SOUTH BEND, Ind. – No. 1 Notre Dame takes on the third-ranked team in the country for the second straight week and third time this season, this week coming in the form of the Duke Blue Devils. The Irish and Blue Devils will square off at noon ET on Sunday, April 7 and the game will air on ACCN.
GAME DETAILS
Location: Durham, N.C. | Koskinen Stadium
Schedule: April 7 — Noon ET
TV: ACCN
Live Stats: FightingIrish.com
Twitter Updates: @NDlacrosse
For a more in-depth look at the matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame
THE DUKE SERIES
• Sunday will be the 32nd meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Duke and the first meeting since the 2023 NCAA National Championship final.
• The Irish trail in the series with the Blue Devils, as Notre Dame has a 15-16 record in the matchup.
• Notre Dame has won each of the last four meetings and five of the last six dating back to the 2021 season.
• The Irish won the last matchup between the two, delivering Notre Dame its first national title in program history with a 13-9 win on Memorial Day in Philadelphia in the 2023 season finale.
• Liam Entenmann had one of the best performances of his career in the victory, making 18 saves while allowing just nine goals, as he was named the NCAA Championship MVP after his performance.
• The Irish attack was very balanced with six players scoring two goals each.
VIDEO GAME NUMBERS
• The Irish enter Sunday’s matchup leading the country in scoring offense (16.57 goals per game), points per game (26.57) and second in assists per game (10.0).
• Notre Dame has reached double-digit scoring in every game this season.
• Five of ND’s seven opponents have allowed their most goals in a game this season to the Irish (Cleveland St., Marquette, Maryland, Michigan, Syracuse).
• The 22-goal win over Cleveland State, the 13-goal victory at Marquette and the five-goal win over Maryland represent the largest margin of victory for the Irish in the respective all-time series.
• The Irish have also played fairly clean games thus far, as they are averaging just 14.0 turnovers per game which is the fourth best mark in the country.
PICK YOUR POISON
• The Irish starting attack has combined for 92 points this season.
• Pat Kavanagh (9G, 23A), Chris Kavanagh (17G, 16A) and Jake Taylor (24G, 3A) are each having great seasons.
• The three attackman have a combined 471 points in their career off 262 goals and 209 assists.
• The Irish starting midfield also presents headaches for the opposition with Eric Dobson, Jordan Faison and Devon McLane each presenting different challenges to try to stop.
• McLane leads the unit with 18 points (13G, 5A) while Faison has 17 (14G, 3A) and Dobson has added 14 (8G, 6A).
DOMINATING DEFENSE
• The Irish have allowed just 62 total goals over the course of the season, giving up just 8.86 goals per game, which ranks fourth in the country.
• The Blue and Gold have held Cleveland State (3), Maryland (9) and Michigan (9) to their lowest goal outputs of the season.
• Not only has the Irish defense been stingy but they have also been disruptive, averaging 9.86 caused turnovers per game, which is the ninth best mark in the country.
• Dating back to last season, which includes an NCAA Championship run, the Irish have held nine of their last 11 opponents to 10 or fewer goals.
• The unit allowed just three goals in the win over Cleveland State, which is tied for the second fewest given up by ND in a season opener in program history.
• The Irish finished 2023 allowing just 9.69 goals per game, leading the ACC and ranking sixth in the country, despite playing nine games against opponents that ranked in the top 10 in goals scored per game.
• Notre Dame led the ACC and ranked ninth in the country in caused turnovers per game last season, averaging 9.69.
CASHING IN ON THE EMO
• For the third-straight season, Notre Dame’s man-up offense is among the nation’s best, scoring on 75.0 percent of its opportunities.
• Notre Dame comes into the weekend 15-of-20 on man-up situations.
• The mark of 75 percent is on pace to be the best single-season percentage in NCAA history.
• Jeffery Ricciardelli leads the unit with four goals while Jake Taylor and Chris Kavanagh have each scored three goals for the Irish when having the player advantage this season.
• The Irish finished the 2023 season going 22-for-41 (.537) on the EMO ranking fifth in the country.
• The Irish EMO unit cashed in on 21-of-31 chances (.677) during the 2022 season.
THE CONDUCTOR
• Pat Kavanagh became the first Notre Dame player to be named a Tewaaraton Trophy finalist two times, earning the honor in 2021 and 2023.
• The attackman is the current NCAA DI active career leader in assists per game (3.04) and is second for total career assists (158).
• Kavanagh is closing in on the Notre Dame all-time career points record, as he is currently 21 shy of breaking the record held by Randy Colley ‘95 (see table on left).
• The Rockville, New York, native broke the program record for points in a season in 2023 with 77 points off 25 goals and 52 assists.
• Kavanagh became the program record holder for career assists during the 2023 season and has 157 in his illustrious career.
• The attackman also shattered his own single-season program assists record in 2023, totaling 52 on the season. Kavanagh now holds the top three marks for assists in a season.
• Kavanagh is also the only player in program history to record 10 points in a single game, a feat which he has achieved three times in his career.
• The graduate student is off to a flying start in 2024, earning ACC Co-Offensive Player of the Week after his first week of play in which he totaled 12 points off two goals and 10 assists.
• Kavanagh has recorded three or more points in every game this season.
THE STOPPER
• Grad student Liam Entenmann cemented his status as the top goalie in the country with his play in 2023, being named the Ensign C. Markland Kelly Jr. Outstanding Goalie by the USILA, ACC Defensive Player of the Year, ACC Goalie of the Year and NCAA Championships Most Valuable Player.
