Notre Dame men’s lacrosse: Irish dominate 17th ranked Richmond 13-5

The Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team began their season with a 2-0 record after dominating 17th ranked Richmond 13-5 on Sunday.

After starting the season 1-0 with a dominant 17-7 win over Cleveland State University last weekend, the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team faced a tougher opponent this weekend when they squared off in a home matchup with the 17th ranked Richmond Spiders.

The Irish would remain dominant as they rolled to a 13-5 victory against Richmond. Notre Dame began the season as the 8th ranked college lacrosse program in the nation, but advanced to the number six ranking earlier in the week.

Leading the Irish in their victory over Richmond was freshman attacker Pat Kavanagh, who led the team with four goals and an assist in the matchup. The Rockville Centre, New York native now has an impressive seven goals and five assists in his first two collegiate games for Notre Dame.

Sophomore attacker Griffin Westlin added three goals and an assist for the Irish, while fellow sophomore midfielder Quinn McCahon added two goals on the day. Junior middie Wheaton Jackoboice would collect two goals and an assist in the victory.

Also scoring on the afternoon for the Irish were senior attacker Brian Willetts, senior midfielder Tommy McNamara, and junior midfielder Daniel Cassidy. The scoring attack was a very balanced one for Notre Dame, as they managed to have seven different players score versus the Spiders.

Tewaarton Award watchlist candidate Bryan Costabile had an assist in the game, which was abnormally quiet for the Irish star. Long-stick midfielder Charles Leonard and attacker Mikey Drake were also credited with assists in the game for Notre Dame.

Freshman phenom goalie Liam Entenmann had a relatively quiet day in goal for the Irish, as he faced just 13 shots. Unfortunately, Entenmann allowed five goals on the 13 shots, a subpar game for his standards. However, with the dominant offensive performance by the Irish, it was enough for Entenmann to garner the win.

Attacker Ryan Lanchbury led all Spiders scorers with two goals and an assist, while Richmond goalie Jack Rusbuldt faced an incredible barrage of 36 shots from the Irish in the game, turning away 22 of them in the losing effort.

Notre Dame faces one of their toughest tests of the season next Saturday, as they travel to College Park, Maryland to take on the 4th ranked Maryland Terrapins. Following the matchup with Maryland, the schedule doesn’t get any easier for the Irish in the month of March, as they play 13th ranked Denver, 19th ranked Ohio State, Michigan, 2nd ranked Virginia, and 5th ranked Syracuse.

The next month will certainly paint a detailed picture of how legitimate a contender the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team is for a National Championship. Their performance through their first two games is extremely promising heading into a difficult stretch in what appears to be a brutal schedule for the Irish lacrosse program.