Our Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse team defeated the Duke Blue Devils, 13-9, to win the 2023 NCAA Division 1 National Championship

Exhale.

30,462 were in attendance at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to watch Coach Corrigan and Notre Dame win their first lacrosse national championship. Most were there to support the Irish.

The Plot

Memorial Day weekend, the traditional championship weekend for lacrosse. Without question the premier event in this sport.

Pregame

We’ve been to countless lacrosse games. Tailgating is common, but this was college football Saturday-level tailgating at the Linc. The semifinals were fun, but it was clear the fans, and especially the Fighting Irish fans, were expecting something special that Monday.

The lower bowl quickly filled. The Duke families filled the section behind the Duke bench, but to their left began a sea of green as sections of Irish player families, Irish lacrosse alumni and their families, and then Irish fans and supporters assembled all the way around. Anticipation built.

It was pleasing to see the Irish warming up as they always do, no deviation from their routine. The NCAA requires teams to shorten their playing rosters to 32 athletes, but Notre Dame dressed and warmed up their entire team. The starters and active players got the benefit of routine, the entire team got to enjoy the experience. All 57. If there was a worry, Pat Kavanagh’s leg was heavily bandaged  and there was little word on the status of Chris Kavanagh, who had his head split open during the Virginia game.

Hiccup

The game didn’t start great, to be honest. Duke midfielder Garrett Leadmon took advantage of some nervous defensive communication and scored 35 seconds into the game. The Duke section cheered.

The Irish Arrive

A the teams exchanged possessions, and it looked like the Irish were about to have another scoreless possession until Chris Kavanagh found Brian Tevlin in front of the goal. Tevlin beat the shot clock by a split second to put the Irish on the board. The stadium erupted. It was clear who the crowd came to see.

The defenses of both teams flexed their muscles for the next several possessions until Eric Dobson, the “Florida Flamethrower” (ESPN does enjoy naming our tall midfielders) added a second for Notre Dame as he ran across the front of the Duke goal.

The defenses continued to hold firm, and Irish goalie Liam Entenmann was coming into increasing control of the game. There weren’t a lot of good scoring opportunities for either team until a deflected pass landed near CKav, who put it in the back of the net to put the Irish up 3-1.

There was some worry a few minutes later as Duke’s All-American defenseman Kenny Brower laid a dirty head shot on Chris Kavanagh. The crowd was silent until CKav could get himself off the ground. The Irish were surprisingly unable to do anything with the 2-minute unreleasable penalty that was assessed. It was clear that goals were going to be hard to manufacture.

Jake Taylor scored another opportunistic goal for the Irish a few minutes later, followed by a Jalen Seymour pass to Agent Zero, Jeff Ricciardelli, to put the Irish in a commanding 5-1 position.

A stout defense and 8 Entenmann saves resulted in the first bit of Duke desperation as they tried to go to a 10-man ride to disrupt the Irish and gamble for hope of transition opportunities.  However, this risk only gave Quinn McCahon the opportunity to score and incredible bar-down goal from sixty yards out. The Irish ended the half up 6-1 and in control. They had held Duke scoreless for 29 minutes.

The Duke Counter-Attack

Lacrosse is a game of runs, and teams know few leads are safe.  Duke is an excellent team and was the #1 seed for a reason. Coach Corrigan prepared his team at halftime for the likelihood that the Blue Devils weren’t simply going to go away.

The Duke reply began a few minutes into the third quarter on an Jack Gray goal in transition. A few seconds later, another Duke goal, followed by another less than a minute later. Two minutes later they scored another on a Pat Kavanagh penalty. Irish only up 6-5.

Jeff Ricciardelli scored on a man-up opportunity to put the Irish back up two, but by a minute left in the 3rd, Duke had tied the game.

A Champion Mindset

During this playoff run, we have often said this was time for the Irish to simply be great. The team leaders responded.

PKav found his co-captain, Brian Tevlin for a goal with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.  On the next possession, a determined CKav dove as time expired to put the Irish up 2.

