On a beautiful and sunny Mother’s Day Sunday afternoon at Arlotta, the Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse team came out ready to go. They played some complete lacrosse, beating the Jacksonville Dolphins by a final score of 18-5. The Fighting Irish advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the fourth straight year and we will take on Johns Hopkins on Long Island, at Hofstra, at 12 PM EST on Saturday, May 16th. A trip to the Final Four is on deck for the winner.
There’s lots for us to get into so let’s take a look
at what we liked from the Irish on Sunday. And don’t forget to read our friends at 18Stripes’ look at the game as well.
What Stood out to Us
For what seemed to be the first time all season, the Irish got after it in the transition game and we saw Notre Dame put in some easy goals to get out to a quick start. It was great to see and something that I think a lot of us fans have been looking for from our Irish. We have the athletes to play fast break lacrosse and when done right, goals can come in bunches.
Speaking of scoring, let’s give a BIG shoutout to Thomas Porell for some awesome play on Saturday. Not only did he get his first ever career goal (an absolute rocket), but he played some really good defense for the Irish over the course of the afternoon. And this could be one of the biggest developments in this post season for the Irish as I think the coaching staff now has confidence in five SSDMs in Christian Alacqua, Chris Reinhardt, Kyle Bergen, Miguel Iglesias and Thomas Porell. That is huge as the weather gets warmer, the days in between games gets less and the competition continues to step up. Additionally, we saw freshman Brendan Mullahy out there early at SSDM too. Does the coaching staff have faith in six defenders? We will find out soon enough.
Thomas Ricciardelli was Thomas Ricciardelli. This was the type of game we have come to expect from Thomas this year. The Dolphins controlled possession for the first half of the first quarter , but they were not able to get one goal. Thomas was on point as he stopped everything he saw, and all in all, he only gave up one goal in the first half. It was exactly the start he needed in this tournament and you can see how much confidence he had on Sunday.
Five goals and six total points for Luke Miller. Another stellar performance for him as he continues to have a very strong sophomore season. He scored from a variety of areas on the field and put home two goals with his offhand. That gives defenses just another element of his game that they need to prepare for moving forward.
Matt Jeffery with two goals and three assists for another excellent game from him. I said earlier that the Duke game was the best of his career at Notre Dame, but I think this game eclipsed that, as it was more complete. He was dishing, he was scoring, he was running in transition. This is precisely what the #1 recruit in his class should look like when on the lacrosse field. And when he plays like this, he is one of the more dominant players in all of college lacrosse.
Brock Behrman, Teddy Lally and josh Yago with six goals and one assist. The attack is getting production and when the unit is clicking, it is a four-headed monster that doesn’t allow defenses to focus on our dodging midfielders from up top.
A big two minute man down stop from the Irish in the second period. Jacksonville had the opportunity to get at least a couple of goals, but Notre Dame was able to get a quick stop and then clear the ball to take the penalty clock down. It was deflating for the Dolphins.
Two really nice goals from freshman Gavin Lynch. Both of them were great goals, one on the run with his right hand, and one with a blast to the top corner with his left hand. Really awesome to see this from Gavin as he pushes for playing time in the postseason.
Notre Dame won the groundball battle 34-26 and we went 14-26 from the faceoff dot on the day. Two important areas for Notre Dame to come out on top and that is what needs to happen as the tournament moves along.
Finally, what a great way to celebrate Mother’s Day on Sunday. Shout out to all the Notre Dame Lacrosse Moms and all the Moms out there. Hope you all enjoyed your day this past weekend. You deserve that day and every day of the year, to be yours.
What Else We saw this Weekend
It was an unreal first weekend of the NCAA lacrosse tourney. As a reminder, last week in my article I picked Princeton, Notre Dame, UNC, Richmond, Syracuse, Georgetown, Cornell and ARMY in the opening round games. I went 5-3 and here is one quick thought on each game outside of the ND game:
In this tournament, there was no chance Marist’s defense was not going to stop Princeton.
UNC wasn’t challenged by Albany, but is Owen Duffy done for the season?
I feel for Richmond as they were up by three against Duke in the 4th quarter at home; they could not close it out.
Syracuse survived a flurry from Yale at the end to win by one goal.
Georgetown is a really good team and I think people forgot about that when they looked at what Virginia had done in the ACC tournament.
Hopkins outcoached Cornell and won in Ithaca; not a lot of people thought that would happen.
Penn State’s offense, when on, can be very tough to stop and ARMY found that out.
BTW, here are my updated Final Four picks based on who is left: Princeton, Georgetown, Syracuse and Notre Dame.
What’s Next for our Irish
It’s been said that the “next” game is always the hardest and I don’t think there is a more apt time to say that then the quarterfinal matchup in lacrosse. This is really where a season is made for teams as a trip to the Final Four and playing on Memorial Day weekend is on the line.
Notre Dame has been here before as this is the third time in four years we have been in this spot, and for the second time in four years, we will be playing the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. The last time we saw them was at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in 2023. We beat them by a score of 12-9 and we all know what happened from there as our Irish went on to win our first ever National Championship.
Johns Hopkins comes in off an OT win against Cornell by a final score of 9-8. They are 10-5 on the season and 4-3 in their last seven games. It’s a very talented team and there is a reason they are playing in the quarterfinals. They just went to Ithaca and beat the #7 seed in Cornell. They have nothing to lose as they are the underdog and they are looking to make their first trip to the Final Four since 2015.
The next “Exit 77” podcast with David Brogan and me comes out on Thursday night and we will have everything you will need to get you ready for the game. David always has us covered with all the information on Johns Hopkins and what we can expect to see from them.
Here are some general thoughts on our Irish as I know way more about Notre Dame than the Blue Jays:
Push the ball in transition. We saw what that can do for our team on Sunday and it puts our squad on a different level.
Continue the strong defensive and goalie play. We shut down Jacksonville and I expect us to have a similar effort on Saturday on Long Island.
Win the matchups with our SSDMs. This group has been so solid all year and when we can win at the point of attack here, we really tilt the field in our favor.
Be unselfish on offense. We have proven all year that different guys on our team can lead the way each and every game. This opportunity is no different so no need to change our identity now.
Lastly, play Notre Dame lacrosse. We all know that this means physical, tough, relenting lacrosse. Rely on your teammate and play like every play is your last. Do that and we will be fine.
“It’s Time to Be Great,” Notre Dame lacrosse. Let’s do this.
See you in Charlottesville.
