The No. 1 Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team started its three-peat quest in dominating fashion Wednesday evening, running all over Cleveland State en route to a 24-6 victory at Loftus Sports Center. It was the third straight early-season triumph against the Vikings, following 18-8 and 25-3 wins the prior two seasons, each of which ended with the Irish hoisting the NCAA National Championship trophy.
After returning five key starters who were selected to the Preseason All-ACC team, coupled with the addition of the nation’s No. 1 high school recruiting class, expectations were sky high again entering head coach Kevin Corrigan’s 37th season at the helm in South Bend.
It wasn’t the cleanest of starts, however, as a Notre Dame timeout and Corrigan outburst occurred halfway through the opening quarter when Cleveland State scored on its first power-play of the night to cut the early Irish lead to just 3-2. The fast-paced Irish attack wasted no time reminding the nation of their record-setting offensive output from a year ago, as four goals in the final five minutes, including two in the final five seconds, pushed the advantage to 7-2 after one.
Graduate attacker Jake Taylor completed the hat trick in the opening frame, with all three goals being assisted by senior attacker Chris Kavanagh. Taylor, a Denver native, would finish with seven goals, falling one short of the program record, which he set with eight goals in his first career start at Syracuse back in April 2022. Kavanagh, whose brother Pat graduated last spring after becoming the first Irish player to win the storied Tewaaraton Award, tallied 4 goals and 5 assists for 9 points, one shy of Pat’s program record.
The second quarter was also all Irish, as an 8-1 run saw Notre Dame take a commanding 15-3 edge into halftime. The Irish defense stiffened up following the first quarter timeout, led by junior goalkeeper Thomas Ricciardelli, who made 5 saves in his first career start between the pipes.
His brother, senior forward Jeffery Ricciardelli, also registered an opening-half hat trick, finishing with 4 goals. The huge lead allowed Corrigan to work deep into his bench, culminating in 11 Irish players finding the back of the net, including the first career goals from senior Logan Gutzwiller, freshman Brady Pokorny, sophomore Drew Wynocker and freshman Jake Vasquez.
All told, the Irish victory was the fifth all-time against the Vikings, and also moved Notre Dame to 32-5 in season openers under Corrigan’s reign.
Notre Dame will have a quick turnaround before welcoming the Marquette Golden Eagles to Northern Indiana on Saturday for a 12 p.m. faceoff. The Irish have collected wins in each of the last four seasons against the Golden Eagles, including a resounding 21-8 victory last February. Saturday’s contest between No. 1 Notre Dame and 1-1 Marquette can be streamed on ACCNX.
