Comeback Falls Short in 7-6 Loss to No. 1 Notre Dame

Saturday, April 18

Durham, N.C.

12 p.m.

Duke University

8-4, 0-2

Notre Dame

9-1, 1-1

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Notre Dame	1	1	4	1	7
Duke	0	3	1	2	6

Buck Cunningham makes a save in goal against Notre Dame

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Comeback Falls Short in 7-6 Loss to No. 1 Notre Dame

4/18/2026 3:31:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

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DURHAM, N.C.—Duke pulled within one with eight seconds to play but ran out of time as the comeback effort fell just short in a heartbreaking 7-6 loss to No. 1 Notre Dame in ACC men's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon.

The 16th-ranked Blue Devils (8-4) scored three of the final four goals of the game in an effort to upend the nation's top-ranked team. It was the veteran duo of Benn Johnston (two) and Max Sloat providing the goals in the final push, while sophomore goaltender Buck Cunningham was outstanding between the pipes with 15 saves.

Matt Jeffery led all scorers with three goals for the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame goalie Thomas Ricciardelli also was excellent with 15 stops, including seven in the fourth quarter.

How it Happened

Notre Dame scored on its opening possession, but it was all defense after that as the Fighting Irish held a 1-0 lead after 15 minutes. Duke put the clamps on the Irish, holding them to just nine shots and forcing four turnovers in the quarter. Offensively, Duke got looks at the cage, firing off 11 shots. Ricciardelli made three saves to keep the Blue Devils at bay.
Freshman Michael Ortlieb tied the game 56 seconds into the second period on a Liam Kershis pass to start a 3-1 Blue Devil run that sent Duke into halftime with a 3-2 advantage. Ortlieb added a second goal four minutes later and rookie Brady Scioletti finished a Kershis feed with 2:22 remaining for the one-goal lead at the break.
Defensively, Duke was stellar in holding the Irish to 10 shots in the frame and once again forcing four turnovers. Cunningham had four saves to give him eight in the first half.
The Blue Devils' defense continued to shine into the third quarter as the Irish struggled to find openings around the cage. Despite Notre Dame going on a 20-minute scoring drought, Duke couldn't find its footing on offense and was held scoreless until there were three seconds left in the period.
After four straight Irish goals put them ahead 6-3, Johnston scored on man-up to bring the game within two heading into the final 15 minutes.
Notre Dame's defense stood tall in the first 10 minutes of the fourth quarter and Dylan Faison provided the one spark the Irish would need for a 7-4 lead with 5:50 to play.
Johnston rifled a shot past the Notre Dame netminder 45 seconds later to make it a 7-5 game. After five minutes of scoreless lacrosse, Duke defender Nikolas Menendez caused another Notre Dame turnover and cleared the ball to Johnston. The ball moved to Kershis' stick and he found Sloat for the goal with eight ticks on the clock. Menendez had two caused turnovers and three ground balls for the game.
Ben McCarthy won the ensuing faceoff, but Duke ran out of time and was unable to get a shot off. McCarthy had a great day at the dot, winning 8-of-10 faceoffs and picking up seven ground balls.
Duke held a 49-45 edge in shots and won the ground ball battle, 31-29. The Blue Devils were 2-of-4 on extra man and had a season-low seven turnovers.

Notes

The seven goals scored by Notre Dame are the fewest since the Irish scored four goals in the ACC Championship final against Virginia, May 4, 2019. Duke is the fifth team this season to hold the Irish to single digits.
Buck Cunningham recorded a career-high 15 saves in his first career start. The 15 stops match his career total coming into the game.
Michael Ortlieb scored two goals to give him eight games this season with multiple tallies.
Liam Kershis tied his career high in assists with three dimes. He now has 22 points on the year, matching his total in 18 games last season.
Benn Johnston finished with two goals to give him 105 career points, ranking 48th in Duke history.
Max Sloat had two points on the day to give him 103 for his career – good for 50th in program lore.