SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The University of Pennsylvania men's lacrosse team was done in by the third quarter for the third straight weekend, as No. 6 Notre Dame outscored the Quakers 7-1 in the period on the way to a 10-8 comeback victory Saturday afternoon.
Penn finishes the 2025 season with a 4-10 record, while the Fighting Irish improved to 8-3 heading into postseason play.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn got four points from junior
Griffin Scane, as he scored three goals and added an assist.
*Senior
Ben Smith scored a pair of goals.
*Penn's other goal scorers were senior
Casey Mulligan, sophomore
Davis Provost, and junior
Ryan McLaughlin who tallied a "pole goal" for his first collegiate goal.
*Senior
Tynan Walsh had an assist on one of Scane's goals with a nice cross-field pass; that gave him 100 career points (47g/53a). He is the third Penn player to hit the mark this season, along with Smith and
Cam Rubin.
*
Ben Beacham and
Anthony McMullan also had assists today, McMullan's coming on McLaughlin's goal during a clear.
*Senior
Emmet Carroll made 12 saves on Saturday in his final collegiate outing.
How It Happened
Penn was in front throughout the first half of Saturday's game, which was played in front of a crowd of nearly 5,000 at Arlotta Stadium and on national TV (ESPNU). Smith got the Quakers on the board less than two minutes into the contest when he took a back-screen feed from Scane and popped it inside the far post. ND tied it up nearly nine minutes later, but then Scane scored a pair of goals just 29 seconds apart to give Penn a 3-1 lead after one. The first came when he rebounded a
Travis Smith shot that rang the post and bounced right to him, and the second came when he charged down the right side, went around his man and sidearmed a shot over the goalie's shoulder.
It took the teams more than eight minutes to score in the second, but Mulligan made it a three-goal game when he came from behind at the right post and beat the goalie high. A little more than two minutes later, Scane was led by Walsh as he ran into the alley and he pumped a shot into the upper left corner. The assist gave Walsh his 100th career point wearing the Red and Blue.
Notre Dame ended a scoreless skid of more than 19 minutes of game time with just 13 seconds left in the half, and actually had a nice chance to add another as the final second ticked off. The second shot was off the mark, however, and the Quakers took a 6-2 lead to the break.
That late goal turned out to be a harbinger. Notre Dame scored four times in the first 6:08 of the third quarter, tying the game at 6-6 with 8:52 left in the period. Provost briefly stopped the run with what is becoming one of his patented scores, as he ran across the top from right to left and fired a cross-body shot that beat the keeper on the right post. However, ND tied it again with 2:37 left in the period, added another just 45 seconds later—giving the Irish their first lead of the day, at 8-7—and tacked on yet another just 15 seconds after that. Overall, it was a three-goal run that took exactly a minute of game time and the Golden Domers led after three, 9-7.
Penn needed exactly 27 seconds of the fourth to halve the deficit, Beacham finding a wide-open Smith on the doorstep for a dunk. However, that was the last goal the Quakers could muster, and Notre Dame essentially shut the door on any hopes for a tie game with a final goal when there was still 2:40 left.
For the latest on Penn men's lacrosse, follow @PennMensLax on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, and on the web at PennAthletics.com.
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