Irish And Blue Devils Battle For A Trip To Championship Weekend

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Irish and Blue Devils will square off for a third time this season at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday with a trip to NCAA Championship final weekend in Philadelphia on the line. 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 the semifinal round at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

GAME DETAILS

Location: Hempstead, New York | James M. Shuart Stadium
Schedule: Saturday, May 18 — 2:30 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

POSTSEASON SUCCESS

• Notre Dame and Maryland are the only two programs to earn a spot in the NCAA Championship field in each of the last 14 seasons.
• Notre Dame has advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championship in nine of the last 10 campaigns.
• Notre Dame is 15-9 over the last nine NCAA Championships.
• Notre Dame owns a 20-23 record in its 24 trips to the NCAA Championship.
• This is the 12th time overall and 11th time in the last 12 seasons that the Irish have earned one of the eight national seeds for the NCAA Championship.
• The Irish are 9-2 in games played at Arlotta Stadium in NCAA Championships play.
• Notre Dame advanced to the NCAA Championship final weekend in 2001, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015 and played in the title game in 2010 and 2014.

CORRIGAN REACHES HISTORIC MILESTONE

• Baumer Family Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Kevin 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 313-160 in his 33 seasons of coaching.
• The head coach is 303-145 in his 31 seasons at Notre Dame.
• Corrigan is the longest tenured men’s lacrosse coach at the DI level.

FANTASTIC FIRST ROUND PERFORMANCE

• The Irish dominated Johns Hopkins in their NCAA Championship first round game, winning by a final score of 16-9.
• The 16 goals were a program record for goals scored in an NCAA tournament game.
• The seven-goal margin of victory is tied for third among Notre Dame’s biggest victories in NCAA postseason play.
• Four Irish players recorded four points in the win as Morrison Mirer (4G), Bryan Costabile (3G, 1A), Ryder Garnsey (3G, 1A) and Quinn McCahon(1G, 3A) each accomplished the feat.
• The Notre Dame defense held Johns Hopkins to nine goals, marking just the third time the Blue Jays were held to single digits all season.

THE DUKE SERIES

• Saturday will be the 25th meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Duke.
• The Irish trail in the series with the Blue Devils, as Notre Dame has a 10-14 record in the matchup.
• The two sides have split the first two meetings this season, with Duke winning the regular-season matchup in Durham before the Irish took down the Blue Devils in the semifinals of the ACC Championship..
• Saturday’s quarterfinal showdown will mark the seventh meeting between the two sides in NCAA Championship play. Duke has a 5-1 advantage in NCAA tournament matchups but five of the six games have been decided by two goals or less.

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.

NOTRE DAME VS. TOP-10 TEAMS

• Notre Dame is 38-31 against teams ranked in the top 10 in the USILA Coaches Poll since the start of the 2008 season, including a mark of 5-4 in 2019.
• The Irish are 15-14 since 2012 against teams ranked in the top five in the USILA Coaches Poll.
• Notre Dame has five 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), No. 8 Syracuse (3/30/19), No. 3 Duke (4/27/19) and No. 10 Johns Hopkins (5/12).

COSTABILE NAMED ACC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR

• Junior Byran Costabile leads the Irish in goals this season with 40, setting a career high for goals in a season.
• The junior has scored a goal in every game this season.
• The midfielder is one point shy of reaching the 100-point milestone, as he currently has 87 G and 12 A.
• Costabile earned ACC Offensive Player of the Year for his impressive season and was recently named an Inside Lacrosse First Team All-American.

SCHMIDT STEPS UP

• Sophomore goalie Matt Schmidt turned in the best performance of his career in the ACC Championships semifinal win over Duke.
• Schmidt made a career-high 18 saves against the Blue Devils.
• The sophomore followed up the impressive performance with a 10-save effort in the final against Virginia and was named to the All-Tournament Team for the second straight season.
• The opposition has averaged just 9.83 goals per game when Schmidt is between the pipes, ranking 12th in the country.

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 tied for second on the team in points (36) and goals (24) for the season.

THE X-FACTOR

• Junior FOGO Charlie Leonard has won 205-of-346 face-offs (59.2%) on the season as the primary FOGO for the Irish and has scored seven goals and added two assists.
• Leonard was named to the All-ACC Team for the first time in his career in 2019 and leads the league in ground balls per game with an average of 6.47.
• Leonard has won the face-off battle in 11-of-15 games this season and has scooped up 97 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 and has finished in double figures three times during the 2019 campaign.

MORIN MAKING HIS MARK

• Connor Morin has been one of Notre Dame’s leading attackmen during the 2019 season, ranking tied for first on the team in assists (13), tied for second in points (36) and fourth in goals (23).
• 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 52-29 over the 15 games.
• Notre Dame has outscored its opponents in 12-of-15 second quarters 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 27 or more points entering Saturday’s game.
• Junior Bryan Costabile (40G, 4A) leads the team in points with 40 while senior attackman Brendan Gleason  (24G, 12A), sophomore Connor Morin(23G, 13A) and junior attackman Brian Willetts (24G, 9A) have each reached the 30-point mark.
• Sophomore Wheaton Jackoboice (14G, 13A) rounds out the attack with 27 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 9.87 goals per game this season, ranking ninth in the country.
• The Irish have held Detroit Mercy (6), Richmond (9), No. 8 Denver (7), Michigan (9), Marquette (6) and No. 10 Johns Hopkins to fewer than 10 scores.
• Notre Dame has caused 106 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.