Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/27/14
From Press Releases
The two ACC newcomers have made their presence felt in their first year in the league. Third-seeded Syracuse (10-3) and No. 4 seed Notre Dame (7-5) each won their semifinal matchups and will square off at 1 p.m. for the conference championship Sunday, April 27 at PPL Park. The winner receives the league’s automatic berth in the 2014 NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship.
Both teams advanced to the title game in exciting fashion. Syracuse dispatched Duke, 16-15, on a last-second goal by Dylan Donahue. The Irish were 6-5 winners over top seed Maryland. Matt Kavanagh’s goal with seven seconds left was the difference in that one.
#9 NOTRE DAME (7-5) vs. #4 SYRACUSE (10-3)
Buy tickets here or at the gate – parking is free!
ACC Championship Final
Sunday, April 27 • 1 p.m. (ET)
PPL Park • Chester, Pa.
The Last Meeting
Notre Dame 10
Syracuse 11
March 29, 2014
Syracuse, N.Y.
Irish Fourth-Quarter Rally Falls Short In 11-10 Setback At Syracuse
No. 7 Notre Dame erased a three-goal deficit in the fourth quarter but No. 10 Syracuse’s Kevin Rice scored with just over two minutes left to give the Orange an 11-10 victory in Atlantic Coast Conference men’s lacrosse action on Saturday afternoon inside the Carrier Dome.
SETTING THE STAGE
• No. 9 Notre Dame (7-5) will take on No. 4 Syracuse (10-3) Sunday in the title game of the ACC Championship. Faceoff is slated for 1 p.m. (ET) at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. Syracuse is the tournament’s No. 3 seed and Notre Dame is the No. 4 seed. The winner will get the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
• The Fighting Irish took down top-seeded Maryland, 6-5, in the semifinals on Friday, while the Orange bested Duke, 16-15.
• Sunday’s showdown will be aired on ESPNU and WatchESPN. Eamon McAnaney (play-by-play), Quint Kessenich (analyst) and Paul Carcaterra (reporter) will be on the call. Live stats will be available via TheACC.com
THE SYRACUSE SERIES
• Sunday will be the 10th meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Syracuse. The Orange own an 8-1 advantage in the series.
• Notre Dame fell to Syracuse, 11-10, on March 29 inside the Carrier Dome. The Irish erased a three-goal deficit in the fourth quarter but Kevin Rice scored with just over two minutes left to give Syracuse the victory. Conor Doyle scored a career-high four goals for the Fighting Irish, while freshman goalie Shane Doss made a career-best 11 saves. Rice led the Orange with four goals and two assists.
• This is the second straight season that Notre Dame and Syracuse will meet in a conference tournament. The Orange topped the Irish, 9-3, in the semifinals of last year’s BIG EAST Championship.
• Notre Dame’s lone win over Syracuse was an 8-6 decision during the 2012 regular season at Arlotta Stadium.
IRISH FIGHT BACK TO TOP THE TERPS
• Matt Kavanagh scored with 6.5 seconds remaining to give Notre Dame a 6-5 win over Maryland on Friday night in the semifinals of the ACC Championship. That was Notre Dame’s first lead of the game.
• Notre Dame scored five of the game’s final six goals.
• Six different Irish players scored all six of their goals. Junior midfielder Jack Near assisted on Notre Dame’s first and last goals.
• Junior goalie Conor Kelly (Haverford School) made 12 saves for the Fighting Irish.
• The five goals were a season-low total for the Terrapins. It was the first time the Irish held a top-five opponent to five goals or fewer since a 13-5 win at No. 5 Duke in the 2013 season opener. The Notre Dame defense held Maryland’s leading scorer, Mike Chanenchuk (28g, 16a), without a point for the first time this season.
• It was the first win this season for the Irish in which they had fewer faceoff wins, fewer shots and fewer ground balls than their opponent.
