Irish Dominate Syracuse To Advance To Nationwide Championship – Notre Dame Fighting Irish – Official Athletics Web site

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Notre Dame will play within the closing recreation of the season for the third time in 4 years, because the Fighting Irish superior to the NCAA nationwide title recreation with a convincing 15-7  win over No. 6-seed Syracuse at Scott Stadium on Saturday.

The Irish will tackle Princeton within the championship recreation at 1 p.m. ET on Monday, May 25 at Scott Stadium. The recreation will air on ESPN.

Josh Yago continued his tear within the NCAA Tournament, posting his second-straight seven-point efficiency off three objectives and 7 assists. The grad pupil now has a team-high 54 factors off 31 objectives and 23 assists.

Brock Behrman had his greatest NCAA Tournament recreation of his profession, ending with 4 factors off two objectives and two assists. Will Maheras additionally turned in a four-point efficiency with a aim and three assists.

Max Busenkell and Luke Miller added two objectives apiece in notable outings.

On the defensive facet of the sphere Thomas Ricciardelli was masterful in aim, making 14 saves whereas holding the high-powered Orange assault to simply seven objectives, tying a season low for Syracuse.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Irish couldn’t have requested for a greater begin, scoring twice within the first 5 minutes to seize a fast 2-0 lead off objectives from Behrman and Will Angrick. Notre Dame tacked on two extra scores over the subsequent 7 minutes of motion, courtesy of Max Busenkell and Matt Jeffery to double its result in 4-0.

Syracuse responded with a flurry within the closing 2 minutes of the primary body, scoring 3 times to chop the Irish result in one at 4-3 after the opening quarter-hour of motion.

The Irish had been flagged for a two-minute unreleasable penalty early within the second quarter and managed to attain their first man-down aim of the yr on the finish of it to swing momentum again on their facet. Teddy Lally scored off the feed from Maheras to place the Irish again on prime by two.

Busenkell then scored his second of the afternoon simply 3 minutes later to place Notre Dame again on prime at 6-3.

Syracuse lower the rating to 6-4 with slightly below 6 minutes left within the half however the Irish cashed in on an extra-man alternative for the second time of the primary half-hour to present Notre Dame a 7-4 benefit heading into the halftime break.

Notre Dame got here out of the intermission and tacked on two extra objectives over the primary 9 minutes of the third quarter to push its result in 9-4, its largest of the sport. The Irish objectives had been scored by Behrman and Dylan Faison.

The Orange refused to go away, registering the final three scores of the quarter to make it a 9-7 recreation heading into the ultimate quarter-hour of regulation.

Momentum swung fully again in Notre Dame’s favor to start out the fourth body, because the Irish struck 3 times throughout a non-releasable two-minute penalty on the Orange. Brady Pokorny scored the primary off a highlight-reel behind-the-back end after which Yago and Miller added scores to present the Irish a 12-7 lead.

Notre Dame by no means regarded again, as Maheras scored with 10 minutes left adopted by objectives from Miller and Yago to place the exclamation mark on the victory and ship the Irish to Monday’s title recreation.

STAT OF THE GAME

Extra-man alternatives had been one of many predominant tales of the sport, as Notre Dame completed 5-for-6 and held Syracuse to 0-for-5. The Irish additionally added a rating when down a person, their first of the season.

NOTRE DAME NOTES

• Notre Dame improves to 33-26 in NCAA Championships historical past, together with a document of 28-12 over the past 15 event appearances.
• The Irish have now received 12 of their final 13 NCAA Tournament video games.
• Each of Notre Dame’s final eight NCAA Tournament wins have been by a minimum of 5 objectives or extra.
• The eight-goal win marks the biggest margin of victory in an NCAA semifinal recreation because the 2021 season.
• The 2026 season marks the fifth time in program historical past that Notre Dame has reached the NCAA Championship closing.
• The Irish took the lead within the all-time sequence towards Syracuse with a document of 13-12 in matchups with the Orange.
• The victory provides the Fighting Irish a document of 33-9 towards ranked opponents because the starting of the 2023 season.
• The Irish have now received 57 straight video games when holding their opponent to lower than 10 objectives in a recreation, a streak that dates again to the 2019 season.
• Yago recorded his sixth hat trick of the season within the win.
• Ricciardelli has completed with a save proportion of fifty p.c or higher in 11 of 15 video games this season.
• With two objectives within the win over Syracuse, all 5 of Busenkell’s objectives on the season have come towards the Orange.

UP NEXT

The Irish will play top-seeded Princeton for the title at 1 p.m. ET on Monday, May 25 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville. The recreation will air on ESPN.

— ND —