, its first victory over the Blue Hens since 2017. Owen Hirsch made a career-high 16 saves in the victory.

With two weeks still remaining, the Ivy League tournament field is already set. Cornell, Harvard and Princeton have been rolling, so no surprises there, but Yale guaranteed itself a spot in the dance with a 21-12 victory over Dartmouth. The Bulldogs are 3-2 in the league with wins over Brown, Dartmouth and Penn – the three teams that could come back to tie them in the league standings.

Don’t look now, but Michigan will host Ohio State for the Big Ten regular season championship on Saturday afternoon on the Big Ten Network. Certainly not what people expected at the start of the year, but one of college athletics biggest rivalries should create a special atmosphere in Ann Arbor next weekend. Michigan is already the pre-determined host for this year’s Big Ten tournament.

Michigan gutted out an 8-6 victory at Rutgers on Sunday afternoon despite losing 12 of 18 faceoffs and Rutgers goalie Cardin Stoller making 14 saves. Rutgers committed 24 turnovers, three of them caused by Pace Billings, and failed on five clears.

Ohio State will be looking to regroup after seeing its 11-game winning streak go away in a 13-8 loss to Maryland. The Buckeyes have lost four straight in the Michigan series.

By the Numbers

16 • Combined points for Cornell’s duo of C.J. Kirst and Ryan Goldstein in Cornell’s 17-12 win over Syracuse. Kirst had five goals and three assists and Goldstein had three goals and five assists.

715 • Career saves for Maryland’s Logan McNaney, breaking the 41-year-old school record of 705 held by Kevin O’Leary (1981-84). McNaney made 10 saves as the Terrapins jumped on Ohio State early in a 13-8 victory that snapped the Buckeyes’ 11-game winning streak.

21 • Goals for Harvard’s Jack Speidell in the last four games. Speidell had five goals, his fourth straight game with at least five goals, in the Crimson’s 13-6 win over Penn. Harvard qualified for the Ivy League tournament for the first time since 2016 while beating Penn for the first time since 2013.

7 • Career-high tying goals for Penn State’s Matt Traynor in a 10-4 victory over Johns Hopkins.

10 • Points for Loyola freshman Mason Cook in a 21-12 win over Holy Cross. Cook had five goals and five assists to become the first freshman at the school to post 10 points in a game since 2016. Who did that? A guy you may have heard of … Pat Spencer.

2016 • The last time North Carolina had beaten Duke in Durham before Saturday. Michael Gianforcaro backed a strong defensive effort with 12 saves to help the Tar Heels edge the Blue Devils 8-7.

5 • Caused turnovers for Richmond’s Mitchell Dunham as the Spiders beat High Point 11-6 to take sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10.

5 • Goals for Providence’s Richie Joseph in a 14-2 victory over Marquette that ended a four-game losing streak for the Friars after they had opened the season strong.

2013 • The last time Villanova started Big East play with a 3-0 record. The Wildcats have bounced back from a slow start to the season with four straight wins, including three in league play. On Saturday, Brett Mallee, Jake Melchionni and Jack Shoemaker all had three caused turnovers in a 10-7 win over St. John’s.

18 • School-record tying groundballs for Robert Morris’ Bo Columbus in a 15-9 victory over VMI. Columbus won 19 of 23 faceoffs in the game as the Colonials moved to 5-0 in the NEC.

31 • Wins for Bellarmine’s senior class, the most for a class in school history. The Knights beat Mercer 17-14 on Saturday.

5 • Goals for Saint Joseph’s freshman Ben Dutton for the second consecutive game. Dutton, helping the Hawks to a 15-7 win over Hobart, already has set a school record for goals in a season for a freshman with 38.

4 • Patriot League wins for Lafayette, the most in program history. The Leopards upset No. 16 Boston University, 11-9, the second straight year they pulled off an upset against the Terriers.

9 • Consecutive wins for Drexel over Hofstra on Long Island after a 14-6 victory on Saturday. Max Semple had five goals and Brendan Donnelly made 13 saves.