• The six goals were the fewest amount in a Notre Dame victory since a 6-5 overtime triumph at Hofstra in 2012.
ASSISTING THE EFFORT
• Notre Dame had an assist on four of its six goals Friday versus Maryland.
• Over the last three games, 20 of Notre Dame’s 29 nine goals have been assisted.
ORANGE LOOKING TO GO 5-FOR-5
Every year Syracuse has been in a conference it has won a league championship. The Orange will try to keep that streak going in its first ACC title game.
The Orange spent four seasons in the BIG EAST (2010-13) and won four conference crowns. Prior to that Syracuse was an independent. The team’s four consecutive conference championships is the longest active streak in the nation. In fact, the only comparable stretch in the last 10 years is Cornell’s eight straight Ivy titles from 2004-11 (includes ties).
SU holds a 5-0 all-time record in conference tournament games. Coincidentally, all of those games have been played in the Philadelphia area. In addition to PPL Park hosting this year’s ACC Tournament, Villanova was the site of 2012 and 2013 BIG EAST Championships.
ANOTHER DOUBLE-DIGIT WIN SEASON
With 10 victories in 2014, Syracuse has reached double-digit wins for the 45th time in 98 varsity lacrosse seasons. The Orange has won at least 10 games in 13 of John Desko’s 16 years as head coach.
A WIN AGAINST NOTRE DAME WOULD …
… Be the program’s 857th victory, second all-time behind Hopkins (943).
… Improve SU’s record to 96-23 since the start of the 2008 season.
… Be John Desko’s 198th career coaching win.
… Clinch SU’s fifth straight conference championship and its first ACC title.
… Extend SU’s winning streak to seven games.
… Make the Orange 3-0 all-time at PPL Park..
… Increase Syracuse’s record to 6-0 all-time in conference tournament games.
… Mark the Orange’s seventh win this season versus a top-10 team.
SECOND MIDFIELD STEPPING UP
Second-line midfielders Billy Ward (17), Nicky Galasso (9) and Derek Maltz (12) all have at least nine goals this season. In addition, the trio combined for five goals in SU’s ACC semifinal win versus Duke. Maltz and Ward both had two and Galasso had one. Ward’s second goal tied the game, 15-15, with 14.7 seconds to go.
Ward has at least one goal in five straight games and at least one point in the last nine. He’s scored at least two goals in each of the last three outings.Galasso has seven goals in the last seven games. Maltz canned two goals Friday versus Duke to end a personal three-game scoreless streak.
CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT HISTORY
• This is Notre Dame’s fifth appearance in a conference tournament. The Irish are 5-2 all-time in league playoffs.
• Notre Dame won the only two Great Western Lacrosse League (GWLL) tournaments ever held (2008 & 2009). The Irish were the top seed for both GWLL tournaments and defeated Ohio State in the final each time.
• The Fighting Irish were 0-2 in the BIG EAST Championship. Notre Dame was the No. 1 seed for the inaugural tournament in 2012 and fell to St. John’s, 8-7, in the semifinals. The Irish were the No. 3 seed for last season’s tournament and were topped by No. 2 seed Syracuse, 9-3, in the semifinals.
IRISH IN THE CAGE
• Junior Conor Kelly has started each of the last two contests and has combined to post 26 saves in those games. He had a career-high 14 saves last Saturday against Maryland. That was his first start since the North Carolina game on March 1. Kelly is 2-2 this season with a 9.42 goals-against average and a .506 save percentage.
• Freshman Shane Doss has started seven contests and carries a 5-3 record with an 8.5 goals-against average and a .479 save percentage. He stopped a season-best 11 shots at Syracuse on March 29.
Conor Doyle ON A HOT STREAK
• Junior attackman Conor Doyle is the only Fighting Irish player to notch a point in all 12 games this season. His overall point streak stands at 15 games and he has scored a goal in 14 straight contests.
