Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse: “Time to Be Great” is Upon Us

I am going to start this read by apologizing my for lack of articles of late. As we all know, sometimes life gets busy and that has been the case for me, so my articles have suffered. I have missed write-ups after the UNC win, the Duke win, the Syracuse win and the UVA loss. During that time, we have seen a lot of different things happen which I wish I could have written about at the time. But there is no moment like the present so let’s get into it…

What I have missed

The emergence of Thomas Ricciardelli as one of the best goalies in college lacrosse

Notre Dame’s stifling defense in back-to-back wins over Duke and UNC

Tyler Spano’s emergence as a legitimate weapon at the faceoff dot

Beating UNC meant back-to-back wins over the #1 ranked teams in the country

Teddy Lally’s hat trick against the Tarheels

Matt Jeffery’s hat trick against Duke

Aidan Diaz-Matos’ return to the lineup

Dylan Faison’s emergence across the second line

Will Maheras’ complete game against Syracuse

Max Busenkell’s first goals on the season which turned into a hat trick against the Orange

Notre Dame’s SSDM group solidifying themselves as one of the top groups in the country

Notre Dame’s third line midfield getting on the field in meaningful minutes

Christian Alacqua and Will Gallagher playing like captains and not backing down from anyone

Notre Dame winning the regular season ACC championship

Notre Dame finishing the regular season at 10-1 and being ranked #1 in the country

Thomas Ricciardelli winning goalie of the year in the ACC and Shawn Lyght being the co-defensive player of the year in the ACC

Will Donovan and Matt Jeffery joining Shawn and Thomas on the All-ACC team

Coach Corrigan being named the Coach of the Year in the ACC

Notre Dame losing for the second time this year against UVA

Josh Yago and Luke Miller leading the team in scoring

Notre Dame getting the #2 seed in the NCAA tournament

Duke making the tournament after losing four of their last five games

Maryland not making the tournament for the first time in over 20 years

Penn State winning the Big Ten title and getting a first round home game

Richmond hosting in the first round as the #4 seed

Virginia moving up to the #5 seed after a flurry of a finish

Princeton winning the Ivy League and getting the #1 overall seed in the tournament

The defending champs, Cornell, getting the #7 seed

Yale finishing strong and getting a spot in the tournament with a matchup in the Dome

Georgetown, as they do every year, winning the Big East and making the tournament

ARMY winning the Patriot League and getting back to the tournament

Jacksonville making the tournament for the first time in program history

Shawn Lyght is a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist

What I haven’t missed is the “Exit 77” podcast so hopefully a lot of you have been listening to the shows with David Brogan and me. We will be recording again this week on Thursday night and by that time we will know Notre Dame’s first round opponent. The Irish will play the winner of Jacksonville versus Robert Morris and we will be playing on Sunday, May 10^th which is Mother’s Day. No better way for the Irish to get the tournament underway than by honoring all the Moms in everyone’s lives.

Before we begin to look at the Irish and the tournament, let’s address the latest loss to the Cavaliers. It was not the way we wanted our ACC tournament to finish, and I think many of us were expecting the Irish to be playing on Sunday and playing for the ACC championship. We had all the motivation in the world going for us with our game against UVA as they were the only team that had beaten us in the regular season. It was a good chance to right what many would consider our worst game of the year. Unfortunately, it would not be the case, and we played even worse than how we played in Charlottesville back in late March.

For probably the only time all year, our defense looked out of sorts down in Charlotte. We just did not seem on the same page as we were caught out of place on too many occasions. We also could not get into a rhythm on offense and that did not help us either. Overall, we did not show our best and clearly we needed to be better.

Giving credit where credit is due, UVA is playing some excellent lacrosse right now and they took it to our Irish. No excuses though and hopefully it was a wakeup call as we get ready for our first round matchup. Knowing the leadership of this team in Will Gallagher, Will Donovan, Will Maheras and Christian Alacqua, this was a good opportunity for the seniors to get everyone together and make sure the whole team knows that it is now May.

What’s Ahead for the Irish

The tournament is here and for college lacrosse fans, there is no better time of year than May. It is the opportunity for teams to prove their worth and only one team will be hoisting the trophy and cutting down the nets on Memorial Day. This year’s tournament will culminate with the Final Four on Virginia’s campus in Charlottesville and the quarterfinal games will be played at Hofstra and at Delaware.

This is an opportunity for Notre Dame to win our third national championship in four years. It would be the culmination for a senior class (and fifth year seniors) who would go down in the history books of college lacrosse as one of the best to ever do it over a four year stretch.

While we don’t need this be brought up, I am a bit surprised there is not a little more talk from the national media about Notre Dame having the chance to win three out of four years.

My Overall Thoughts on the Irish

This is a championship-caliber team that the Irish have here in 2026. Can they win it all? Absolutely.

All the elements are there for the Irish:

Veteran and excellent goaltending

A strong close defense who has played lots of games together and knows each other inside and out

Lockdown defenders in Lyght, Donovan and Schwitzenberg

SSDM unit that can go four or five deep

Two strong faceoff specialists giving the Irish the opportunity to mix up the draws

A core six offensive midfielders with three of them having the ability to dodge from up top and beat their man in Jefferey, Faison and Maheras

Veteran midfielders in Will Angrick, Max Busenkell and Jalen Seymour

An attack that is unselfish and doesn’t care who gets the goals in Josh Yago, Luke Miller and Brock Behrman

A player who can take over a game in Josh Yago

Freshmen who have proven themselves in Teddy Lally, Chris Illuiano, Aidan Diaz-Matos and Miguel Iglesias

Veteran leadership who has won multiple national championships in Will Angrick, Jalen Seymour, Max Busenkell, Fisher Finley, Chrisian Alacqua, Will Donovan, Will Gallagher, Will Maheras, Thomas Ricciardelli, Alex Zepf, Declan Cooke, Jake Sommer, Christian Gallaher, Ryan Sforzo, Thomas Porrell and Griffin Grant.

A coaching staff who has all won multiple national championships

Keys to a Championship

The opportunity is there to win our third national championship in four years. Here is what I am thinking are the keys to making this dream come true:

We need to stay healthy and have everyone ready to go for each game

We need to continue our strong faceoff play

We need to avoid long scoring droughts

We need to get better at our man-down defense

We could use an uptick in our man-up offense

We need to win the ground ball battle

No unnecessary offsides penalties

Third line midfield production

Keep our composure

Just play Notre Dame Lacrosse. Do this and we will be fine.

Lastly, as has been the mantra for my articles at this time of year in the three years prior, it is “Time to Be Great.” Put everything else aside to focus on team glory. Play for your teammate. Give that extra 110% to get that ground ball that is just out of your reach. Run to the end line to get an extra possession you should not be having. Give one more fake before shooting the ball on goal. Play within yourself and trust your teammates. Find that extra gear when no one thinks you have it. Win that one faceoff that you need to win. Get that goal when you absolutely need to hit the back of the net. Get that save that everyone can’t believe you just made. Cause that turnover that changes momentum. Play with a ferocity that no one expected. Play every game and every play like it is your last.

It’s that time of the year.

Let’s Go Irish!!

My Predicted Winners of Round 1

My first round picks plus my overall bracket below. You better believe I think the Irish get it done on Memorial Day!

UNC

ARMY

Cornell

Richmond

Notre Dame

Syracuse

Georgetown

Princeton