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Notre Dame men's lacrosse team makes quiet exit from NCAA Tourney

It wasn’t just that Notre Dame’s quest for a third straight national title in men’s lacrosse withered and died Sunday in Annapolis, Md., in an NCAA quarterfinal matchup.

It was how it died.

The Irish, trying to be just the second unseeded team ever to win the championship, didn’t even make it to the Final Four this time, largely because the nation’s No. 8 scoring offense went the final 21 minutes of their clash with 5 seed Penn State without scoring in a 14-12 collapse at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium.

The Nittany Lions (11-4), meanwhile, move on to Saturday’s national semis in Foxborough, Mass., where they’ll meet No. 1 seed Cornell (16-1) with the distinction of being the only team to knock off the Big Red this season — 13-12 in overtime back on March 8.

That game is set for noon EDT at Gillette Stadium. Saturday’s survivors meet for the national title Monday, May 26, at 1 p.m. in the same facility.

No. 2 Maryland and unseeded Georgetown met later Sunday afternoon in the final quarterfinal of the weekend to determine 6 seed Syracuse’s semifinal opponent.

Notre Dame (9-5) looked well on its way to be part of the Foxborough festivities after a flurry of third-period goals — three in the span of 72 seconds — gave the Irish a 12-6 command with 5:56 left in the period.

And then the Irish offense went silent, and Penn State went on an 8-0 run to close out the game. Matt Traynor finished with six goals — including the go-ahead score with 7:27 left — and an assist for the Nittany Lions.

Kyle Lehman and Ethan Long added hat tricks, with five of those goals coming in the second half for Penn State, which was a collective 3-for-22 shooting in the first half and trailed 8-3 at the break. The Nittany Lions converted 11 of their 16 second-half shots.

“I think conviction,” Penn State coach Jeff Tambroni said postgame on the ESPNU broadcast of what changed in the second half for his team. “I felt like in the first half, we were just hoping things would open up. And in the second half, I think we just did a much better job of committing to our dodges, committing to our shots, committing to our offense. We did a much better job of committing, going all in.”

Chris Kavanagh and Devon McLane had three goals and two assists apiece for the Irish, while Jake Taylor scored two goals. Thomas Ricciardelli recorded 10 saves in goal.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Notre Dame,” Tambroni said. “Going into halftime, I didn’t feel like a lot was going well. I didn’t think we were playing great defense.

“We weren’t facing-off well. We weren’t playing great offense, but I just couldn’t be any more proud of the captains, seniors, the whole way they came out in the third quarter. They showed a lot of belief. Just so darn proud and excited for our fan base, our guys and for Penn State.”

PENN STATE 14, NOTRE DAME 12: Box Score

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