KAVANAGH A TEWAARATON AWARD NOMINEE
• Sophomore attackman Matt Kavanagh has been named a nominee for the Tewaaraton Award. The list of 28 nominees will be trimmed to five finalists in May.
• This is the fourth straight season Notre Dame has had at least one Tewaaraton Award nominee.
ALL-ACC ACCOLADES
• Matt Kavanagh (So./A) and Stephen O’Hara (Sr./D, St. Joseph’s Prep) were selected to the 2014 All-ACC Men’s Lacrosse Team. The Fighting Irish standouts were among 18 players named to the all-conference squad, which was voted on by the league’s six head coaches who could not vote for their own players.
EXTRA-MAN EFFICIENCY
• Notre Dame has the country’s second-best man-up offense percentage (.532). The Fighting Irish have scored on 25 of their 47 man-up opportunities this season.
• Freshman midfielder Sergio Perkovic and senior attackman John Scioscia both have a team-best seven man-up goals, while Conor Doyle has four.
• The Irish also have three man-down goals this season. Matt Kavanagh and Liam O’Connor scored seven seconds apart in a man-down situation against Ohio State, while Scioscia netted a man-down tally versus Duke.
IRISH EXCEL AT PPL
• This is Notre Dame’s second visit to PPL Park. The Fighting Irish downed Virginia, 12-10, at the venue in the quarterfinals of the 2012 NCAA Championship.
• As a school, Notre Dame is a combined 6-0 at PPL Park. The men’s soccer team won the 2013 national title at the stadium by defeating Maryland, 2-1, in the final on December 15. The Irish men’s soccer squad also captured the 2012 BIG EAST Championship, which was held at PPL Park.
STATE OF AFFAIRS
• Pennsylvania is the eighth different state Notre Dame has played in this season. The Irish competed in seven different states during their first nine games of the season (Indiana, Florida, North Carolina, California, Ohio, New York, Wisconsin).
HIGHS AND LOWS
• Notre Dame has averaged 13.4 goals per game in its seven wins, while the Irish have been limited to 7.8 goals per game in their five setbacks.
• Notre Dame has been held to seven goals in three of its five losses.
• The Fighting Irish are allowing 7.1 goals per game in their victories and 11.2 in the setbacks.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
• Six different players scored all six of Notre Dame’s goals in Friday’s win over Maryland.
• Twenty-one different Fighting Irish players have scored a goal this season. Notre Dame is averaging 8.7 goal scorers per game in its six victories.
• Notre Dame has five players with a double-digit goal total this season – Matt Kavanagh (24), Conor Doyle (20), Sergio Perkovic (15), John Scioscia (15) and Jim Marlatt (15).
HAT TRICK CLUB
• Seven Fighting Irish players have recorded at least one hat trick this season.
• Sophomore attackman Matt Kavanagh has a team-best five hat tricks, including a seven-goal output against Ohio State and a four-goal effort versus Virginia.
• Conor Doyle had a career-high four goals versus Syracuse and opened the season with a hat trick at Jacksonville.
• Freshman midfielder Sergio Perkovic netted a career-high four goals against Robert Morris.
• Trevor Brosco (Marquette), Jim Marlatt (Marquette), Nick Ossello (Virginia) and John Scioscia (Denver) all have produced one three-goal effort.
KAVANAGH KEEPS COMPILING BIG NUMBERS
• Sophomore attackman Matt Kavanagh has team-bests in goals (24) and assists (23) this season.
• Kavanagh matched a school record with seven goals in the win at Ohio State on March 25. The seven tallies tied the program record held by Randy Colley (1993 vs. New Hampshire) and Ryan Hoff (2007 vs. Drexel). Kavanagh also had an assist in the game and his eight points were one shy of tying the program standard.
• Kavanagh has 17 multiple-goal games during his career, including nine hat tricks. He has scored at least three goals in five games this season.
• He has dished out 10 assists in the last four games. Kavanagh matched a career-high mark with four assists last Saturday against Maryland.
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