The Ohio State men’s lacrosse team will look to rebound Saturday with a matchup against Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
The No. 10 Ohio State men’s lacrosse team hopes to escape its two-game losing funk while snapping No. 2 Notre Dame’s 10-game winning streak — the longest active streak in the NCAA.
In search of their first win since defeating then-No. 19 North Carolina Feb. 19, the Buckeyes (3-2) will travel to South Bend, Indiana, Saturday to take on the Fighting Irish (4-0).
Head coach Nick Myers and the Buckeyes have won the last three meetings, but Myers’ dropped the prior 11 to the Fighting Irish. He is familiar with Notre Dame and hopes to get his team back on track.
“[The Fighting Irish] play incredibly hard, and they’re very athletic,” Myers said. “They’re very, very tough to score against. So, there’s been a lot to think about but, as I said, we’ve had a pretty good week of preparation.”
Last week, Ohio State was downed by No. 3 Cornell 16-13. The Big Red led by as many as seven goals. The Buckeyes fought their way back but came up short.
“I think there’s several takeaways from last week,” Myers said. “You certainly don’t love the outcome, but there was pockets in the game where it felt like we played some really high-level lacrosse.”
Sophomore attack Ed Shean led the attempted comeback with four second-half goals, along with a pair each from attackmen senior Scott White and freshman Matt Caputo.
Junior midfielder Connor Cmiel, who had a goal of his own against Cornell, said Caputo has been hurt but is back now and ready to contribute.
“He’s just a hard worker,” Cmiel said. “I think he’s been working in the shadows for like, about a month now. And he’s kind of putting on a show now.”
Though senior goalie Skylar Wahlund had 15 saves versus the Big Red, Cornell had 60 shots. Myers said he wants to see his team’s shot count in the 40s rather than the 39 recorded against Cornell.
Led by head coach Kevin Corrigan, Notre Dame is ranked third in scoring offense, led by a pair of brothers. Both attackmen, sophomore Chris Kavanagh and senior Pat Kavanagh lead the Fighting Irish in points with 41 altogether.
“They’ve got two of the best offensive guys in the country right now playing together,” Myers said.
Pat Kavanagh scored the game-winning goal in Notre Dame’s three-overtime victory against No. 5 Maryland Saturday, breaking the Terrapins’ 20-game home win streak.
Both brothers have scored points in every game this season, and Chris Kavanagh is coming off a hat trick against the Terrapins.
“They have great chemistry,” Myers said. “They really play hard.”
The Kavanagh brothers are accompanied by junior midfielder Eric Dobson, who has 11 points in four games, sophomore attack Jeffery Ricciardelli and graduate midfielder Quinn McCahon.
Fighting Irish senior goalkeeper Liam Entenmann is coming off his best game of the season with 14 saves. Myers said he is familiar with Entenmann as he coached him on Team USA, along with Pat Kavanagh.
“They’re just really enthusiastic, and Pat loves the game,” Myers said. “I would say the same about Liam. He’s a student of the game. He’s a great teammate.”
Suffering two-consecutive losses was not the Buckeyes’ goal, but Cmiel said it might be what they need in order to have postseason success.
“[We’ve] played two really good teams, and that’s kind of the way we wanted it,” Cmiel said. “We wanted to play the best in the regular season so that when it matters in May, that we’ll be around and we’ve already been battle tested.”
Myers said he sees facing Notre Dame as a rivalry and hopes the score will go the Buckeyes’ way for the fourth-consecutive year and earn them their first road win of the season.
“The guys understand each week has its own unique challenge and journey and this one is a rivalry that’s been pretty special to the program for a long time,” Myers said.
The Buckeyes and Fighting Irish will face off at 2 p.m. at Arlotta Family Lacrosse Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network.
