Irish And Blue Devils Set For ACC Semifinal Clash

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Notre Dame faces Duke in the semifinals of the ACC Championship in Chapel Hill, at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 27. The game will be played at the UNC Lacrosse Stadium on North Carolina’s campus. The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU with Anish Shroff (play-by-play), Quint Kessenich (analyst) and Paul Carcaterra (analyst) on the call. With a win, the Irish will advance to its third straight ACC Championship title game.

GAME DETAILS

Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina | UNC Lacrosse Stadium
Schedule: Saturday, April 27 — 4:30 p.m. ET
TV: ESPNU
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Live Stats: UND.com
Twitter Updates: @NDlacrosse
For a more in-depth look at Sunday’s matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame

IRISH AT THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIP

• Notre Dame will be playing in its sixth ACC Championship come Saturday evening. The Irish have an all-time record of 5-3 at the ACC Championships.
• The Irish have won two ACC titles in its previous five seasons, winning the 2014 and 2018 championships.
• Notre Dame claimed an ACC Championship title in the team’s first season in the league in 2014. Notre Dame won a pair of one goal games over Maryland (6-5) in the semifinal and Syracuse (15-14) in the final.
• Notre Dame defeated Duke in the semifinals last season by a final score of 14-11 before claiming the crown in a dominant 17-7 win.
• The Irish have faced the Blue Devils in the semifinals of each of the last four ACC Championships.

CORRIGAN REACHES HISTORIC MILESTONE

• Baumer Family Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Kevin Corrigan became just the third coach in NCAA men’s lacrosse Division I 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 311-159 in his 33 seasons of coaching.
• The head coach is 301-144 in his 31 seasons at Notre Dame.
• Corrigan is the longest tenured men’s lacrosse coach at the DI level.

THE DUKE SERIES

• Saturday will be the 24th meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Duke. The Irish trail in the series with the Blue Devils, as Notre Dame has a 9-14 record in the matchup.
• The two sides have squared off in the ACC Championship semifinal round in each of the last four seasons, with Notre Dame winning the two most recent matchups to advance to the title game.
• Duke won the regular-season game this season in Durham, defeating the Irish by a score of 14-8.

ALL-ACC TEAM HONOREES

• The Irish had three players selected to the annual All-ACC Team, as voted on by the conference coaches.
• Senior attackman Brendan Gleason, junior midfielder Bryan Costabile and junior FOGO Charlie Leonard each earned the nod.
• 2019 marks the second straight season that Costabile and Gleason were selected to the team and the first for Leonard.
• The Irish have now earned 22 All-ACC selections over their six seasons in the ACC.

2018 ACC CHAMPIONSHIP REWIND

• Notre Dame won its second ACC Championship title in five years on April 29, 2018, after defeating Virginia by a score of 17-7 in Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia.
• The Irish scored a then season-high 17 goals, the most since also scoring 17 in a win at Syracuse in 2015.
• Notre Dame scooped up a season-high 45 ground balls in the win.
• The Irish held Virginia to just seven goals in each of the two meetings last season, both the fewest the Cavaliers have scored all season.
• Bryan Costabile was named the ACC Championship MVP after scoring six goals and adding two assists over the two games.
• Costabile was joined by teammates Ryder Garnsey, John Sexton and Matt Schmidt on the ACC All-Tournament Team.
• Notre Dame defeated No. 1 Duke in the semifinal round by a final score of 14-11 to punch its ticket to its second straight ACC title game.

COSTABILE CARRIES THE LOAD

• Junior Byran Costabile leads the Irish in goals this season with 31, setting a career high for goals in a season.
• The midfielder has scored nine goals over the last three games (4 vs. Marquette, 3 vs. Cornell & 2 vs. UNC).
• Costabile earned ACC Offensive Player of the Week (4/1/19) honors for his five-goal performance in the Syracuse game.
• The midfielder has scored 78 goals in his career.

