“Notre Dame was generating some really high quality shots,” Wojcik said. “You can’t ask your goalie to make saves when Notre Dame is shooting from that close. I think our entire defense wasn’t allowing Jake to see the shots that we wanted him to see.”

Notre Dame player John Scioscia added four more goals to his 21 on the season, thanks in large part to accurate passes from All-American teammate Matt Kavanaugh.

“We got outplayed every phase of the game,” Petrucci said. “They were tougher than we were on the ground, and that was a big factor of the game. But overall, Notre Dame was the better team today.”

The loss marks the end of the Crimson’s 2014 season. Despite the defeat, the Harvard men’s lacrosse program still has much to celebrate and to look forward to in the 2015 campaign, according to Wojcik.

“One game doesn’t define the season,” Wojcik said. “I am really proud of what the players did this year. We won the Ivy League for the first time in 24 years and we advanced to the [NCAA] Tournament. I am very proud of the team and what they accomplished.”

—Staff writer Caroline L. Ferguson can be reached at carolineferguson@college.harvard.edu.