Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse: Championship Monday awaits

· Yahoo Sports

On a rainy and overcast day in Charlottesville, Virginia, Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse beat Syracuse by a final score of 15-7, punching our ticket to Championship Monday and a matchup with #1 Princeton for the opportunity to raise the trophy. I was there in person with one of my best friends, Chris and his wife Ally, and what an afternoon it was. Let’s not waste any more time, let’s get into it.

How Notre Dame won on Saturday

We have said it before, that in this day and age of college lacrosse, offense is what typically wins championships. But I think that defense and strong goaltending travels and that has not been more apparent than with our Irish this season. For the third straight NCAA lacrosse tournament game, our Irish held our opponent to under ten goals, this time allowing four goals in the first half to the Orange and then three in the second half. All of Syracuse’s second half goals came in the third quarter as the Irish outscored the Cuse 6-0 in the fourth quarter. If I were to tell you before this game that Notre Dame would hold Syracuse to 0-5 on man-up opportunities, you would not have believed me. Early in the game when Syracuse had 3;30 in man-up opportunities, including a 2 minute unreleasable opportunity, Notre Dame stood our ground and gave up zero goals. What an incredible performance from our defense which was led by 14 overall saves by Thomas Ricciardelli. This unit just continues to impress, from the close defense to the LSMs to the SSDMs. It’s an all around team effort and defense can still win championships; Notre Dame defines this.

The second half scoring in Notre Dame’s three tournament wins so far goes like this: 9-4, 9-3, 8-3. Incredible job by the coaching staff to continually make adjustments to put our team in a position to win. There is a reason this staff has won two national championships and is going for their third on Monday.

In a matchup of Tewaaraton Trophy finalists, Shawn Lyght limited Joey Spallina to zero goals and two assists on the day. Not much more to be said here. The play of Shawn Lyght continues to do all the talking. He is the best defender in college lacrosse and no one else in college lacrosse is able to do what he does when it comes to taking out the opponent’s best offensive weapon.

I think it’s time we continue to talk about Josh Yago. 14 points in his last two tournament games. Big time players step up in big time moments and there is no player doing it more than Josh Yago. Another awesome game from him on Saturday as he took over in the second half. He is a complete lacrosse player and what an absolute beast he is each and every time he steps on the field. Incredible job by him, he is forcing defenses to create a game plan to stop him and he continues to excel. Just WOW Josh, Yago, just WOW.

At the start of the 4th quarter, the score was Notre Dame 9, Syracuse 7. Our Irish would have the ball for about 1:45 with an unreleasable penalty on Syracuse that happened just before the end of the third quarter. We smartly held onto the ball at the end of the third which meant we started the quarter with possession in Syracuse’s end. This would be an opportunity to get at least one goal to extend the lead. What did the Irish do? We scored three goals on the extra man, moving the score to 12-7 and really putting the game out of reach. Just amazing work from our Irish, starting with Brady Pokorny’s BTB goal. Then we saw Josh Yago hit home from the wing and finally Luke Miller scored from in close. Not to be discounted was the job Notre Dame did on the faceoffs as we won both of them following Brady’s and Josh’s goals. Getting possession there was HUGE because if Syracuse were to have won that faceoff after the 10-7 goal, they probably could have taken the time off the penalty and limited the damage.

Notre Dame continues to play extremely unselfish lacrosse. We saw 15 goals and 13 assists on the day and ten different Irish players scored goals. Coach Corrigan has said it all season, but each and every game we are so hard to defend because you just don’t know where the scoring will come from every time we step out onto the field. This all speaks to the depth we have developed, along with the team first attitude of this group. It is so fun to watch.

What Else to Note for our Irish

Brock Behrman with two goals and two assists to continue his strong tournament play. He is slippery and continues to put himself in the right spot to get goals.

Max Busenkell with two more goals against Syracuse. His runner with his right hand to make it 3-0 was a thing of beauty.

Will Maheras with another solid all around game with one goal and three assists. Honest question, when hasn’t he beaten his man up top with a dodge?

Matt Jeffery, Teddy Lally, Dylan Faison and Will Angrick all with one goal on the day. Continued distribution of the ball and scoring making it really hard for defenses to stop this offense.

