Notre Dame Lacrosse: Irish open season with impressive win

The 8th ranked Notre Dame lacrosse men’s lacrosse team opened its season with a 17-7 win over Cleveland State to begin the season 1-0.

Notre Dame’s men’s lacrosse team opened up the 2020 season with a dominating 17-7 win over the Cleveland State University Vikings on Saturday, February 15th. The victory came against one of only two teams that are unranked on the Irish schedule this season.

Cleveland State would score the first goal of the game when Noah Gleeson scored early in the first quarter to put the Vikings up 1-0. The lead would be short-lived, as Quinn McCahon would score just over a minute later to tie the game up 1-1.

The McCahon goal would begin the onslaught of goals for the Irish, as they would net 13 unanswered goals before Michael Wilson finally scored for the Vikings to make the score 13-2 with just under six minutes remaining in the third.

Notre Dame would tack on four more goals while allowing four of Cleveland State’s seven goals in the 4th quarter of the game. The Irish would have ten different players score on the day en route to their first victory of the season.

Tewaarton Award watchlist candidate Bryan Costabile would net four goals on six shots on goal in his first action of the year. Costabile, who scored 42 goals last season for the Irish, is a front-runner to win the award in 2020 for the nation’s most outstanding lacrosse player.

Freshman phenom Pat Kavanagh, brother of former Irish standout Matt Kavanagh, gave Irish fans a glimpse of what they can expect for the foreseeable future from the young attacker, as he netted three goals and four assists in what was his inaugural collegiate game. The future looks extremely bright for the youngster.

Fellow freshman starter and former Chaminade High School teammate of Kavanagh, goalie Liam Entenmann, was also impressive in the first official action of his college career, as he made eight saves on ten shots in the Irish win.

Most of the scoring for Cleveland State would come against backup goalie Matt Schmidt, who allowed five of the Vikings seven goals in 22:39 minutes of action. Schmidt would end the day recording six saves on 11 shots on goal. Better days are surely ahead for the talented backup goalie.

Midfielder Wheaton Jackoboice, attacker Griffin Westlin, attacker Brian Willetts, attacker Stephen Chase, midfielder Morrison Mirer, and attacker Connor Morin each netted a goal for the Irish. Meanwhile, midfielders Tommy McNamara and Quinn McCahon each scored two goals for Notre Dame.

Notre Dame will receive a tougher test as they play host to the 19th ranked Richmond Spiders next Sunday, February 23rd. However, based on what we witnessed from their first game of the year, the Irish are poised to be serious contenders for a national championship this season.