Entenmann continued to save everything Duke could fire at him. Dobson scored another to put the Irish up 3. Duke responded with a goal in transition to keep them in range, but Entenmann took control of the defense and the fans began to believe victory was close.

Simmons scored again to put the Irish up 3. Duke was running out of time and started taking defensive risks, allowing Taylor to score another. Irish up 4 with 4 minutes left. Duke desparately chased Philadelphia hometown hero Quinn McCahon around and opened themselves up for another goal. Irish up 5 with 3 minutes to play.

The Irish defense and Liam Entenmann took care of the rest and the game ended 13-9. Duke held to their lowest total of the year, and Notre Dame was now National Champion.

The Scoring

Player of the Tournament and Goalie of the Year Liam Entenmann had an incredible 18 saves. None were easy, he just made them look than way.

Taylor and CKav (4 gbs!) had 2 goals and an assist each. Dobson, McCahon, Ricciardelli and Tevlin had 2 goals each. Simmons provided a goal and 2 assists. PKav (3 gbs!) and Seymour added an assist each. Once again, supreme balance.

The faceoff unit turned the tables on Duke’s Jake Naso and finished 14 of 24 (Lynch 12/19 and Hagstrom 2/5).

The teams stats were largely even, but our friends at Lacrossereference.com calculated the Irish were 31% efficient to Dukes 22%.  Seems a great defense and a brick wall for a goalie helps!

25 of the active 32 players saw the field.

Thoughts

Special credit goes to Mandy Merritt and the Irish sports performance team. The boys were banged up, but they got them ready.  The team was ready to play the full 60 minutes on short rest. Coaches Wellner, Wojcik and Garnsey had these boys well prepared and knowing what needed to get done to succeed.

A lot has been written about what the Irish did to win. We think Coach Corrigan said it best: our guys made more plays. On short rest, against a top team, and on the biggest stage, that’s what makes a difference.  Entenmann made his saves. The defense made sure he got shots he could see. The faceoff unit won their matchup against a first-team All American.  And seven different players made sure the ball got into the back of the Duke net. As coach said before the weekend, this isn’t “rocket surgery,” just make plays. We’re believers in advanced stats, but on two days rest on championship weekend, it as simple as execution and making plays.

If we had to add our thoughts on a secret sauce for making plays, it’s leadership, and this team had exemplary leaders. Captains Manyak, Kavanagh, Entenmann and Tevlin are special people.

People watching lacrosse for the first time this weekend may wonder if the legend of the Kavanagh grit is just some made-up TV story. It is not. Chris had to have his face stitched up to play. Pat’s hamstring was heavily bruised and torn, but he willed himself to be enough of a threat on the field to force Duke to commit their first-team All-American defender to cover him. A pro gets an injury like that and we fully accept that 6 weeks on the DL is appropriate, because it is. Entenmann texts PKav the story of a soldier who suffered 22 bullets and a grenade wound and stayed in the fight, and that’s all the inspiration Pat needed to get in the game full throttle.

To add a postscript to the PKav story, we’ll add that it did not go unnoticed that players like Jeffrey Ricciardelli and Atlanta’s Fulton Bayman elevated and took some pressure off Pat to be on the field all the time. These little things often go unnoticed to the point the official scorer doesn’t even see them, but it doesn’t go unnoticed to us.

We share the thoughts of the past and present Notre Dame lacrosse players in being specifically excited for Coach Corrigan. Notre Dame has had plenty of iconic coaches across many sports. None have served as long as Kevin Corrigan.

I’ve been having fun writing here about the Irish since I’ve been a kid, and my dad before me, and I can’t express how great it is to witness a season like this.  National Champions! Special thanks this season to our collaborators at 18Stripes, our colleague at One Foot Down, Drew Brennan (whose championship recap can be read here), our man on the ground Dave Brogan, and all our followers who shared their thoughts with us this season.

We’ll post a season wrap up soon, and we’ll do our best to keep everyone up on the Irish in the PLL (#RollWoods).

The Fighting Irish are the 2023 National Champions!

#GoIrish