What they’re saying about Notre Dame men’s lacrosse winning back-to-back national titles
Notre Dame played 33 men’s lacrosse games in the last two seasons. The Fighting Irish won 30 of them. On their way to back-to-back national championships, the first pair in program history, they beat the two teams that took them down in the NCAA Tournament.
The Irish lost to Virginia twice in 2023 then beat the Cavaliers in the national semifinals. The Irish lost to Georgetown in February then beat the Hoyas in the national quarterfinals. Both national championship games came against traditional powerhouses in the sport, Duke and Maryland, and the Irish took care of them by 4 and 10 goals, respectively.
At the end of the last two campaigns, nobody was better than Notre Dame. Period.
The Irish simply would not be denied.
“Feels great,” Notre Dame goalie Liam Entenmann said. “This is what we play for. This is what we live for, these opportunities — the big games, the big moments. I guess the target’s still on our back going into next year, but that’s how we want it. We don’t want to be anything other than the best. We showed that today.”
So much of that had to do with the Kavanagh brothers, Pat and Chris, a Notre Dame legacy duo who followed in the footsteps of their older brother, Matt, and took the team to heights even he could not. Pat will likely win the Tewaaraton Award as the nation’s best player. He capped his career with a six-assist outing to finish his final year of eligibility with an even 80 points — 31 goals and 49 assists. Not to be outdone, Chris had 5 goals against Maryland to end his junior season with 44 goals, 37 assists and a team-high 81 points.
ESPN college football analyst Dan Orlovsky took notice of the Kavanaghs’ brilliance, calling them candidates “for the best duo in sports right now.” High praise. Plenty of others had the same thing for two of Notre Dame’s finest.
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Notre Dame’s back-to-back national titles came with more than national notoriety for the Kavnaghs. How about former Notre Dame and Alabama quarterback Tyler Buchner, who played a considerable amount of time in the Irish’s deep midfield in the championship game, getting crowned?
Notre Dame football players Sam Assaf and Jordan Faison were also a part of the national title-winning team. Faison scored a goal, his 22nd of the season, in the title game. Irish football head coach Marcus Freeman was there to take it in.
Last but not least, Entenmann — a Tewaraaton Award finalist along with the elder Kavanagh — made 16 saves against the Terrapins. As good as the Kavanaghs were, people with vast knowledge of the game viewed Entenmann, a two-time National Goalie of the Year, as the Irish’s most important piece. This weekend, he’ll get to prove just how good he is for the New York Atlas in the Premier Lacrosse League.
