Preview: No. 2 Maryland men’s lacrosse faces No. 1 Notre Dame in NCAA Championship rematch

Photo courtesy of David Venezia

No. 2 Maryland men’s lacrosse head coach John Tillman circled this game on the schedule as soon as it was released. After getting utterly dominated in last year’s national championship game, 15-5, the Terps (4-0) are coming into Saturday’s contest against No. 1 Notre Dame (3-0) with a vengeance.

“Last year is last year … nothing we do Saturday is going to change last year’s game,” Tillman said. “We can’t lose our identity. We can’t just go rogue and be all emotional and get away from things that we’ve tried to preach. They’ve got to execute the game plan.”

The good news for Tillman is that attacker Pat Kavanagh was picked sixth overall in the Premier Lacrosse League draft. The bad news is that his brother, attacker Chris Kavanagh, is still on the roster. The Kavanagh brothers torched the Terps in the title game, combining for five goals and six assists.

And Chris Kavanagh has picked up where he left off last season. After breaking the program record with 81 points — 44 goals and 37 assists — including five goals in the championship, he hasn’t skipped a beat. Through three games, he has nine goals and eight assists, the seventh-most points per game in the country.

The Fighting Irish boasted the best scoring offense in the country last season, and that has remained true again, scoring 19 goals a game so far. 

Graduate student Jake Taylor is a big reason why, turning into Notre Dame’s second-leading scorer. But Taylor has always been a lethal attacker, breaking the record for most goals in a game (8) in just his first career start. He’s only improved since that point, recording 41 goals last season and a team-high 10 goals this year.

While a lot of the Fighting Irish’s success can be attributed to their players, head coach Kevin Corrigan has been exceptional at the helm. Corrigan is in his 37th year in charge, making him the longest active tenured men’s lacrosse coach in Division I. He has flipped Notre Dame into a powerhouse, holding a 354-160 record and securing consecutive national titles — the first two in program history.

Despite several key players from last year’s team graduating, the Fighting Irish have looked just as dominant. They have won their first three games by 33 combined goals. However, they barely squeaked by No. 10 Georgetown, 11-9, in their last game.

All the recent talk about Notre Dame primarily discusses its offense, and it makes sense, but the defense is no slouch either. Last season, it finished with the fewest goals allowed in the country. That has remained true again, holding the 15th-best scoring defense (eight goals per game).

Sophomore Shawn Lyght — the No. 26-ranked recruit in the class of 2023 according to Inside Lacrosse — has lived up to the hype. He ascended quickly to one of the best defenders in the country, holding elite attackers well below their season averages and being named an All-American second-teamer.

Senior short stick defensive midfielder Ben Ramsey is the Fighting Irish’s lone first-team All-American returner. Ramsey covers a lot of ground across the field, helping him scoop up 39 ground balls and force 13 turnovers. 

While Notre Dame has become a juggernaut and is looking for the first three-peat since 1998, the Terps will be its toughest test of the season. 

Maryland’s defense is once again the heart and soul of the team. It has limited the production of some of the best attackers and sits ninth in the nation in scoring defense, 7.50 goals per game. The starting trio of Will Schaller, Colin Burlace and Jackson Canfield has filled the void of last year’s National Defensive Player of the Year, Ajax Zapitello.

It also helps when you have Logan McNaney in goal, who has made timely saves to help keep the Terps perfect on the season. He holds the 21th-highest save percentage in the country.

The faceoff unit has dominated the draw control this season, gathering the 11th-best mark in the nation at 60.2 percent. However, senior Shea Keethler and sophomore Sean Creter will face another daunting group in the circle on Saturday.

“Some people might have thought it was going to be an enormous drop off from Luke, and Luke was certainly a generational type guy, but these kids have given us a chance,” Tillman said.

Led by two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week Eric Spanos, Maryland’s balanced attack has suffocated its opponents. Spanos recorded four goals in the Terps’ win against Syracuse. Daniel Kelly and Matthew Keegan combined for 16 goals, while Bryce Ford added five.

However, Maryland will need its most complete game of the season if it hopes to dethrone the Fighting Irish. The Terps have been up to the challenge, though, in their last two games against top-5 opponents.

Saturday’s contest is in Atlanta, Ga., and will start at 1 p.m. on the ACC Network.