It’s often said that there's no rest for the weary. That’s especially true when you’re in the thick of the ACC men’s lacrosse slate. Just one week after taking down then-No. 3 Syracuse in what would have been a season-defining win for most teams, No. 1 Notre Dame has the challenge of attempting to match that feat on Sunday afternoon, when they face current No. 3 Duke on the road.
If the high stakes inherent to a top-five matchup between conference rivals weren’t enough, Sunday will represent a rematch of last year’s national championship game, where the Irish battled to a 13-9 victory on Memorial Day in Philadelphia to claim the program’s first national title.
But despite all of the excitement present amid the buildup to Sunday’s duel in Durham, the Irish are treating it no differently than any other game that remains in their daunting regular season schedule.
“Everybody we play from here on out [brings] a challenge,” Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said after the win against Syracuse. “If you’re not going to talk about Duke, you’re going to talk about Virginia. If you’re not going to talk about Virginia, you’re going to talk about North Carolina. If you’re not talking about them, you’re talking about Cornell. We’ve just got to keep worrying about ourselves. We’re not going to get too caught up in our opponent until the time comes to get caught up in that.”
That “one game at a time” mentality has paid dividends in recent weeks for the Irish (6-1, 1-0 ACC), who have bounced back from their dramatic overtime loss to Georgetown in February with four consecutive wins in impressive fashion. That streak has seen them defeat a pair of top-three-ranked opponents — Maryland and Syracuse — in addition to taking down Big Ten foes Ohio State and Michigan.
Duke (10-2, 0-1 ACC) has been similarly dominant through most of the season but has experienced a tumultuous stretch of play over the past two weeks. Following an 8-1 start, the Blue Devils suffered a comprehensive 10-4 defeat on the road against Syracuse, a surprising offensive output for a team that had scored at least 12 goals in each of their previous nine games and at least 16 in all but two.
Duke needed little time to get back on track, however, defeating then-No. 5 Denver in a neutral-site game just four days later and surviving an 11-10 scare at home against Boston University three days after that. The Blue Devils will be highly motivated to avenge their two losses to the Irish last spring and avoid an 0-2 start to ACC play that could quickly turn into 0-3 with a matchup against No. 2 Virginia looming the following weekend.
Both teams come into the game among the most talented and well-balanced in the nation, with few weaknesses to speak of anywhere on the field and an abundance of strengths. Notre Dame features the NCAA’s No. 1 scoring offense and No. 4 scoring defense, while Duke ranks third in both categories.
The Irish gameplan — and the gameplan for any team preparing to play Duke — is likely to find ways to slow down Brennan O’Neill. The Blue Devils’ star attacker won the Tewaaraton Award for national player of the year last season and has been just as impactful as a senior, currently ranking second nationally in points and third in goals. O’Neill was notably quiet against the Irish last year, combining for just two goals and one assist across the teams’ two meetings, and Notre Dame will look to limit him in a similar way on Sunday.
Alongside O’Neill, Duke’s elite attacking trio also includes Dyson Williams (whose 36 goals match O’Neill) and Josh Zawada (sixth nationally in points), and seven Blue Devils have scored at least 13 goals this year. The Irish defense will have to be at its best to keep Duke’s wide array of threats in check.
That starts with graduate student goalie Liam Entenmann, who was named National Goalie of the Year in 2023 and has played at a similar All-American level this spring. Entenmann was masterful in both appearances against Duke last season, most notably recording 18 saves while ceding just nine goals in Notre Dame’s national title game victory.
With the support of the his strong defensive line of graduate students Chris Conlin and Marco Napolitano and freshman Shawn Lyght, Entenmann will aim to lead the Irish to a similar result on Sunday.
A key battle will come in the faceoff game, where Duke’s Jake Naso will go head-to-head against Irish junior Will Lynch. Naso, a First Team All-American in 2023, got the better of that matchup in the teams’ regular season meeting last year, winning 22 of 32 faceoffs. But Lynch delivered a clutch, 12-of-19 performance in the national championship game and has carried that momentum into this season, where he currently holds a 64% faceoff win percentage that ranks third nationally.
Any extra possessions Lynch can create for Notre Dame’s starting attackers and leading point-scorers — graduate students Pat Kavanagh and Jake Taylor and junior Chris Kavanagh — will be crucial as the Irish look to defeat the Blue Devils for the fifth consecutive time and remain perfect in ACC play.
Notre Dame and Duke will renew their rivalry in a highly anticipated matchup at Durham’s Koskinen Stadium on Sunday at noon. The game will be available on the ACC Network.
