History has been made. A defenseman has won the award as the best player in men’s college lacrosse. Notre Dame’s Shawn Lyght receives the Tewaaraton Award!

Shawn is the second Notre Dame lacrosse player to be recognized with the highest individual award in college lacrosse after Pat Kavanagh in 2024. The award is commonly referred to as lacrosse’s Heisman.

We’ve delayed our championship review on account of this great news, we hope you don’t mind!

Surprise? Not to us!

It was an interesting slate of finalists, with Joey Spallina (Syracuse), Nate Kabiri (Princeton), Owen Duffy (North Carolina) and Willem Firth (Cornell) all joining Lyght. All attackmen, but none were an obvious selection like C.J. Kirst last year, nor was it a collection of superteam stars like in 2024. The field was wide open.

It was certainly helpful that Lyght locked down two of the four during the regular season, and validated the same on championship weekend by locking down two in two days after the votes were cast.

Let’s not forget he already had the eye of the voters as a two-time Schmeisser Award winner as the top defenseman as only a junior.

@lacrossenetwork There’s a reason Shawn Lyght is a Tewaaraton finalist 💥💪 (via ESPN) #lacrosse #sports #collegelacrosse #lacrossehighlights #notredame ♬ original sound – The Lacrosse Network

Why is he special?

Shawn Lyght is a hard defenseman to describe. There aren’t many stats kept to evaluate defenders, and he doesn’t rate highly in those categories. He simply doesn’t get beat. There are no flashy plays, crazy athletic recoveries, or painful checks. He effortlessly smooth at all times, never in trouble. He’s supremely athletic with fantastic technique.

He alters the flow of the game as coaches actively avoid his half of the field. The metric that matters is that he covers the opponent’s top player, and the top player’s output is reduced to near zero. That’s it.

Congratulations!

In his post award interviews, Lyght was mindful to acknowledge the many defensemen before him that paved the way to this recognition. He also hoped this award opened the door for future defensemen to be considered. Most importantly, Shawn Lyght sees the award as only a step to a greater award, that is winning the national championship with his Notre Dame teammates in 2027.

A defenseman to his core.

Go Irish!

Luke Burgar

ND-ATL 2.0