A late surge was not enough for the No. 8 Ohio State men’s lacrosse team against Notre Dame Wednesday.
The team lost for the second time this season, 9-4, against the No. 3-ranked Fighting Irish in South Bend, Ind.
After an early first period goal from sophomore attacker Reegan Comeault that tied the game, 1-1, the Buckeyes failed to find the back of the net again until the beginning of the fourth quarter.
In the meantime, the Notre Dame scored five goals of its own to take a 6-1 lead into the fourth quarter.
Despite an OSU comeback that saw three goals within six minutes, the Buckeyes could not dig themselves out of their hole, as the Fighting Irish scored a goal after each of OSU’s to end the game, 9-4.
OSU was outshot by Notre Dame 42-27 on the day, an opponent season high.
The Buckeyes’ four goals against the Fighting Irish marked a season low for the typically high-scoring offense. Before Wednesday, OSU hadn’t scored less than seven goals in a game since March 3, 2012, against Penn State, when the Buckeyes lost, 5-2.
Senior attacker Logan Schuss added to his point streak of 52 games with an assist to sophomore midfielder Jesse King with five minutes remaining in the game.
The road loss comes after OSU upset then-No. 9 Virginia, 11-10, on Saturday in Charlottesville, Va.
Junior midfielder Michael Italiano was named Eastern College Athletic Conference specialist of the week on Monday for his performance against the Cavaliers with eight ground balls.
Italiano had five more against the Irish Wednesday.
OSU split its string of four games against top-10 teams, 2-2, bringing the team’s overall record to 5-2.
The Buckeyes are set to play against Bellarmine on Saturday at 7 p.m. in Louisville, Ky., before they return home to host the defending national champion, No. 6 Loyola Maryland, a week later.