The Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse program is making a repeat trip to Championship Weekend with hopes of earning back-to-back NCAA Men’s Lacrosse National Championships. Sitting with a 14-1 record, Notre Dame’s only one loss came back in late February in a heartbreaker overtime game against Georgetown. Since that loss to the Hoyas, the Fighting Irish have been firing on all cylinders and have not lost a game since then while sweeping everyone in their path.
To kick off their NCAA Tournament play, the Fighting Irish scored 10 second half goals after trailing at halftime against Albany to secure the win. The quarterfinal-round rematch against Georgetown was about as different of an experience a team could have compared to the first bout with the Hoyas. Notre Dame not only put a plethora of goals on the board, but their defense was lockdown for three quarters and Georgetown didn’t have an answer till it was too late. The 16-11 score doesn’t indicate how well the game went for Notre Dame as Georgetown scored seven of those goals in the last quarter of play after the game was already decided.
Notre Dame brought home their first NCAA title last year, downing Duke in the title game by a final score of 13-9 in Philadelphia. Saturday’s quarterfinal win over Georgetown sends the Irish back to Championship Weekend for the seventh time and made the Irish a back-to-back qualifier for the second time in program history (2014 & 2015). This year, the Irish have so far been dominant in nearly every phase of play, with seemingly nothing in their way to continue their level of dominance.
The Irish enter Saturday’s game leading the country in scoring offense, first in the country in points per game, first in shooting percentage, and second in assists per game. Their defense has allowed only 135 goals, making it top in the ACC and fourth-best in the country. This unit has been strong, led by graduate Liam Entenmann. He was announced as a 2024 Tewaaraton Finalist, becoming one of only three men’s goalies in history to ever be given such an honor. He received 2024 ACC Defensive Player of the Year and ACC Goalie of the Year, making it two in consecutive seasons for each honor.
On the other end, Pat Kavanagh is the offensive face who can’t be stopped. The graduate became the first Notre Dame player selected a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist three times, doing so in 2024, 2023, and 2021. He was named this season’s ACC Offensive Player of the Year after leading the Irish to an unbeaten record in ACC play this season.
This is an extremely special Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse team with many returning pieces from their last championship run. It would be very surprising to not see them lift up some hardware on Monday evening. The Irish have flexed their muscles all year long, and it doesn’t look like they have any intention of slowing down.
