Last Sunday, the NCAA playoff bracket was released. Our Notre Dame Fighting Irish have once again made the postseason! The first match-up is this coming Sunday at noon vs #4 Ohio State. This game is a great opportunity to redeem an early loss and prove what this team is really capable of.

Let there be no mistake: this game is huge in lacrosse circles. Seats on the secondary market start at $325.  Standing room only tickets starting in excess of $100.

This postseason will be a great one and going all the way is not out of the picture. Like we have said this team can beat anyone, but can also lose to anyone.

Irish in the PLL

Before we get into the playoff situation, there are a few players we need to congratulate!

This Tuesday, the Irish had 3 players drafted into the PLL! Jake Taylor was taken ninth overall to the Philadelphia Waterdogs. Chris Kavanagh was taken tenth overall to the California Redwoods. Ben Ramsey was taken twenty-eighth overall to the Boston Cannons! CKav dropping to the second round defied logic, but all’s well that ends well. He will join his coach, Ryder Garnsey, as a Redwood. They should be a formidable duo this summer.

Once again a huge congratulations to these 3 players and we look forward to having the chance to continue watching them play!

The Bad

When the bracket was released, the most disappointing thing that we saw was the fact that the boys lost a first round home game. This is what we assumed after the Syracuse loss, but seeing it live made it all the worse. Arlotta gives arguably the biggest home field advantage in all of college lacrosse, so losing the opportunity to play there is a big deal.

To clear up any misconception, the match-up against Ohio State has nothing to do with the rankings. After the 8 seeded teams, match-ups are based entirely off location. So just because Ohio State is #4 doesn’t mean the Irish are “ranked” on the lower end of the spectrum. We won’t get the know what the committee had the team at, but based off the media poll having us at #8 it is safe to assume the #9-#10 area is about right.

This match-up also brings the concern about how hot the Buckeyes are. The boys struggled against this team early in the season when the Buckeyes were still getting it together. The now Big Ten regular-season champions and Big Ten tournament champions are playing the best they have all season. Goalie Caleb “Big Tasty” Fyock has been playing outstanding recently, tallying 14 and 19 save games in the Big Ten playoffs. This game will be harder than the first time these two teams faced off, but nothing the boys can’t handle if they play a full sixty minutes.

This first round match-up will be a challenging but possible one. It will definitely set the tone for these play-offs, and we will know very quickly if there is a chance at a three-peat.

The Good

At the end of the day, as much as we have talked about the little things this season, the team is still in the playoffs. 

As the entire lacrosse world knows, and as the Irish have directly experienced, if you are in the playoffs there is always a chance. There have been far more challenged teams that have barely made the playoffs and won it all (looking at you 2016 North Carolina). 

As we saw through the 2023 season, the team does not like to be disrespected and will do anything to prove people wrong. We hope that the boys take the fact that they are unranked personally (as they should) and use it as motivation going into these playoffs. Perhaps they will mind some additional motivation in the post-game shenanigans by the Buckeye players after the Irish loss in South Bend this March.

Finally, as challenging as this first round match-up might be, the Irish championship path is the a good as it could be. No path is easy, but Ohio State into the winner of Penn State/Colgate is probably the best path to championship weekend we could have hoped for. Especially since it dodges the ACC teams that are experienced  against the Irish (namely Syracuse), and they avoid Cornell. And, if the boys are able to make it to Championship weekend, they would get the earlier (and better) semifinal game. Having the longer recovery period on Memorial Day weekend is statistically relevant.

Looking ahead all the way to championship weekend is probably getting way too far ahead of ourselves. But we truly do believe this team can make it there. But first, it’s time for the redemption game against Ohio State! Don’t miss it!

#GoIrish

ND-Atl 2.0