Luke Miller with two more goals on the afternoon. His goal to make it 14-7 was at such a tough angle, I am not really sure how he stung the corner there.

Fisher Finley coming up big time and playing SSDM. What an awesome game from him on Saturday, and a perfect example of a fifth year senior doing whatever it takes to help his team win. I am sure no one was more disappointed than Fisher to lose that spot on the second line midfield, but he stepped up when it mattered most and I have to imagine we will see more of him in this role on Monday.

Will Donovan and Chris Iuliano with ridiculously strong play at LSM on Saturday. These two continue to impress on so many levels with physical play, ground ball mastery and excellent one on one defense. It is such a luxury to have these two doing the job they do each game.

Another stellar performance from our SSDMs led by Christian Alacqua and Chris Reinhardt. We already talked about Fisher Finley, but shout out as well to Kyle Bergen, Thomas Porell and Brendan Mullahy at the end. Payton Anderson had four goals against our Irish when we played the Cuse earlier this year, but we were able to limit him to one goal this time around. To note, we did not see Miguel Iglesias out there so something to monitor around Monday’s game as well.

After a tough first half with faceoffs, Notre Dame finished at 10-24, and was able to turn the play around at the dot as the afternoon went along. Credit to Aidan Diaz-Matos and Tyler Spano as it was a tough matchup with Syracuse’s Johnny Mullen.

Thanks to all the Notre Dame lacrosse parents for an awesome tailgate both before and after the game. What a day it was and so much fun to see so many friends over the course of the day. So neat as well that so many former Notre Dame lacrosse players were in attendance. They were at the tailgate and they were front and center standing behind the bench cheering all day. This Notre Dame lacrosse family is something special. Don’t ever change.

And finally, love him or hate him, you have to give credit to Joey Spallina and his overall career. While he fell short in leading the Orange to a national championship, he helped get the team back to the Final four in his last two years, and he ends his career as the all-time points leader at Syracuse. He stuck around on the field after the final whistle and signed kids’ jerseys and balls.

It’s on to Championship Monday

It’s finally here, and as we were walking out of the stadium on Saturday, a Notre Dame fan gave me a high-five and said there are no three better words than “See you Monday.” For lacrosse fans, and specifically for Notre Dame lacrosse fans, there is one final game with the opportunity to cut down the nets and hoist the trophy as the best team in college lacrosse in 2026. It’s only fitting that it is Notre Dame versus Princeton, #1 vs #2 with the National Championship on the line.

Our Irish will be going for our third title in four years and when asked about it after the game, Coach Corrigan, in only the way he can do it, had the following to say around whether he has thought about if this could make Notre Dame a lacrosse dynasty.

Joking aside, while each season and team is unto itself, and nothing matters more than Monday, I do think it is fair to acknowledge what these last bunch of years have meant to the Notre Dame lacrosse family. We can talk more about it after the game on Monday.

This is it. This is what we have been waiting for all season. One more game to play. I am going to leave the preview of the Princeton Tigers to David Brogan and our next Exit 77 podcast; we are hoping to record later in the day on Sunday, but we might be delayed until Monday morning. Keep an eye out for the listen to get relive the Syracuse game and get ready for the championship matchup.

For the third time in four years, we are at the pinnacle of our “Its Time to Be Great” mantra.

One more chance this year to play as a team representing Notre Dame. One more chance to go out on the field with your teammates and give it your all. One more chance for team glory. One more chance to get that ground ball. One more chance to beat the opposition to the end line. One more chance to score a goal. One more chance to make that extra pass. One more chance to make a save. One more chance to check the ball out of the opponent’s stick. One more chance to win that faceoff. One more chance to shot fake to then score. One more chance to get a good clear. One more chance to make that perfect pass. One more chance to dig deep. One more chance to sacrifice. One more chance to sprint to the box to get off the field. One more chance to be in the right position. One more chance to play the game you grew up loving. One more chance to hug your teammates. One more chance to celebrate your teammates. One more chance to wear that Fighting Irish jersey. One more chance to run onto the field as a victor. One more chance to cut the nets. One more chance to raise a trophy.

This is what we wanted all season long and there is no better time than Championship Monday. I won’t be there in person, but I can’t wait to be watching on TV and watching you celebrate.

Go Irish!

“It’s Time to Be Champions.”

Read full story at source