Coming off a 9-5 season in which they made it to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse team returns to the field this Saturday to open its season against the Marquette Golden Eagles. As they do almost every season, the Irish have very high expectations, but there are going to be some key adjustments that the Irish are going to need to make with some key players from last season moving on.
Head coach Kevin Corrigan, the longest tenured coach in the NCAA, will be returning for his 38th year. He is used to a revolving door of talented players, but the losses the Irish are suffering, particularly on the attacking end, are going to affect this team. The key attacking losses the Irish will suffer are Chris Kavanagh, Jake Taylor, and Devon McLane, meaning the Irish will have to replace all three starting spots up top.
A likely starter for the Irish is Josh Yago, a graduate transfer from Air Force who made the NCAA playoffs last year before losing to Maryland and made the finals. Yago led the Falcons in points, picking up 37 goals and 35 assists, and he’ll most likely replace Taylor as the starter at attack. Another likely starter for the Irish is junior Brock Behrman, who waited his turn the past two seasons and now will get his chance to shine. Behrman picked up four goals and three assists for Notre Dame, and he was a very promising player coming out of high school, as he was ranked the No. 31 recruit in the class of 2023.
Other potential options for the Irish attack include sophomore Brady Pokorny, a five-star ranked as the 12th best player in the class of 2024, sophomore Luke Miller, who was the 40th-ranked player in the class of 2024, and also two five-star freshmen Teddy Lally and Cam Kelley, ranked at 7th and 21st in the class of 2025, respectively. It is going to be a new look at attack for the Irish, but they have some incredibly promising options.
The Irish do return some of their key midfielders from last season. Jordan Faison, however, will not be, as the star wide receiver for the Irish football team elected to solely focus his efforts there. Graduate students Will Angrick and Jalen Seymour and seniors Will Maheras and Max Busenkell all return, who will all be key two-way middies for the Irish. Angrick picked up 15 goals and 12 assists last season; Seymour had 13 goals and five assists; Maheras picked up nine goals and nine assists, and Busenkell contributed eight goals and seven assists. That is some key offensive firepower the Irish return and is certainly going to help an inexperienced attack as the season gets started. Other options include two-sport sophomore Matt Jeffery, who had six goals and an assist last season, graduate Fisher Finley, who had four goals and two assists, and five-star freshman Dylan Faison, brother of Jordan Faison, ranked at 14th in the class of 2025.
On the defensive side, the Irish lose one of the best short stick defensive middies they have ever had in Ben Ramsey. The most likely starters at that slot are sophomore Chris Reinhardt and senior Christian Alacqua, as they were the main players to receive minutes alongside Ramsey a year ago. Many of their offensive midfielders will also play two-way roles for the Irish. At long stick, there is going to be competition for the second spot between sophomores Luke Stickler, Luke Crowe and Jimmy Kenney. However, the first spot will undoubtedly belong to Will Donovan. Donovan, a senior, has been an All-American for all three seasons he has played college lacrosse, and to no one’s surprise, he was named a preseason All-ACC player as well. He will be one of the best in the country, and he is going to be a problem for opposing attackers all year. He is a key player on one of the best defenses in the country.
The Irish will return all three starters from a team that had one of the best close defenses in the country in senior Will Gallagher, senior Nate Schwitzenberg and junior Shawn Lyght. The Irish only allowed 9.14 goals per game last season, which was 9th in the country, and these three are only going to help. Gallagher picked up 30 ground balls and caused 11 turnovers last season in a very solid year while Schwitzenberg also contributed 18 ground balls and caused 11 turnovers. The real star for the Irish defense, however, is Lyght. Regarded as one of the best defenders in the country, he has been an All-American each of the past two seasons and also won the Schmeisser Award as only a sophomore last season. He was also picked as a preseason All-ACC player this season, and he will be the anchor on an Irish defense that will most likely be one of the best in the country. In the net for the Irish will be Thomas Ricciardelli, a senior coming off a solid junior year in his first season as a starter with a 56.6% save percentage and 159 saves. Again, the Irish were 9th-best in goals allowed per game, and Riciardelli was a huge part of that.
The final position to cover is faceoff, and for the first time in years, it will not be Will Lynch. The good news for the Irish, though, is they havr brought in top-ranked FOGO in the class of 2025 Aidan Diaz-Matos. Diaz-Matos is also ranked as the 7th-best player in the class overall. Additionally, the Irish have junior transfer Tyler Spano from Washington and Lee, and even though he is coming from a Division III program, he is a 2nd-team All-American according to Inside Lacrosse. Lynch is a key loss for the Irish, but the two recruits they have to replace him look to be solid.
The Irish open their season Feb. 14 against Marquette, and they will play an incredibly tough schedule this season, with seven of their games against teams who made the tournament last year. The Irish were ranked No. 8 in the preseason rankings by Inside Lacrosse, and while they may have some growing pains this year with key stars departing, they also return some high-impact players, and certainly have the potential to bring the national championship back to South Bend.
