Men's Tewaaraton Stock Watch: Tye Kurtz Joins the Top 5

Pat Kavanagh was already enjoying a great senior season. Now, he has one of the spring’s signature games.

The Notre Dame attackman had three goals and five assists in Saturday’s 17-12 defeat of Duke. His entire eight-point production was crammed into less than 30 minutes of game action; his first assist came on a Jake Taylor goal with 10:02 left in the second quarter to put the Irish up 5-3, and his last point was a transition feed to brother Chris with 13:52 to go to make it 15-9.

While monster games in the postseason — a team success in May — tend to carry weight in the Tewaaraton selection process, a memorable outing against top-level competition during the regular season can serve as a solid foundation for how a year is remembered.

Having already hit the 50-point plateau, it’s safe to assume Kavanagh’s 2023 season will be recalled for years to come in South Bend, and possibly beyond.

This week’s top five:

1. Pat Kavanagh, A, Notre Dame (17 G, 34 A)

Now tied with Virginia’s Connor Shellenberger for the national lead in assists per game at 3.78, Kavanagh already ranks third on Notre Dame’s single-season assists list. He trails only the 2022 version of himself (39) and the 2021 version of himself (38).

Unsurprisingly, he is the Irish’s all-time leader in the category with 117, and he might be on the way to quarterbacking Notre Dame to a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

2. CJ Kirst, A, Cornell (49 G, 11 A)

Sticking with the theme of tracking school records, Kirst’s six-goal outing Tuesday against Marquette places him on the verge of joining Mike French as the only players in Big Red history with multiple 50-goal seasons. Pretty good company.

Additionally, Kirst clearly will have a chance to break the Cornell record for goals in a season, a standard of 66 set just last year by John Piatelli.

3. Brennan O’Neill, A, Duke (36 G, 26 A)

The junior had a tough go of it against veteran Notre Dame defenseman Chris Fake, managing a goal on six shots in the Blue Devils’ road loss.

His bounceback opportunity comes Saturday against Virginia, a team he just torched for six goals and three assists on March 31 in Charlottesville.

4. Connor Shellenberger, A, Virginia (14 G, 34 A)

The Cavaliers didn’t need the ailing Shellenberger to blast North Carolina 19-12. Getting the redshirt junior healthy and ready to go for May has to be one of the biggest priorities for Lars Tiffany and his staff. When Shellenberger is on point, Virginia’s offense is immensely difficult to contain.

5. Tye Kurtz, A, Delaware (42 G, 20 A)

Kurtz’s 62 points are tied for the most in Division I with O’Neill, and he broke the Blue Hens’ career records for goals and points in Saturday’s 17-7 blowout of Fairfield.

Something that should be appreciated about the fifth-year player is he’s played well even in Delaware’s toughest games. He delivered four goals and two assists in losses to both Michigan and Villanova, and later had five goals and two assists in a two-goal setback at Johns Hopkins.

Next five: Matt Brandau, A, Yale; Matt Campbell, M, Villanova; Payton Cormier, A, Virginia; Coulter Mackesy, A, Princeton; Logan McGovern, A, North Carolina