It was sweet retribution for Notre Dame — and with no ill will directed toward its opponent, Utah, which was making its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
Instead, the Irish were out to prove a point, a year-long revenge tour after last year’s NCAA tournament snub. It was all Irish from the jump, as Notre Dame handed Utah its worst loss of the campaign, 20-7.
It’s the ninth time this season that Notre Dame handed an opponent its worst loss of the spring. Notre Dame plays either Bryant or (6) Johns Hopkins in the NCAA quarterfinals next Sunday in Annapolis at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
Jake Taylor scored five goals, Pat Kavanagh had three goals and three assists, and Reilly Gray had three goals. Liam Entenmann stopped 13 shots.
The Irish led 8-0 at the end of the first quarter. Pundits theorized that Utah would have a fighting chance against the Irish, ranked at or near the top nationally in both scoring offense and scoring defense, because of what appeared to be an advantage at the faceoff dot.
Cole Brams entered the game 254-for-430 (59.1 percent) for Utah, whereas the combination of Colin Hagstrom and Will Lynch had combined to go 157-for-352 (44.6 percent). That statistical mismatch proved wholly irrelevant. Hagstrom (7-for-12) and Lynch (15-for-19) completed dominated the middle of the field, giving Notre Dame a 22-9 faceoff advantage that prevented Utah from getting on any prolonged runs.
