NCAA Men's Lacrosse Preview: Not Losing Sleep at No. 1 Notre Dame

USA Lacrosse Magazine is beginning its countdown to Feb. 1 — the first day of the 2025 men's lacrosse season — by releasing one team preview per day beginning on Monday, Jan. 13.

We finish the countdown with No. 1 Notre Dame, the two-time defending champ with massive holes to fill but no lack of confidence in its talent.

NO. 1 NOTRE DAME

2024 record: 16-1 (4-0 ACC)
Head Coach: Kevin Corrigan
Assistants: Ryder Garnsey, Ryan Wellner, Chris Wojcik

In a year when it seems most teams are in a rebuilding mode, Notre Dame certainly has massive holes to fill – including the graduation of Tewaaraton Award winner Pat Kavanagh and all-everything goalie Liam Entenmann.

There are other major losses, but when you’ve won two straight national championships, that means you’ve got a lot of really good players. And a lot of those guys are back.

There’s a reason Notre Dame is everybody’s No. 1 going into the season, but head coach Kevin Corrigan has a lot of puzzle pieces to connect as the Irish seek to become the first team to win three straight titles since Princeton in the late 1990s.

TOP RETURNERS

Will Donovan, LSM, Jr. (33 GB, 21 CT)
Shawn Lyght, D, So. (19 GB, 6 CT)
Ben Ramsey, SSDM, Sr. (39 GB, 4 PTS)
Chris Kavanagh, A, Sr. (44G, 37A)

Notre Dame led the nation in scoring offense last year, but three of its top returning players are on the defensive side of the ball … where Notre Dame also led the country in scoring defense. Ramsey was a first-team All-American and brings a key presence to a unit that will rely on some younger players. Donovan has been a two-year regular at LSM and can generate instant offense with his takeaway ability. Lyght, a member of the U.S. U20 training team, has enormous potential to get even better after earning second-team All-America honors as a freshman.

“He’s probably the best freshman that I’ve ever coached at a position, and it’s not because he’s doing spectacular things that are hard to duplicate,” Corrigan said. “He’s just as solid as you could be. He doesn’t get over his skis very often, and yet he’s always where you want him to be.”

KEY ADDITIONS

Greg Campisi, LSM, Gr. (23 GB, 16 CT at Harvard)
Matt Jeffery, M, Fr. (Cheshire High School, Conn.)
Brady Pokorny, A, Fr. (Darien High School, Conn.)

Notre Dame has had great success with grad transfers in the post-COVID era, and Campisi figures to be next in line. A three-year regular at Harvard, Campisi has the versatility to play both LSM and close defense. Pokorny had a strong fall, and Corrigan expects him to see quality minutes on the attack unit. Jeffery is the nation’s No. 1 high school recruit according to Inside Lacrosse, but he was playing football for the Irish through the national championship game on Jan. 20 and had not practiced with the team in the fall or early preseason.

NOTABLE DEPARTURES

Graduations: Chris Conlin, D; Eric Dobson, M; Liam Entenmann, G; Reilly Gray, M; Pat Kavanagh, A

X-FACTOR

Goaltending

Notre Dame’s returning goalies Thomas Ricciardelli, a junior, and Alex Zepf, a senior, have combined to play just over 70 minutes in their Notre Dame careers. For the last few years, Corrigan slept easy knowing he had Entenmann in goal. But he’s not losing sleep now, despite the inexperience.

“We’ve got guys who worked extremely hard in the last couple of years even knowing they were unlikely to get a lot of playing time unless something happened to Liam,” Corrigan said. “We’ve got a great competition going on there between two really good goalies. It’s not at the top of my list of worries.”

Zepf is the more experienced of the two, having seen action in 14 games over the last two years. He also played behind Entenmann in high school at Chaminade (N.Y.). Ricciardelli played in just one game a year ago but was a five-star and the No. 4 overall player by Inside Lacrosse coming out of high school in 2022 from Taft.

THE NARRATIVE

The start of any season is both exhilarating and nerve-wracking for coaches. There are so many unknowns. One of the challenges this year for Corrigan is still having unknowns late into January.

Three players who should see significant roles this year on the lacrosse field – Tyler Buchner, Jordan Faison and Matt Jeffery – played on Notre Dame’s football team, which went on a magical run to the championship game of the College Football Playoff.

“We haven’t gotten a chance to see some pretty key components of our team,” Corrigan said in January after the first week of practice. “Matt Jeffery, we don’t have any idea what he looks like on our field, just like with Jordan last year. We’re going to trust that he has the athleticism and everything we saw in high school.”

Faison and Jeffery should be key pieces on the offense, so their absence in the fall and preseason creates some challenges for a group that must replace 61 goals and 66 assists following the graduations of Eric Dobson, Reilly Gray and Pat Kavanagh. Faison, one of Notre Dame’s top receivers in football, is a known commodity after scoring 22 goals as a dynamic presence last season. Jeffery, who played in four games in football, hadn’t played any lacrosse in South Bend until after football ended.

Fortunately, there are a host of weapons returning to the offense.

Pat’s younger brother, Chris, led the Irish in scoring with 81 points on 44 goals and 37 assists. The offense will run through him in 2025, and he’s poised for a big season while handling the expectations.

“I've been really impressed with Chris this preseason so far, and even in the fall, in that he has just continued to play really good, smart, team lacrosse,” Corrigan said. “I was worried that he might think that there was a burden on him or that the expectations were for him to make some jump, or to be more of something. He just is a very good, very smart lacrosse player. He continues to play that way, which makes him both easy to play with and great to play with because he's going to make the right play.”

At the receiving end of many of Kavanagh’s passes will be Jake Taylor, one of the most creative and best finishers in the sport. Taylor scored 41 goals last season and shot nearly 50 percent.

“There’s kind of a joy in his game that’s like a kid just trying stuff, but he practices that stuff,” Corrigan said. “He works on it, and it’s not something that he just pulls out of nowhere, but when he’s in the moment, he’s as creative as anybody you’re going to find.”

An unexpected boost for the offense comes from the return of Devon McLane, who had 37 goals a year ago after transferring from Brown. McLane decided late to come back and use his final year of eligibility. Max Busenkell can do a little bit of everything and had 11 goals and eight assists last season from the second midfield unit.

The offense is also aided by an ever-improving faceoff group. Will Lynch and Colin Hagstrom handled the vast majority of draws last season and both are back to lead a unit that ended up winning 57 percent last season.