CHESTER, Pa. — Yesterday, Patrick Mullins scored a goal he’ll regret for the rest of his life.

In the 35th minute of the NCAA championship game between the Terrapins men’s soccer team and Notre Dame, midfielder Tsubasa Endoh curled a corner kick from the right side into the 18-yard box. Midfielder Alex Shinsky connected on a volley, but the ball deflected off the arm of Fighting Irish midfielder Patrick Hodan, who was standing on the goal line.

Referee Chico Grajeda didn’t whistle for a hand ball, however, and play continued. Mullins, a senior forward, then deliberately knocked the ball down with his hand at the top of the 6-yard box — something not apparent in replay footage but a fact Mullins admitted after the game — and finished with his left foot to give the Terps a one-goal lead.

The Fighting Irish went on to score two goals in the final 55 minutes of action to escape PPL Park with a 2-1 victory and the program’s first national title. As for Mullins, his disappointment after the loss stemmed less from the defeat and more from his uncharacteristic decision to flout the rule book on the final goal of his illustrious career.

“That’s not who I am,” Mullins said. “And I’m very disappointed in how that play resulted. All I can control is my actions, and I’m not happy with that action. It is definitely hard for me to swallow because I don’t think that’s the type of player I am or the type of person.”

Had Grajeda whistled Hodan for a hand ball, the midfielder would have received a red card and the Fighting Irish would have been forced to play a man down for the remainder of the contest.

“It wasn’t anything deliberate,” Hodan said. “It was just more of a reaction.”

That was not the only questionable call in the game, though. With just more than 23 minutes remaining in the second half, a Terps corner kick deflected off the arm of Fighting Irish defender Connor Klekota, but Grajeda — a Major League Soccer referee who also was assigned to the MLS Cup final on Dec. 7 — again did not blow the whistle.

“I think Chico is the best referee in this country,” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “I have full faith in him. I think once I review it on video, I’m sure I might be hurting a little more. But at this point, we have no control over any of the situation, and I have no regrets about the game.”

After Mullins’ first-half tally, it took less than five minutes for Notre Dame to respond. Fighting Irish midfielder Nick Besler flicked a header to forward Leon Brown off a throw-in from the right sideline. Brown charged the ball, which was inches from the goal line, and slipped a sliding shot past goalkeeper Zack Steffen to even the score.

Brown had replaced forward Vince Cicciarelli about nine minutes into the contest when Cicciarelli left the game with a broken collarbone.

“One of the mantras we had as a team was to respond to things that happen in the game,” Notre Dame defender Andrew O’Malley said. “Not everything is going to go your way during a game, so you try to make sure you’re mentally strong enough to come back from something like that. And I think Leon came in and responded really well.”

The Terps nearly took the lead again with 4:07 remaining in the first half. Defender Jereme Raley curled a cross in from the right wing that Shinsky headed on net, but goalkeeper Patrick Wall dove and saved the ball off the line.

The Fighting Irish took the lead in the 60th minute. A hard foul from Endoh 25 yards from the goal earned Notre Dame a free kick near the corner of the 18-yard box. O’Malley rose and headed the service from forward Harrison Shipp — who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player — into the right corner of the net to give the Fighting Irish a one-goal advantage.

Despite pushing numbers forward over the final 20 minutes, the Terps couldn’t find an equalizer.

The first goal, though, affected Mullins, who finishes his career second on the program’s all-time scoring list with 47 goals. It weighed on him, and he simply couldn’t respond mentally — a reaction Cirovski said only further establishes Mullins’ unwavering integrity.

“He put too much on himself,” Cirovski said. “There were many players who had intentional hand balls in the game. It will be a learning lesson for him, but his character shining through is worthy of a championship.”