You may have heard the name Kavanagh in the lacrosse world before. With his brothers before him, we have had a Kavanagh playing NCAA lacrosse 8 of the last 9 years. Pat, who currently plays for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, might be the best one yet. In just over one season, he has already started etching his name into the Notre Dame record books. This season Pat Kavanagh looks to lead The Irish through the tough ACC competition and hopefully lead Notre Dame to its first NCAA final four appearance since 2015.
The 4th child of Kevin and Mary Kavnagh, Pat grew up in Long Island, New York. He went to Chaminade High School where he also played soccer and hockey. As a lacrosse player, he led the Flyers to the Long Island League Title and was named a Long Island All American in 2017 and 2018. As a senior in 2018, he scored the game-winning goal in the championship game against rival St. Anthony’s with five seconds left in the game.
He was rated the 26th best player in the class of 2019, and was selected to be a part of US Lacrosse’s u19 team, which was scheduled to play during the summer for 2020 before being postponed due to the COVID 19 pandemic.
Pat followed his brothers footsteps and chose to enroll at Notre Dame. After seeing his brother has so much success at ND he knew here was only one place he wanted to be.
“Ever since [Matt was there] it’s been my goal to play here.”
-Pat Kavanagh
Pat had instant success during the covid shortened 2020 season. He was tied for the team lead in points with 16 in just 5 games, and scored 3 goals and 4 assists in his debut. Not bad for a guy who had alot of pressure on him.
“I didn’t even know if I was going to play freshman year so I didn’t want to be wearing Matt’s number and not get much playing time. I just chose 51, one up from Matt, and it’s worked out pretty well so far.”
-Pat Kavanagh
Kavanagh had a superb sophomore season, setting the ND program record with 38 assists in a single season, and breaking the single game point record with ten vs Syracuse. He had two other games with at least 9 points and scored 7 points against Duke, which was the most a player has scored against the Blue Devils in a single game in their programs history. He finished the season with 26 goals and 38 assists in just 12 games, which earned him All American honors and becoming the first sophomore to be nominated for the Tewaarton award since 2017.
While Kavanagh is one of the top scorers in the country, he is one of the more well rounded players in the country as well. He finished third on the team in caused turnovers, and finished with 35 groundballs in 2021.
“He’s fearless and he’s tough and he’s skilled, but more than anything else, he’s just a competitor who competes every second of the game when he’s on the field.”
–Coach Kevin Corrigan said.
With 2+ years of eligibility, Pat definitely has a shot at putting his name alongside his brother, Matt, as one of the greatest players to play lacrosse at Notre Dame.
