Oct. 8, 2004
The University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team will conclude its fall workouts with exhibition games over the next week against three teams that reached the national semifinals of last year’s NCAA Championship. The Irish will head to Anheiser-Busch Athletic Center in St. Louis, Mo., this weekend for Sunday’s Fall Faceoff, in which they will first play Princeton in the morning (game not open to the public) and then Johns Hopkins at 1:30 p.m. (CDT). Notre Dame will then travel to Annapolis, Md., next Thursday, Oct. 14, to face 2004 NCAA runner-up Navy at 8 p.m. (EDT).
The Tigers ended the 2004 season by losing 8-7 to the Midshipmen in the NCAA semis to finish with a 10-4 record. The Blue Jays were ranked #1 during much of the season, but their 13-2 campaign concluded with a 15-9 loss to eventual national champion Syracuse in the same round. Navy fell 14-13 in the title game against the Orange to finish 14-3.
Notre Dame returns six starters and 17 monogram winners from last year’s squad that finished the season 7-5 (4-1 GWLL) and just missed the 16-team NCAA Championship despite being ranked 11th in the Inside Lacrosse media poll and 12th by the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. The Irish lost 9-8 on a goal with 12 seconds remaining on March 31 against Ohio State in what proved to be the game that would determine the Great Western Lacrosse League champion and the conference’s automatic qualifier to the NCAAs. Notre Dame, riding a five-game winning streak at the time, just missed a major upset in its final game, but the Irish were unable to hold an 8-7 lead in the final minute at #3 Maryland, eventually falling 9-8 in double overtime. Returning for Notre Dame this year are three of the top four – and five of the top seven – scorers from last year’s squad that finished second in Division I in goals per game (12.43).