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Notre Dame

Notre Dame men's lacrosse collapses in quarterfinal, suffers season-ending loss Penn State

IMG_7504by: Jack Soble05/18/25jacksoble56
Chris kavanagh
Notre Dame men's lacrosse attackman Chris Kavanagh. (Photo courtesy of Notre Dame Athletics)

With 2:51 left in its NCAA quarterfinal matchup, Notre Dame had a chance to give itself a chance.

No. 5 Penn State had just rattled off 8 unanswered goals to take a 14-12 lead, and the Nittany Lions had the two-time defending champion Irish on the ropes. But senior attackman Chris Kavanagh found junior midfielder Max Busenkell right in front of the net, with an unobstructed shot at a potentially season-saving goal.

Off the side of the net.

Later, with just under 90 seconds to play, junior midfielder Will Maharas had the same opportunity. Pass from Kavanagh, no defenders in his way, at point-blank range. And he couldn’t get a shot on goal, either.

The Irish would never create a better chance, failing to score for the game’s final 20 minutes and 56 seconds.

On the other end, Notre Dame’s previously impenetrable defense fell apart at the seams. The Nittany Lions, particularly Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Matt Traynor, got everything they wanted. Penn State scored goal after goal after goal, and for the first time in three postseasons, the Irish never had an answer.

Notre Dame lost to Penn State 14-12 in the NCAA quarterfinals, and its dreams of a third-straight national championship died Sunday in Annapolis, Md. Penn State celebrated on the field, advancing to the Final Four in Foxborough, Mass., as the Irish dealt with the weight of their collapse.

“It is one of the greatest comebacks in the history of this NCAA tournament,” ESPN play-by-play announcer Anish Shroff said after the final whistle blew.

With the loss to Penn State, the careers of title-winning mainstays such as Will Lynch, Ben Ramsey, Will Angrick, Devon McLane, Jake Taylor and Kavanagh came to an end. So did the Kavanagh era at Notre Dame, during which brothers Matt (2013-16), Pat (2020-24) and Chris (2022-25) took the men’s lacrosse program under head coach Kevin Corrigan to new heights.

Chris Kavanagh tied McLane for the team lead with 5 points (3 goals, 2 assists each) in their final game in a blue-and-gold uniform. McLane scored back-to-back goals in the third quarter to give Notre Dame a 12-6 lead, but the Irish went completely cold for the rest of the afternoon.

It was not Notre Dame’s first significant stretch without offense this season. The Irish were held scoreless for 40 minutes on April 5 at Syracuse and 29 minutes on April 19 at USC, and they scored 1 goal in 32 minutes on April 12 vs. Virginia and 1 goal in 30 minutes on April 26 vs. Penn.

In three of those games (Virginia, UNC and Penn), Notre Dame won anyway. But Corrigan’s group couldn’t pull it out against Penn State.

The Nittany Lions’ barrage started with 3:14 left in the third quarter, and they scored 3 goals to cut Notre Dame’s lead to 12-9 by the end of the frame. Penn State outscored the Irish 5-0 in the fourth quarter, sealing a trip to Foxborough.

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