NCAA Rewind: Notre Dame's Best Was Better Than Most

Before USA Lacrosse Magazine looks ahead to what’s to come in 2025 — look out for our NCAA Way-Too-Early Top 25 rankings later this summer — our team of staff and contributors decided it was worth taking a last look at the 2024 college lacrosse season.

To do that, we’re taking a journey through 30 of the top teams in men’s and women’s lacrosse to see what went right, what went wrong and how we should feel about the season.

NOTRE DAME

USA Lacrosse preseason/final ranking: No. 7/No. 9
2024 record: 16-4 (7-2 ACC)

What went right: Through mid-March, there was legitimate case to be made for Notre Dame as the best team in the country. And in hindsight, the Irish were the only team this season to beat both the NCAA champion (Boston College) and the NCAA runner up (Northwestern).

When Notre Dame was on, it was clinical. An offense with three legitimate superstars (Jackie Wolak, Kasey Choma and Madison Ahern) put up 16.85 goals per game, good for third nationally. Defensively, the Irish were just outside the top 10 nationally (No. 12) at 9.05 goals allowed per game.

They were seventh in draw control percentage (61.7 percent) and ninth in draw controls per game (17.50), with Kelly Denes racking up 149 draws to rank 12th in the country.

What went wrong: Then there were the hiccups. Losses to Syracuse (16-14) and Virginia (12-10) are hardly inexcusable, but both of those losses came after the win over Northwestern, underscoring the up-and-down nature of Notre Dame.

Granted, Notre Dame followed the Virginia loss with 10 straight wins. That streak came to an end against Boston College (9-7) in the ACC tournament. The downfall in that game was twofold. Firstly, the offense mustered just 19 shots. Secondly, Notre Dame failed to make a save in the second half.

Lilly Callahan, a senior, ranked 49th nationally by saving 43.1 percent of shots.

Season highlight: Beating Northwestern put the lacrosse world on notice. Notre Dame put on a defensive clinic, limiting the Wildcats in the fourth quarter in a way that almost nobody in lacrosse could replicate.

Verdict: Ranked No. 1 in the country for a couple weeks, Notre Dame at times outperformed expectations. At other times, Notre Dame was about what we expected. A Tewaaraton-worthy campaign by Wolak was a joy to watch, and although Notre Dame graduates a ton, the Irish have been consistent enough lately to warrant attention next year and beyond.