After wrapping up the No. 1 seed in this week’s ACC Tournament, the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team also collected some postseason hardware from the conference on Tuesday.
Senior attacker Chris Kavanagh captured the ACC Offensive Player of the Year, marking the second straight year the Irish have received the award and third time overall. Kavanagh’s brother, Pat, took home the award for the dominant Irish attack a year ago, while Bryan Costabile was the first Notre Dame man to win it back in 2019.
Kavanagh, the Rockville Center, New York native, scored 31 goals and added 22 assists to lead the team tallying 53 points. He currently ranks second in program history with 143 goals, setting the season record for points a year ago with 81.
On the other side of the field, sophomore defender Shawn Lyght was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the seventh Notre Dame player to earn the honor. Despite entering the league just 12 years ago, the Irish have won the award more than any other school.
Lyght makes it three in a row for Notre Dame, following Liam Entenmann claiming the crown as top defender each of the past two seasons. It is also the fourth time in five years that the Irish have taken home the award, as Jack Kielty won in 2021.
Finally, dual-sport athlete and previous No. 1 national recruit Matt Jeffery made it a clean sweep by winning Freshman of the Year. The midfielder, who also plays wide receiver for Marcus Freeman, scored five goals on the season, four of which came in the four ACC games.
The Irish also led the league in All-ACC team selections with six. Alongside Kavanagh and Lyght on the all-conference squad were junior midfielder Will Donovan, senior midfielder Ben Ramsey, junior goalkeeper Thomas Ricciardelli and graduate forward Jake Taylor.
The postseason quest for a third consecutive ACC Championship and NCAA Championship begins on Friday afternoon in Charlotte, North Carolina. The No. 1 seed Irish will seek revenge on No. 4 Syracuse following the Orange’s 14-9 win in upstate New York back on April 5. Faceoff is set for 5 p.m. with the telecast available on ACC Network.