GLEASON GOES OFF

• Senior Brendan Gleason turned in one of the best performances of his career on Senior Day in the win over UNC (4/20), matching his career high for goals in a game with five.
• The day had extra meaning for Gleason, as he switched jerseys from No. 9 to No. 40 after the team voted earlier in the week on who would wear the jersey that honors the late Mike Sennett.
• Gleason is second on the team in points (33) and goals (23) for the season.

THE X-FACTOR

• Junior FOGO Charlie Leonard has won 162-of-274 face-offs (59.1%) on the season as the primary FOGO for the Irish and has scored five goals and added an assist.
• Leonard has won the face-off battle in 9-of-12 games this season and has scooped up 78 ground balls to pace the Irish.
• The junior has won 20 face-offs in a game twice this season, winning 20-of-24 face-offs at Michigan and 20-of-23 versus Cornell.
• Leonard recorded a career-high 16 ground balls against the Wolverines.

MORIN MAKING HIS MARK

• Connor Morin has been one of Notre Dame’s leading attackmen during the 2019 season, ranking tied for second on the team in points (28), and assists (10) and tied for third in goals (18).
• Connor Morin turned in the best performance of his career at Duke (3/6), scoring four points and adding two assists.
• The six points and four goals are career highs for the sophomore and the two assists tie a personal best.
• Morin’s six-point performance is tied for the most points in a game by an Irish player this season, joining Bryan Costabile’s six-point outburst in the season-opening victory over Detroit Mercy.
• Morin has scored at least one goal in every game this season.

SENSATIONAL SECOND QUARTERS

• The Irish have played their best lacrosse this season in second quarters, outscoring opponents 43-22 over the 12 games.
• Notre Dame has allowed just one goal apiece in seven of 12 second stanzas this season.
• The team’s best second-quarter performance came at No. 11 Virginia, outscoring the Cavaliers 6-1.

BALANCED ATTACK

• The Irish have five players with 24 or more points entering Wednesday’s game.
• Junior Bryan Costabile (31G, 3A) leads the team in points with 34 while senior attackman Brendan Gleason  (23G, 10A) and junior attackman Brian Willetts (22G, 8A) have each reached the 30-point mark.
• Sophomore attackman Connor Morin (19G, 10A)  has 29 points in his breakout sophomore season.
• Sophomore Wheaton Jackoboice (12G, 12A) rounds out the attack with 24 points.
• Eight Notre Dame players have recorded the first goals of their career in 2019 (Connor Morin, Griffin Westlin, Charlie Leonard, Wheaton Jackoboice, Quinn McCahon, Mo Mirer, John Hallenbeck and Stephen Chase).

STIFLING DEFENSE

• Notre Dame’s dominating defense has picked up right where it left off from 2018 in the 2019 campaign.
• The defense is allowing just 9.92 goals per game this season, ranking 15th in the country.
• The Irish have held Detroit Mercy (6), Richmond (9), No. 8 Denver (7), Michigan (9) and Marquette (6) to fewer than 10 scores.
• Notre Dame has caused 92 turnovers this season.
• The Irish allowed an average of 8.6 goals per game to rank 18th in the country in 2018, despite facing some of the most potent attacks at the DI level.
• Notre Dame held 10 of its 15 opponents to fewer than 10 goals in 2018.
• The Irish returned all three starting close defensemen from last season’s squad along with their goalkeeper.

NOTRE DAME VS. TOP-10 TEAMS

• Notre Dame is 37-30 against teams ranked in the top 10 in the USILA Coaches Poll since the start of the 2008 season, including a mark of 3-3 in 2019.
• The Irish are 14-13 since 2012 against teams ranked in the top five in the USILA Coaches Poll.
• Notre Dame has three wins this season against teams ranked in the top 10 at the time of the game, defeating No. 2 Maryland (3/3/19), No. 8 Denver (3/9/19) and No. 8 Syracuse (3/30/19).

The University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team pursues excellence on and off the field through the three pillars in which the program is built: Character, Culture & Community. These three foundational values guide the promise of the program, which is to provide its student-athletes with the most compelling and enriching experience in all of college athletics. Through academics, competition, service and travel, the program aims to immerse its players in situations that enhance their student-athlete experience to help them become the people, students and teammates they aspire to be.

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