Accountability, Love and Trust: How Notre Dame Reached the Pinnacle of Lacrosse

PHILADELPHIA — It was never about revenge.

As common as it became these last few weeks for people to characterize this Notre Dame season as a four-month clapback at the NCAA selection committee, coach Kevin Corrigan felt compelled to clarify how the Irish summoned strength from last year’s snub.

“Did last year motivate us and galvanize this team? Absolutely. Revenge is not the right word, though,” Corrigan said in the press conference following the Fighting Irish’s 13-9 victory over Duke in the NCAA championship game Monday at Lincoln Financial Field. “From the moment we didn’t get into the tournament we said two things. One, we think this is unfair, but life is not fair. And two, we left ourselves vulnerable to this happening, and that’s on us.

“We’re not going to blame other people. We’re going to say from this moment forward, let’s do what we can do to make sure this doesn’t happen to us again next year. I don’t think that’s revenge. That’s accountability and owning up to what you had control of, and that’s what our guys did. That’s why I’m so proud of them.”

The longest-tenured Division I men’s lacrosse coach in the country, Corrigan used a different word to describe how Notre Dame managed the emotional rollercoaster that ended with the program’s first national championship in its 42-year history.

Love.

It came from best-selling author and motivational speaker Jon Gordon, a former Cornell lacrosse player who visited the team in South Bend before it ventured east for its sixth championship weekend appearance. All five previous appearances ended in heartbreak, including NCAA championship game losses to Duke in 2010 and 2014.

“He said when you’re feeling nervous and you’re feeling fear and trepidation, just remember the thing that drives that out best is love,” Corrigan said. “Just love what you’re doing. Love the fact that you’re here. Love that you got these guys that you love and that are with you. If you concentrate on that, the fear and the uncertainty go away.”

If accountability and love carried the Irish to Memorial Day, trust got them over the top. Namely on defense, where they were slow to slide and content to let NCAA championship MVP Liam Entenmann gobble up low-percentage shots.

Except for the 12-minute stretch in the third quarter during which Duke rallied from a 6-1 deficit to tie the game at 7, Notre Dame’s defense proved impenetrable.

For the second time this season, second-team All-American defenseman Chris Fake neutralized Tewaaraton Award finalist and USILA Player of the Year Brennan O’Neill. The hulking lefty managed just one man-up goal on 1-for-9 shooting against Fake, who gave O’Neill very little runway with the ball in his stick.

“He showed up on the biggest stage in the biggest game of our lives and held an unbelievable player to a relatively quiet game,” Entenmann said.

Fake had similar success guarding O’Neill during the teams’ regular-season matchup, a 17-12 Irish win April 8 in South Bend. O’Neill’s only goal in that game also came on an extra-man opportunity. He had five turnovers that day, two caused by Fake. In two games against Notre Dame he shot a combined 2-for-14 with seven turnovers.

Both Entenmann and midfielder Brian Tevlin, who transferred with Fake from Yale as graduate students and roommates, said they thought Fake should have been a first-team All-American. He earned second-team honors from USA Lacrosse and the USILA and a third-team nod from Inside Lacrosse.

“He doesn’t get the respect I think he deserves,” said Tevlin, who scored the overtime winner to beat Virginia in the semifinals and had the go-ahead goal late in the third quarter after Duke had rallied to tie the game 34 seconds earlier. “He’s as focused and dedicated to his craft as you could be.”

Fake credited scout team attackman Jeremy Hopsicker for helping to prepare him for O’Neill and said Entenmann deserves just as much recognition for twice stifling one of the most dominant players in the college game.

As a team, the Blue Devils misfired on 23 straight shots in the first half Monday. Entenmann finished with 18 saves, including seven in the fourth quarter as Notre Dame shut the door on the Blue Devils’ comeback bid.

So desperate was Duke to generate scoring opportunities that it resorted to a 10-man ride in the second quarter — to which Irish midfielder Quinn McCahon responded with a 45-yard missile that struck the inside of the crossbar and bounced in the goal — and vacated the goal to double team while trailing by three with less than five minutes left in regulation.

The latter move backfired when midfielder Jack Simmons fed attackman Jake Taylor in front for the empty netter to make it 12-8 with 4:19 remaining. A minute later, McCahon swim-dodged through a double team and juked a third defender to put the game out of reach.

Fake said the trust Notre Dame displayed on the field extended from the locker room, starting in the fall when the Irish welcomed four graduate transfers. In addition to Fake and Tevlin, who won an NCAA title as freshmen at Yale in 2018, Simmons came from Virginia, where he was a part of national championship teams in 2019 and 2021. Starting defenseman Chris Conlin transferred from Holy Cross.

“We didn’t know what kind of guys we were walking into and they didn’t know what kind of guys they were welcoming to their team. We both just got super lucky,” Fake said. “I have so many good friends on Yale. I didn’t think this place would be able to compare to that.”

Notre Dame won’t go back to South Bend to celebrate. Instead, the team will remain in Philadelphia to conduct a clinic for youth and middle school lacrosse players Tuesday before embarking on a 10-day tour of Germany.

“Pretty great way to go out,” Corrigan said. “It would have been a whole different experience had we lost today, but now I’m glad it all worked out well.”