Kavanaghs, Poise Lift Notre Dame in NCAA Title Game Rematch

Just as Duke looked like it might tap into its sold-out home crowd at Koskinen Stadium and get a bit of revenge against the team that beat the Blue Devils in the 2023 NCAA Division I championship game, Notre Dame reminded the 3,500 fans in attendance that the crown still resides in South Bend.

Just as Duke (10-3, 0-2 ACC) fought to tie the score at 11 with 9:09 remaining Sunday afternoon, Notre Dame (7-1, 2-0) locked in and leaned on its usual suspects to secure a 15-12 win.

Its signature defense first reasserted itself, coming up with a stop when Aidan Danenza’s shot was blocked. That was perhaps the break the Irish needed, as Eric Dobson gave them the lead for good on the next possession.

Jake Naso won the next faceoff, but Duke couldn’t clear. Nick Harris caused a turnover, another defensive play that led directly to a goal — shades of the style that led Notre Dame to its first-ever championship last May.

Pat Kavanagh, who had four first-half goals, assisted Jake Taylor for a 13-11 lead with 5:52 left. He extended the lead to 14-11 with 1:42 left after consecutive defensive stands in which Liam Entenmann was peppered with shots (both on cage and wide of it).

“It’s about making plays,” Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said after the game. “You’ve got to play well, because if you don’t play well, they’ll crush you. And then you have to make plays. They make you make plays. You don’t get away with anything out there.”

It was a chippy beginning to the afternoon. Notre Dame won last year’s title game 13-9, and Duke was of course looking to defend its home field. Tempers flared when Kavanagh was cross-checked in the head with the score knotted at 2 in the first quarter.

Corrigan attributed it to nothing more than two high-caliber teams duking it out.

“That’s just the game,” Corrigan said. “I don’t think there was any hangover or anything. When two top-three teams play each other, it’s going to be physical. I don’t think that was anything other than good lacrosse.”

Dyson Williams scored on a man-up chance to give Duke its only lead of the game at 4-3, but the ensuing Notre Dame rally was a backbreaker for the Blue Devils.

Chris and Pat Kavanagh each scored twice, sandwiching a goal from Fulton Bayman, turning that one-goal deficit into an 8-4 lead in a six-plus-minute stretch.

Notre Dame maintained a two- or three-goal lead for most of the second half until the Blue Devils began stringing positive possessions together.

Brennan O’Neill’s second goal of the game cut the deficit to 11-9, then Williams and Andrew McAdorey scored 10 seconds apart, tying it at 11 with 9:09 left.

Notre Dame rebounded, and Corrigan credited his players’ composure — even when he almost lost his own.

“I think our team kept their poise better than their coach did,” Corrigan said. “Our guys stayed dialed in; they stayed focused on making the next play.”

Both Chris and Pat Kavanagh netted four goals. Pat Kavanagh chipped in three assists. Entenmann, continuing what appears to be a second-half Tewaaraton Award push, made 12 saves.

Williams led Duke with four goals, and three of his teammates — McAdorey, O’Neill and Max Sloat — scored twice.

— Additional reporting by Matt Hamilton