Notre Dame breaks through for first NCAA men’s lacrosse title, beating top-seeded Duke

PHILADELPHIA — Liam Entenmann made a season-high 18 saves to help Notre Dame claim its first men’s lacrosse national title with a 13-9 victory over Duke on Monday in an all-ACC final before 30,462 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Notre Dame’s 35th-year coach, Kevin Corrigan, said, “You wait your whole career to see this right now.”

Corrigan, a Virginia player more than four decades ago, has been the Fighting Irish’s head coach since he had that role for two seasons at Randolph-Macon. He’s a son of the late Gene Corrigan — a Lacrosse Hall of Famer who was an athletic director for UVA and Notre Dame and an ACC commissioner — and the brother of N.C. State athletic director Boo Corrigan.

Brian Tevlin scored with 27 seconds left in the third quarter to put the Irish ahead for good. They were coming off Saturday’s 13-12 victory over second-seeded Virginia, which Tevlin ended by netting a goal 29 seconds into sudden-death overtime.

Third-seeded Notre Dame (14-2) had lost in its previous two championship-game appearances, in 2010 and 2014 — both to Duke. The top-seeded Blue Devils (16-3) were playing in their seventh championship game.

Entenmann made eight saves on nine shots on goal in the first half as Notre Dame cruised to a 6-1 lead after scoring six unanswered goals — from six players. After scoring 35 seconds into the game, Duke was held scoreless for the final 29:25 of the first half.

Duke was 1-for-24 shooting in the first half, but opened the second going 4 for 6 to get within 6-5. Charles Balsamo knotted the score at 7 with 1:01 left in the third — the first tie since it was 1-1.

But Notre Dame scored two goals in the final 30 seconds of the third for a 9-7 lead. Tevlin, who helped Yale win the 2018 NCAA title over Duke, and Chris Kavanagh notched their second goals of the game.

Quinn McCahon capped a 6-1 scoring run for a 13-8 lead with 3:24 left to become the sixth Notre Dame player with two goals.

The Irish held Duke to its lowest-scoring game of the season. Brennan O’Neill and Dyson Williams, the Blue Devils’ top scorers this year, had one goal apiece. Williams became the fifth Duke player with 60-plus goals in a season.