As we approach the beginning of another season with our #1 ranked Fighting Irish, the boys are looking better than ever. As has been their custom for many years, they prepared with a pair of scrimmages at Loftus Sports Center. These scrimmages are now in the books, with dominant wins over Detroit Mercy (29-6) and Air Force (21-11).

Air Force 

The 2025 edition of this team immediately showed they are as strong as their championship predecessors by jumping out to a 6-1 lead in their first quarter on the field. Those goals came from freshman Brady Pokorny (assist CKav), Maheras (assist Taylor), Angrick (assist McLane), CKav (assist Maheras), Taylor (assist CKav), and McLane (assist CKav).  This variety of goal/assist combinations was a statement in itself.  All six goals were assisted with no duplication on the scoresheet.  With the substantial losses to the roster from last year, a start like this is more than we could have hoped for. 

The Irish kept their feet on the gas throughout the scrimmage. The final stats included freshman Pokorny with an incredible 7g 1a, CKav leading the distributors had with 1g 8a, Taylor with 4g 2a, Behrman with 2a, Doyle with and assist, Mclane with 3g 1a, Angrick with a goal, Busenkell with 2g, Maheras with 2g 1a, Ridgway with an assist, Burmeister with a go, and Donovan with an assist. This offensive play was backed by amazing work between the pipes with the 3 goalies tallying 11 saves on 11 against. 

Obviously, the stat that sticks out the most is the total of freshman Pokorny with 7 goals and an assist. The young star is showing lots of talent and will be a fun guy to watch alongside CKav and Taylor as the season progresses.

Detroit Mercy

In a similar fashion, the boys started hot with a 10-1 lead in the first quarter with goals from Jeffery Ricciardelli on man-up, 3 goals from Taylor, 2 goals from Busenkell, 2 goals from CKav, and ones from Seymour and Lynch.

The tempo started there and continued throughout the second, going into the half up 18-1 before finishing with a 29-6 win. Detroit Mercy’s last 3 goals came late in the 4th quarter. 

The final stat list was long and varied with Taylor with 6g, CKav with 3g 2a, Pokorny with 2a, Behrman with 2g 2a, Jeffrey Ricciardelli with 2g 1a, Doyle with 1g, Grant with 1g, Busenkell with 2g, McLane with 1g 5a, Angrick with 2a, Seymour with 1g 1a, Maheras with 1g 1a, Finley with 1a, Ridgway with 2g 1a, Wynicker with 1g, Jeffery with 1a, Sforzo with 1a, Harvard transfer defender Campisi with 1g 1a, Lynch with 1g, and Tyler Buchner with 1g. Between the pipes the group had 9 saves on 6 against, a very strong showing. 

Most notably from this game there was a much wider group of scorers. One of our biggest strengths last year was our depth, especially at the midfield, and it seem that we are going to be able to continue that trend this year. This depth is filled with lots of new faces, so we will get to see them develop in real time.

Preseason Three Questions

We try to ask three questions before every game. This season we will also try to ask three questions that we will try to follow as the quest to bring Notre Dame its third national championship develops.

  1. What will the lineup look like? The graduation of players like Tewaaraton Award winner Pat Kavanagh, Kelly award winner Liam Entenmann, and an armada of All-Americans left some big shoes to fill. The good news is that the team returns performance that is the envy of every team in the country. With 53 people hitting the field in that second scrimmage, there are certainly a lot of options.
  2. Gelling the defense. Our defense will look quite different from that of 2024 without Napolitano, Conlin, the all-world Entenmann, Parlette and others. This new unit has many strengths and will be anchored by defensive phenom Shawn Lyght and the choice of two great goalies in Alex Zepf and Thomas Ricciardelli. But it is a communication-heavy defense and it will take time for them to get used to each other.
  3. Running the offense without PKav. It’s no secret to anyone that PKav was our offensive “quarterback” for these past few years. With him graduated, his brother CKav will likely be the centerpiece. Coach Corrigan mentioned the concern going into this season was that Chris Kavanagh would look to do to much and feel the burden of expectations. The feel from from these scrimmages with the sheer number of goals this group is putting up, this doesn’t seem to be a huge concern. CKav having 10 assists between the 2 certainly shows how he has embraced the “quarterback” role that is being asked of him.

The Schedule

The official season schedule was recently released, with the list of Notre Dame opponents looking very similar to the lineup from the past few years. The notable addition is the inclusion of a visit by Penn to end the regular season.

The Irish will not officially begin their campaign for a few weeks, but in this first weekend of NCAA lacrosse, their opponents have largely taken care of business with the surprise exception of Ohio State which lost to Utah. The Irish will need to be mindful of Duke and Syracuse who looked particularly strong in their season openers.

A special thank you to our friend and colleague David Brogan for compiling the scrimmage stats.

ND-Atl 2.0