SOUTH BEND, Ind. – No. 1 Notre Dame travels to Charlotte this weekend to play in the ACC Tournament as the top-seed in the tournament at American Legion Memorial Stadium. Notre Dame will play Virginia in the semifinals at 5 p.m. ET on Friday, May 3 and the game will air on ACCN.
GAME DETAILS
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina | American Legion Memorial Stadium
Schedule: May 3 — 5 p.m. ET
TV: ACCN
Live Stats: FightingIrish.com
Twitter Updates: @NDlacrosse
For a more in-depth look at the matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame
IRISH IN THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIPS
• Notre Dame will be playing in its seventh ACC Championship this weekend. The Irish have an all-time record of 6-4 at the ACC Championships.
• The Irish have won two ACC titles in its previous six appearances, winning the 2014 and 2018 championships.
• The Fighting Irish have advanced to the title game in four of the previous six ACC Tournaments.
• 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.
• In 2018, Notre Dame defeated Duke in the semifinals by a final score of 14-11 before claiming the crown in a dominant 17-7 win over Virginia at Klockner Stadium.
THE VIRGINIA SERIES
• Friday will be the 22nd meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Virginia. The Irish trail the Cavaliers in the series by a narrow margin of 10-11.
• The Irish have won each of the last two matchups, including the final regular season game of the 2024 season at Klockner Stadium by a score of 11-9.
• The two sides faced off three times last season with Virginia winning both regular season matchups before the Irish won a 13-12 overtime thriller in the NCAA Championship semifinals.
• Brian Tevlin was the hero in the win, scoring on the first possession of overtime to send the Irish to the championship game on Memorial Day.
• Eric Dobson had arguably the best performance of his career, scoring four goals and adding an assist to carry the ND attack.
• Will Lynch went 13-of-22 from the faceoff dot and Liam Entenmann finished with 11 saves.
ACC HONORS
• The Irish cleaned up four of the five major awards handed out by the ACC following the regular season, as Pat Kavanagh was named Offensive Player of the Year, Liam Entenmann claimed Defensive Player of the Year and Goalie of the Year, and Kevin Corrigan was named the Coach of the Year.
• Entenmann became just the second player in ACC history to earn multiple ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors, joining former Notre Dame great Matt Landis.
• Entenmann picks up Notre Dame’s sixth ACC Defensive Player of the Year award, which marks the most for any program since it was created during the 2012 season.
• Pat Kavanagh is the second Fighting Irish player in program history to earn ACC Offensive Player of the Year, as former standout Bryan Costabile took home the award in 2019.
• Corrigan garners the honor for the first time in his career and has now has now earned seven conference coach of the year honors over his career, with the previous six coming from other leagues.
• Entenmann and Kavanagh were one of seven Irish players on the All-ACC team, being joined by Chris Kavanagh (A), Eric Dobson (M), Will Donovan (LSM), Ben Ramsey (SSDM) and Will Lynch (FO).
• The seven Irish honorees are tied for the most All-ACC selections of any team in conference history, as Notre Dame also had seven representatives last season. Of the 19 total All-ACC Team members, Donovan, Lynch and Ramsey are the only representatives at their positions.
VIDEO GAME NUMBERS
• The Irish enter Friday’s matchup leading the ACC and second in the country in scoring offense (15.82 goals per game), second in the country in points per game (25.18) and fifth in assists per game (9.36).
• Notre Dame has reached double-digit scoring in every game this season.
• Five of ND’s 11 opponents have allowed their most goals in a game this season to the Irish (Cleveland St., Marquette, Maryland, Michigan, Duke).
• 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 14.27 turnovers per game which is the eighth best mark in the country.
PICK YOUR POISON
• The Irish starting attack has combined for 137 points this season.
• Pat Kavanagh (19G, 34A), Chris Kavanagh (26G, 24A) and Jake Taylor (31G, 3A) are each having great seasons.
• The three attackman have a combined 516 points in their career off 288 goals and 228 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 29 points (21G, 8A) while Faison has 21 (17G, 4A) and Dobson has added 21 (13G, 8A).
CASHING IN ON THE EMO
• For the third-straight season, Notre Dame’s man-up offense is among the nation’s best, scoring on 71.0 percent of its opportunities.
• Notre Dame comes into the weekend 22-of-31 on man-up situations.
• The mark of 71.0 percent is on pace to be the best single-season percentage in NCAA history.
• Jeffery Ricciardelli leads the unit with seven goals, ranking fifth in the country, while Chris Kavanagh, Devon McLane and Jake Taylor have each scored four 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.
DOMINATING DEFENSE
• The Irish have allowed just 106 total goals over the course of the season, giving up 9.64 goals per game despite playing some of the top attacks in the country.
• Not only has the Irish defense been stingy but they have also been disruptive, averaging 9.64 caused turnovers per game, which is the 11th best mark in the country.
• Dating back to last season, which includes an NCAA Championship run, the Irish have held 11 of their last 16 opponents to 10 or fewer goals.
• Notre Dame gave up just nine goals in the win over UVA at Klockner Stadium on 4/27, marking the fewest goals the Cavaliers have scored at Klockner during the shot clock era and the fewest since scoring seven at home against Notre Dame during the 2018 season.
• 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.
THREES ARE WILD
• The Irish have faced the No. 3 ranked team in the country on three occasions this season, going 3-0 in the matchups.
• Notre Dame racked up wins over No. 3 Maryland, No. 3 Syracuse and No. 3 Duke.
• The Irish have scored at least 14 goals in each of the three contests.
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 graduate student was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Year this season after leading the Irish to an undefeated 4-0 regular-season record in league play.
With four points in the win over Virginia, Kavanagh became the all-time career points record holder at Notre Dame, which was previously held by Randy Colley (273). Kavanagh has 274 career points (105G, 169A).
• The attackman is the current NCAA DI active career leader in assists per game (3.02) and is second for total career assists (169).
• 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 169 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 four 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.
• Kavanagh has recorded three or more points in every game this season.
• The grad student is one of three attackmen currently averaging 1.0 or more caused turnovers per game this season.
THE STOPPER
• Grad student Liam Entenmann was named the 2024 ACC Defensive Player of the Year and ACC Goalie of the Year, claiming both awards for the second straight season.
• Entenmann joins former Irish great Matt Landis as the only two players in ACC history to garner ACC Defensive Player of the Year honors multiple times.
The goalie 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.
• Entenmann became the all-time program saves leader in the win over Cornell, surpassing Joey Kemp (633 saves) for the top spot. The shot stopper enters the weekend with 670 saves.
• As the weather is heating up, so is Entenmann. He was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Week after making 13 saves against UNC (4/20) while allowing just six goals.
• 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.
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 in 2024, as the junior is second on the team in points (50) with 26 goals and 24 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 94 career goals.
BEATING THE BEST
• 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, eight are currently ranked in the USILA or Inside Lacrosse Top 20 Polls.
• The Irish are now 5-0 against top-10 teams at the time of the matchup this season, tying the program record for most regular season top-10 wins in a season (2013 – 5-1).
• Six of Notre Dame’s 2024 opponents are currently ranked in the top 10 in the country.
• The Irish have three wins against teams ranked No. 3 in the country at the time of the matchup (Maryland, Syracuse and Duke).
• Notre Dame is 7-1 against teams currently ranked.
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 355-175 in his 38 seasons of coaching.
• The head coach is 345-160 in his 36 seasons at Notre Dame.
• Corrigan is the longest tenured men’s lacrosse coach at the DI level.