Coming off of last weekend’s win over the University of Pennsylvania, the No. 4 Georgetown University men’s lacrosse team fell 15-9 to the No. 7 University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish in South Bend, Ind., on Feb. 22.
The previous four seasons have seen these two perennially ranked programs clash in the regular season and postseason, and the Fighting Irish (3-0) knocked the Hoyas (1-1) out in the NCAA quarterfinal two seasons ago. Notre Dame prevailed over Georgetown in four of the past five matchups, with the Hoyas’ lone win coming during the 2024 regular season in an upset 11-10 overtime victory over the then No. 1-ranked Fighting Irish.
Despite this most recent loss, the Connor brothers continued to impress as graduate attacker Rory Connor recorded a hat trick in the first half before adding a fourth goal in the second half. The younger brother, junior attacker Liam Connor, scored a goal and added an assist, and sophomore midfielder Kevin Miller recorded a hat trick of his own.
Similar to Georgetown’s season opener, the Hoyas quickly fell behind as the Fighting Irish jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. With just four minutes remaining in the period, Liam Connor scored his first goal as a Hoya, and Rory Connor struck 90 seconds later to tie the game up at 2-2.
Rory Connor gave Georgetown a 3-2 lead two and a half minutes into the second period — the only time the Hoyas would lead the game. The Fighting Irish responded quickly, tying the game up at 3-3 just 6 seconds later, before adding 3 more goals to go up 6-3 with 8:16 to go in the half. Rory Connor scored again to cut the deficit to 2, but Georgetown could not stop Notre Dame’s attack. The Fighting Irish scored twice in the final three minutes of the half to go into the break up 8-4.
Notre Dame opened the second half where they left off, scoring 1:15 in to expand their lead to 9-4. However, Miller responded just 43 seconds later with a goal of his own and Rory Connor scored his fourth of the game after a Georgetown faceoff win to bring the score to 9-6 with 12:15 remaining in the third period.
Three minutes later, the tough Notre Dame defense forced a turnover out of Liam Connor and their offense capitalized with a quick goal. The Fighting Irish scored again with 4:45 remaining in the period to expand their lead to 11-6. Despite trailing, Miller gave the Hoyas hope with back-to-back goals late in the period, keeping the game competitive at 11-8 heading into the fourth.
Georgetown’s hopes for a comeback did not last long, however. Notre Dame rattled off 3 goals in the first five minutes of the fourth period, seizing on forced turnovers from Rory Connor and junior defender Ty Banks to go up 14-8.
With just under seven minutes left, the Hoyas gained an extra-man opportunity off of a Fighting Irish offsides infraction, but the Hoyas squandered their chance to creep back into the game, going scoreless. Notre Dame scored for a 15th time with 4:48 remaining in the game, virtually sealing Georgetown’s fate. Junior attacker Jack Schubert scored his first of the season less than a minute later to bring the score to 15-9, but it was too little, too late for Georgetown.
This was a disappointing loss for the Hoyas, as it was the first time since the 2022 season that Georgetown was ranked higher than Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish dominated all aspects of the scoresheet, forcing 19 turnovers, picking up 11 more ground balls and outshooting the Hoyas 26-15. Both goalkeepers recorded subpar stat lines, with each goalie saving less than half of their shots faced across both halves.
A Georgetown Athletics spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment from Georgetown Head Coach Kevin Warne. According to a release, the Hoyas cancelled their post-game media availability to beat the impending winter storm back to Washington, D.C.
The Hoyas will return to campus Feb. 28 to host the No. 9 Ohio State University Buckeyes (5-0) as Georgetown will look to bounce back.
