CHESTER, Pa. — Notre Dame attack Matt Kavanagh began Sunday’s Atlantic Coast Conference championship on the bench after missing the team bus to PPL Park.

Kavanagh ended his day with a team-high four goals and two assists in No. 9 Notre Dame’s (8-5, 2-3 ACC) 15-14 ACC championship victory against No. 4 Syracuse (10-4, 2-3 ACC) in front of 4,552 in Chester, Pa. With the game tied at eight midway through the third quarter, he scored two goals and assisted on another to extend the Irish lead to 11-8.

“Notre Dame did a good job of using some picks and utilizing some matchups to get Kavanagh open,” Syracuse defender Brandon Mullins said.

Almost a month ago to the day, the Orange beat Notre Dame 9-8 in the Carrier Dome and held Kavanagh to no goals and two assists. Mullins shadowed Kavanagh that day, and spearheaded the defensive performance that SU head coach John Desko called the team’s best to that point.

On Sunday, Notre Dame used a series of pick-and-rolls to free Kavanagh of Mullins.

On Kavanagh’s goal that extended UND’s lead to 10-8, Irish attack Westy Hopkins set a pick on Mullins, opening a free lane to the net. SU defender Tom Grimm was a step late and Kavanagh put a shot underneath Bobby Wardwell.

Forty-eight seconds later, Kavanagh fed Jim Marlett in the slot. Marlett turned around and fired a no-look shot past Wardwell.

“I think in the first game I wasn’t really recognizing the second slide coming from behind,” Kavanagh said. “I was really aware today of just moving the ball, not really holding on to it and picking my spots when it was a good time to go.

“We had a really good two-man game with the short sticks, so I guess he kind of got confused on some. So I just tried to attack in some good situations.”

But for Mullins, it wasn’t about letting one guy get the best of him.

“We can’t keep giving up 15 goals a game and just expect our offense to bail us out in the last second every time,” Mullins said.

Published on April 27, 2014 at 7:58 pm

Contact Josh: jmhyber@syr.edu