Notre Dame advanced to the NCAA national title game for the third time in four seasons with a dominant 15-7 victory over No. 6 Syracuse on Saturday at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Fighting Irish will face top-seeded Princeton in the championship game at 1 p.m. ET on Monday, May 25, with the matchup set to air on ESPN.
Josh Yago powered the offense with his second straight seven-point performance, finishing with three goals and four assists. The graduate student now leads the team with 54 points on 31 goals and 23 assists. Brock Behrman also starred with four points on two goals and two assists, while Will Maheras added one goal and three assists. Max Busenkell and Luke Miller each scored twice in the win.
Notre Dame set the tone early, scoring the first four goals of the game before Syracuse answered late in the opening quarter to trim the deficit to 4-3. The Irish responded in the second quarter with timely scoring, including a rare man-down goal from Teddy Lally and another goal from Busenkell, to take a 7-4 lead into halftime.
After the break, Notre Dame extended its advantage to 9-4 with goals from Behrman and Dylan Faison. Syracuse made one final push, closing the gap to 9-7 by the end of the third quarter, but the Irish took control again in the fourth. During a Syracuse non-releasable penalty, Brady Pokorny scored on a behind-the-back finish, followed by goals from Yago and Miller to push the lead to 12-7. Maheras, Miller and Yago added the final scores to seal the eight-goal win.
Thomas Ricciardelli delivered a standout performance in goal for Notre Dame, making 14 saves and limiting Syracuse to seven goals, matching the Orange’s season low. The Irish also dominated on special teams, finishing 5-for-6 on extra-man opportunities while holding Syracuse scoreless on five man-up chances. Notre Dame also scored a goal while a man down, its first such goal of the season.
The victory continued a strong NCAA Tournament run for Notre Dame, which improved to 33-26 all-time in NCAA Championship play and 28-12 over its last 15 tournament appearances. The Irish have won 12 of their last 13 NCAA Tournament games, and each of their last eight tournament victories has come by at least five goals. The semifinal win was Notre Dame’s largest margin of victory in an NCAA semifinal since 2021.
Notre Dame also moved to 13-12 all-time against Syracuse and improved to 33-9 against ranked opponents since the start of the 2023 season. The Irish have now won 57 straight games when holding an opponent below 10 goals, a streak dating to the 2019 season. Yago recorded his sixth hat trick of the year, while Busenkell’s two-goal outing brought his season total to five, all against Syracuse.
