Men’s Lacrosse
Notre Dame readies for top-10 matchup with Maryland
Michael Ivey | Friday, March 2, 2018
The No. 8 Irish are set to take on defending national champion in No. 2 Maryland on Saturday in College Park, Maryland. The game will be Notre Dame’s first road trip of the season.
Notre Dame (2-0) started its regular season with 10-7 and 11-7 wins over Detroit Mercy and Richmond, respectively. Against Detroit (1-3), sophomore midfielder Bryan Costabile posted seven points with five goals and two assists. Against Richmond (2-2), junior midfielder Brendan Gleason recorded six points with three goals and three assists.
Chris Collins | The Observer Maryland started off its season by posting wins over Navy, Marist, High Point and Penn. In the win over Penn (2-1), Maryland coach John Tillman became the fastest coach in program history to reach 100 wins.
The Terrapins (4-0) have appeared in the NCAA national championship game each of the last three seasons, winning their first title since 1975 last year with a 9-6 victory over Ohio State in the final.
Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said he hopes to see his team put forth its first complete effort of the season Saturday.
“I want to see us play to our full capacity,” Corrigan said. “I feel like I haven’t seen that yet, but I see us getting closer every day. We got kind of a young group and we’re still trying to find ourselves, but I like the direction we are going. I just think at this point, we’re going to have to do it against a really good team this weekend, and I think it’s a challenge that we are ready for.”
Corrigan believes their first two regular-season games, along with the two exhibition games his team played, have been beneficial in helping to prepare his team for Maryland.
“I think they have given us chances to expose what we need to work on,” Corrigan said. “I think in the first game against Detroit, we found out that we weren’t at all ready in the riding and clearing game, along with way too many turnovers and some defensive lapses that we think are uncharacteristic. In the second game, we were much better but still had some inconsistencies and still offensively just not enough determination to really not settle. I think we know we have some playmakers, but you have to give those guys a chance to make not plays that they are capable of making, but plays that they can consistently make, and we’re still learning how to do that.”
Corrigan said the two weeks of practice his team had between the Detroit Mercy and Richmond games was invaluable to his team.
“We went from turning the ball over 24 times [in our first game] to turning it over about eight times,” Corrigan said. “That was largely a function of [the two weeks off] and just a better effort by our guys, but for a young team like us every day in practice is valuable, so to have two weeks between those games was important. I think having a week now to prepare, this is more what the rhythm of the season is going to be and we’ve got to get used to that as well, so hopefully we’re able to do that.”
Corrigan was quick to praise Costabile and Gleason after their strong performances to begin the season.
“I just think it’s two very good players and competitive guys who really like to get after it,” Corrigan said. “They are both guys that I think are terrific competitors, first of all. I think that’s really been a huge thing for both of them, and I think they set that tone every day in practice. They practice the same way they play.”
