June 15, 2016
THE FINAL STORYLINES
The University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team finished 11-4, earned the No. 3 national seed in the 2016 NCAA Championship bracket, defeated 13th-rated Air Force 15-7 in the first round and played in the quarterfinals for the record seventh straight season. The Irish finished fifth in both the final Inside Lacrosse and Lacrosse magazine polls taken after the conclusion of the NCAA Championship, as well as in the final United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll (taken at the end of the regular season).
— Notre Dame shared the 2016 Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title (with North Carolina, both teams at 3-1).
— Notre Dame’s 2016 postseason assignment marked the third-highest seed received by the Irish in the NCAA bracket. Notre Dame was the top seed in 2015 and a No. 2 seed in 2013.
— Notre Dame and Maryland are the only two programs to earn an NCAA berth each of the last 11 seasons (2006-2016).
— 2016 marked the ninth time overall–and eighth time in the last nine seasons–the Irish earned one of the eight national seeds for the NCAA Championship. The Irish also were seeded for the 2001 (fifth), 2008 (sixth), 2009 (seventh), 2011 (fourth), 2012 (fourth), 2013 (second), 2014 (sixth) and 2015 (first) tournaments. Notre Dame advanced to NCAA Championship Weekend in 2001, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015–and played in the title game in 2010 and 2014. The Irish represent the only team to be seeded each of the last six years (2011-16).
— Notre Dame faced four of the other seeded teams in 2016 (posting a 3-1 mark) and six programs that made the NCAA field. The Fighting Irish went 4-4 against those six squads (victories over No. 1 seed Maryland, No. 6 Marquette, No. 8 Syracuse and Duke, with losses to No. 2 Denver, Duke and twice to North Carolina).
2016 FINAL NOTRE DAME RESULTS (11-4, 3-1 ACC)
IRISH AND THE 2016 RANKINGS
Notre Dame finished fifth in both the final Cascade/Maverik/Inside Lacrosse and Nike/Lacrosse magazine polls taken after the 2016 NCAA Championship. The Irish spent nine weeks in 2016 ranked number one in at least one of the three major polls-including nine weeks atop the Nike/Lacrosse magazine poll, eight in the top spot of the Inside Lacrosse media poll and two in first place according to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (coaches) listing.
LANDIS, PERKOVIC PACE NOTRE DAME ON USILA ALL-AMERICA SQUAD
Five Notre Dame men’s lacrosse players earned United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association/Nike All-America honors, headlined by repeat first-team selections Matt Landis (Sr./D) and Sergio Perkovic (Jr./M). Matt Kavanagh (Sr./A) and John Sexton (So./LSM) made the second team. Shane Doss (Jr./G) merited third-team recognition.
—Kavanagh earned All-America honors for the fourth consecutive year (the first Irish player in history to do so) after copping first-team honors in 2015, second-team accolades in 2014 and honorable mention recognition in 2013. Landis and Perkovic both earned first-team honors for the second consecutive season. Sexton and Doss both were honorable mention picks in 2015.
–This marked the 12th consecutive season Notre Dame produced multiple USILA All-America selections. In 28 seasons under head coach Kevin Corrigan, the Irish have had 40 different players earn 75 All-America citations.
—The two-time Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year, Landis (Pelham, New York/Pelham Memorial) anchored a Notre Dame defense that ranked sixth nationally in scoring defense (8.0 goals allowed) and seventh in caused turnovers (8.47 per game). Landis started all 15 games in 2016, collected 34 ground balls and led the Irish with 19 caused turnovers.
–The hard-shooting Perkovic (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan/Brother Rice) qualified as Notre Dame’s top scoring midfielder with 26 goals and four assists (30 points) in 2016. A starter in all 48 games during his career, the two-time first-team all-ACC selection had six hat tricks in 2016, three of those with four goals. Twenty of his career goals have come in NCAA play. He was a three-time ACC Player of the Week on offense in 2016, including when his overtime goal accounted for a victory over Virginia.
—Kavanagh (Rockville Centre, New York/Chaminade/Hotchkiss) led the 2016 Irish in scoring with 50 points and a team-leading 29 assists. The three-time all-ACC pick stands second on the Notre Dame career scoring list with 225 points (122 goals and 103 assists, both totals ranking third on Notre Dame’s career charts). Kavanagh registered at least three points in 10 of the 14 contests in which he played in 2016. A Tewaaraton Award finalist in 2015, he notched at least six points in two games in 2016 and 13 times during his career.
–Sexton (Sudbury, Massachusetts/Lincoln-Sudbury) finished second on the 2016 Irish statistics sheet in both ground balls (44) and caused turnovers (18). He also scored three goals while excelling with his wing play on face-offs-and claimed ACC Player of the Week honors on defense after Notre Dame’s regular-season win over Duke.
—Doss (Glen Ridge, New Jersey/Glen Ridge) ranked among NCAA leaders in goals-against average (fifth at 7.67) and save percentage (12th at .562) while starting in goal throughout the 2016 campaign. He was a three-time ACC Player of the Week on defense in 2016 after Irish wins over Georgetown (14 saves), Virginia (14 saves) and Army (three goals allowed)-and the effort versus Georgetown eared him USILA National Defensive Player of the Week notice.
FIVE NOTRE DAME PLAYERS NAMED TO ALL-ACC TEAM FOR 2016
Five members of the Notre Dame lacrosse team-senior attack Matt Kavanagh, senior defenseman Matt Landis, junior midfielder Sergio Perkovic, junior goaltender Shane Doss and sophomore long-stick midfielder John Sexton-headlined the 2016 All-ACC Team named by the Atlantic Coast Conference.
— Kavanagh earned that recognition for a third straight season, while Landis and Perkovic claimed the All-ACC award for a second consecutive year.
–The Irish joined North Carolina (those two teams shared the ACC regular-season top spot) with five players each on the 18-member squad. Syracuse had four players selected, Duke had three and Virginia one in voting by the five league head coaches.
— Notre Dame’s five all-league picks marked the most in its three-year history with the ACC. The Irish had four picks in 2015 (Kavanagh, Landis, Perkovic and Conor Doyle) and two in 2014 (Kavanagh and Steve O’Hara).
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