• The grad student ranks sixth in the country this season in goals allowed per game with a mark of 9.15.
• As the weather is heating up, so is Entenmann. The goalie had a big game against No. 3 Maryland this season, making 13 saves while limiting the Terrapins to just nine goals and made a season-high 15 saves in the win over No. 18 Michigan.
• Entenmann led the ACC and ranked sixth in the country in goals against average, allowing just 9.55 goals per game in 2023.
• Entenmann had a save percentage of .570 (196 saves, 148 goals allowed), ranking fourth in the country last season.
• Entenmann made double-digit saves in each of the final 13 games in 2023, including a season-high 18 in the win over No. 1 Duke to win the national title.
• Entenmann currently ranks fourth on the ND all-time saves list with 617 in his career.
LYNCH LEVELING UP
• Junior FOGO Will Lynch is having the best season of his career in 2024, winning 64.1 percent of the faceoffs he has taken, ranking third in the country.
• Lynch is 82-for-128 on the season at the dot, scooping up 48 ground balls.
• To make this number even more impressive, Lynch has faced six of the top 25 FOGOs in the country by faceoff winning percentage and won over 50 percent against five of the six.
• Lynch had one of the best games of his career in the victory over No. 3 Syracuse, finishing 19-of-26 while adding 11 ground balls and a goal.
• The junior had a remarkable performance in the win over No. 3 Maryland, winning 12-of-18 faceoffs against Luke Weirman, a 2024 preseason All-American.
• The FOGO also has added two goals this season, scoring in wins over Marquette and Syracuse.
THE SCORER
• Chris Kavanagh had one of the most prolific goal scoring seasons in program history in 2023, recording a career-high 46 goals to lead the Irish attack.
• Kavanagh hasn’t missed a beat so far in 2024, as the junior leads the Irish in points (33) with 17 goals and 16 assists
•The junior not only paced Notre Dame’s offense in 2023 but his 46 goals ranked third all-time in program history for a single season, just three behind Randy Colley’s record of 49 goals set in 1995.
• The attackman also added 16 assists to total 62 points, which ranks 10th all-time in Notre Dame men’s lacrosse history.
• Chris finished with 10 hat tricks during the 2023 campaign and has 15 in his career.
• The Rockville Centre, New York, native has 85 career goals.
THE FINISHER
• Jake Taylor has been one of the best crease finishers in the country this season, ranking third in the country with 3.43 goals per game.
• Taylor has recorded hat tricks in four of seven games and has scored multiple goals in six outings.
• The attackman nearly tied his own program record for goals in a game in the win over Michigan, scoring seven goals in the contest to garner ACC Offensive Player of the Week, Inside Lacrosse Player of the Week and USILA Team of the Week honors.
• The grad student has 82 career goals, despite battling injury setbacks over the first four seasons in South Bend.
• Taylor came up clutch for the Irish in one of the biggest moments in program history, sending the 2023 NCAA Championship semifinal into overtime with a twister goal with under a minute left in regulation against Virginia.
CHALLENGING SLATE AHEAD
• Notre Dame has never shied away from putting together a challenging schedule and the 2024 slate is no different.
• Of Notre Dame’s 11 regular-season opponents, seven are currently ranked in the top 15 in the USILA or Inside Lacrosse Top 20 Polls.
• Three of Notre Dame’s 2024 opponents are currently ranked in the top four in the country.
• The Irish have two wins against teams ranked No. 3 in the country at the time of the matchup (Maryland & Syracuse).
• Notre Dame is 3-1 against teams currently ranked.
FAISON’S FIRST IMPRESSION
• Jordan Faison has had an impressive start to his ND lacrosse career, as he ranks third on the team in goals (14) and fifth in points (17).
• The freshman has three hat tricks, including a five-point effort (3G, 2A) in the win over No. 3 Maryland.
• The midfielder has scored in every game this season.
• Faison enters the weekend ranked fifth in the country in shooting percentage, scoring on 50 percent of his shots.
• Faison wasted no time introducing himself to the college lacrosse world, scoring 38 seconds into the 2024 season for the first Notre Dame goal of the season in his debut.
• The freshman finished with a three-goal hat trick and an assist in the win over Cleveland State. The three goals in his first career game are the most by a Notre Dame midfielder in their debut since at least the 2000 season.
• Faison also had an electric start to his Notre Dame football career, finishing with 19 catches for 322 yards and was second on the team with four touchdowns receptions despite playing in just seven games.
• The WR was named the 2023 Sun Bowl C.M. Hendricks Most Valuable Player after recording five catches for 115 yards and a touchdown in the win over Oregon State.
CORRIGAN ALL-TIME DI PROGRAM WINS LEADER
• With the win over No. 1 Duke on April 10, 2021, Baumer Family Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Kevin Corrigan broke the NCAA record for most wins at a DI program with 311, passing Bob Shillinglaw (Delaware).
• Corrigan became just the third coach in NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse history to reach the 300-win mark at a single school with the win over Marquette on April 10, 2019.
• Corrigan is one of just four active Division I coaches to reach the 300-win mark in his career.
• Corrigan has an overall record of 351-175 in his 38 seasons of coaching.
• The head coach is 341-160 in his 36 seasons at Notre Dame.
• Corrigan is the longest tenured men’s lacrosse coach at the DI level.