Michigan
4-3
Notre Dame
6-0
Wolverines Fall to No. 2 Fighting Irish
3/18/2023 4:51:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
» Bryce Clay and Isaac Aronson led U-M with two scores apiece, while six Wolverines tallied at least one score on the afternoon.
» The Wolverines' faceoff unit excelled, winning 21 of 30 (70 percent) at the dot.
» Notre Dame's Pat Kavanaugh had a game-high 10 points (four goals, six assists)
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (U-M Lacrosse Stadium)
Score: #2 Notre Dame 18, Michigan 8
Records: U-M (4-3), UND (6-0)
Next U-M Event: Saturday, March 25 -- vs. Johns Hopkins (U-M Lacrosse Stadium), 7 p.m. (TV: BTN)
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan men's lacrosse team fell to No. 2-ranked Notre Dame by a final score of 18-8 on Saturday (March 18) at U-M Lacrosse Stadium.
Graduate student Bryce Clay and junior Isaac Aronson led the Wolverines (4-3) in scoring with two points each, while Michael Boehm finished with a goal and an assist, giving the junior attackman 14 points across the last three games. Despite this production, U-M struggled to match the offensive output from the Fighting Irish (6-0) from start to finish.
U-M controlled the faceoff dot, as the duo of graduate student Nick Rowlett (9-of-15) and junior Justin Wietfeldt (11-of-14) combined to win 70 percent and had 11 ground balls collectively.
The Wolverines fell behind quickly after Notre Dame won the opening faceoff, leading to a Fighting Irish goal 25 seconds into the contest. Fifth-year senior midfielder Peter Thompson evened the score two minutes later with his eighth goal of the season.
Notre Dame responded with a three-goal run, bookended by scratches from attackman Pat Kavanagh. With just over five minutes remaining in the opening quarter, sophomore midfielder Aidan Mulholland found senior midfielder Jacob Jackson, who cashed in his 10th goal of the year. His marker cut the Notre Dame lead down to two, making it a 4-2 game with 5:17 remaining in the first quarter.
Jackson's tally late in the opening quarter proved to be the last Wolverine goal of the half, and the Fighting Irish went on to produce five unanswered points. After closing out the first quarter with an additional two goals, Notre Dame tallied three goals across the second quarter to gain a seven-goal advantage at the break. The teams headed to the locker room with the Wolverines trailing 9-2 after putting up 19 shots in the first half.
The Notre Dame offense continued to click at the start of the third quarter, as Pat and Chris Kavanagh both found goals within the first four minutes of second-half action. Freshman attackman Bo Lockwood put a stop to the Michigan scoring drought at the 10:42 mark after his shot snuck past the Notre Dame keeper to make the score 11-3 Notre Dame. Boehm was credited with the assist on the score, giving the junior attackman his 30th point on the season.
Clay found a rhythm midway through the third quarter, scoring the next two Wolverines goals. His first tally came with 7:01 on the clock when senior midfielder Jake Bonomi found an open Clay, who scored to cut the Fighting Irish lead to 11-4. After Notre Dame responded on the other end with a goal of its own, Clay tallied another score off the feed from sophomore attackman Ryan Cohen, giving Cohen his 31st point this season, to make it a 12-5 game with 3:44 remaining in the third quarter.
A tally from Notre Dame in the closing minutes of the third quarter made it a 13-5 game heading into the final period of play. The Wolverines offense again fell into a scoring dry spell to start the fourth quarter, with the Fighting Irish scoring three straight goals to extend their lead to 16-5 with 11:42 remaining in the game. Boehm found his 16th goal of the season off an assist from senior attackman Josh Zawada just past the eight-minute mark, making it his sixth straight with multiple points. With the assist, Zawada extended his point streak to 39 games.
After two more goals from the Fighting Irish, Aronson buried two of his own to bring the Wolverines within 10 with less than three minutes remaining. After scoring his first goal unassisted at the 4:25 mark, Aronson tallied his second after an assist from Lockwood, giving Lockwood his first career multi-point game.
Tweet of the Game
GOAL
— Michigan Men's Lacrosse (@UMichLacrosse) March 18, 2023
Schriber causes a transition opportunity, Boehm and Zawada connect.
16-6 ND at 7:56 Q4.#GoBlue pic.twitter.com/vIuUJDzTJB
Notre Dame's Pat Kavanaugh had a game-high 10 points (four goals, six assists) for 10 points. Goalie Liam Entenmann had 11 saves.
Next up, U-M opens Big Ten play next Saturday (March 25) when they host No. 9 Johns Hopkins at 7 p.m. at U-M Lacrosse Stadium. The contest will be broadcast live on Big Ten Network.
