Mike Preston: Notre Dame men’s lacrosse has the talent and motivation to win it all | COMMENTARY

The chip on the shoulders of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse players and coaches has never been bigger.

A year ago, the Fighting Irish were denied an invitation to the NCAA Tournament despite winning their last six games. Some thought Notre Dame was the best team in the country at the time.

There is also speculation that Fighting Irish coach Kevin Corrigan can’t win the big game. Since Corrigan took over in 1989, Notre Dame has been the national runner-up twice and reached three other semifinals but has never won the title.

As the third-seeded Fighting Irish (10-2) prepare for an first-round game Saturday against visiting Utah (12-4), they could be in the middle of a perfect storm.

“They can win the NCAA tournament, their first ever, without question,” Big Ten and ESPN lacrosse analyst Mark Dixon said. “First of all, you have to look at all the talent on the field and they are a complete team. You factor in that talent with the chip on their shoulder, and it’s a pretty powerful equation.”

The run for the championship is pretty much a three-team race among No. 1 Duke, No. 2 Virginia and Notre Dame. But the Blue Devils have won national titles in 2010, 2013 and 2014 under coach John Danowski, and the Cavaliers had championship seasons in 2019 and 2021 under coach Lars Tiffany.

The frustration for Corrigan was often seen during games. He didn’t back away from yelling at players and he was usually in the face of some official regardless of the call or situation.

But he seems at ease and confident on the sidelines this season. The Fighting Irish are creative. They can run when they need to run, but they are exceptional in half-field offensive sets, especially with brothers Pat and Chris Kavanagh on attack.

Pat, a senior, has 20 goals and 45 assists. Chris, a sophomore, has 38 goals and 13 assists.

“One of the things that makes them so good is their intensity level,” Dixon said. “It’s freedom, freedom to run around all over the field and they play with such high energy.

“This team is different from the previous Notre Dame teams. This one is more athletic, they play more free flowing. It looks like the coaching staff, in particular Kevin Corrigan, is comfortable in taking chances, making more mistakes and turning the ball over. Notre Dame has adjusted to the shot clock era, maybe better than any team in the country as far as what they used to be to what they are now.”

Kelly won’t talk much about his inability to win a title, but that has to bug him like any other coach who has had similar success at this level. He has pointed out that this year’s team is different compared with a year ago, but the snub by the selection committee is printed all over the Fighting Irish’s locker room.

It’s great motivation, but Notre Dame also has superb talent.

Besides the Kavanagh brothers, the Fighting Irish have one of the nation’s top midfielders in Eric Dobson, who has 27 goals and eight assists. They have the best goalie in the country in Liam Entenmann, who sports a .561 save percentage and a 9.65 goals against average.

In the offseason, Corrigan got midfielder Brian Tevlin (10 goals, 3 assists) and defenseman Chris Fake out of the transfer portal. Both are graduate students who played on Yale’s 2018 championship team. Fake was a four-time All American and two-time captain with the Bulldogs. Tevlin is a two-way midfielder.

“Those two guys bring that national championship pedigree,” Dixon said. “You got those two guys sitting in the locker room saying, ‘This is what it takes to win a national championship.’ That might be worth half a goal or a goal per game.”

What about Notre Dame’s weaknesses? It might be the offense.

“It’s high reward, high risk,” Dixon said. “What if the Kavanaghs have an off day? Only weakness so far for Notre Dame has been Virginia.”

Virginia beat Notre Dame, 15-10, on March 25 and then 12-8 nearly a month later. They could meet again the semifinals during championship weekend in Philadelphia, but that’s looking too far ahead.

Right now, Notre Dame appears locked and loaded with both talent and motivation.

NCAA Tournament first round

Utah at No. 3 seed Notre Dame

Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

TV: ESPNU