Notre Dame men's lacrosse: Irish top Albany in OT

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — A Matt Kavanagh goal in overtime gave No. 6 seed Notre Dame a 14-13 overtime victory over Albany Saturday in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship in front of a sellout and stadium-record crowd of 13,519 at James M. Shuart Stadium.

Notre Dame will face Maryland in the NCAA semifinals next Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium Baltimore, Md. That game will take place at 1 or 3:30 p.m. (ET) on ESPN2.

The Fighting Irish (11-5) trailed 12-7 with just over eight minutes remaining in the contest before ending regulation on a 6-1 run. The surge began on a Nick Ossello goal, which snapped a 6-0 Albany run, and Westy Hopkins scored less than a minute later. Tallies from Conor Doyle and Sergio Perkovic 36 seconds apart cut the Albany lead to one (12-11) with 6:19 left to play.

The Great Danes (12-6) went up two on a Ryan Feuerstein goal with 5:44 remaining, but goals from Hopkins and Perkovic knotted the game by the three-minute mark of the final period.

Kavanagh had a hat trick for the Irish, while fellow attackman Conor Doyle had two goals and three assists. Lyle Thompson paced Albany with three goals and three assists. Notre Dame’s Liam O’Connor went 21-of-31 in faceoff attempts.

“To be in the situation we were in in the fourth quarter … if you were in our huddle you didn’t sense any quit. ... All the credit in the world to our guys,” Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said.