It’s not that two-time defending national champion Notre Dame hasn’t looked the part of the nation’s No. 1 men’s college lacrosse team in its first two games of the season.
But its current snapshot at 2-0, following Saturday’s home 22-8 drubbing of Marquette, and its evolutionary pace of determining All-American Liam Entemann’s successor as its No. 1 goalie and adding back in two-sport star Jordan Faison, is about to get a lot more real.
Up next for the Irish (2-0) is a showdown next Saturday in Washington, D.C. against 14th-ranked Georgetown (2-1), an 8-6 winner Saturday over No. 13 and future Irish opponent Penn, with the Hoyas being the only team to take down the Irish last season.
Notre Dame avenged that 11-10 overtime loss to Georgetown, Feb. 25 in South Bend, with a 16-11 victory during its NCAA Tourney run last May.
More Content
► WBB: Miles goes the distance to help No. 2 Notre Dame WBB to road win at Pitt
► Pending Notre Dame football GM Mike Martin a key figure in Lions' ascent
► Broyles Award winner Al Golden reflects on what Notre Dame meant to him
► MLAX: Notre Dame cruises to 24-6 win in season opener at home
► Chat Transcript: The awkward dance of the Notre Dame football hiring news
Saturday’s Irish victory over a Marquette team that went 4-10 last season and 0-5 in the Big East was Notre Dame’s school-record 16th consecutive victory since the Georgetown wakeup call, its 13th in 13 series meetings with Marquette (1-2), and its 25th successive win in its indoor home, the Loftus Center, with its most recent loss there coming in 2004 to North Carolina.
On Saturday, the scoring wealth was spread around pretty evenly, with Jake Taylor and Will Angrick leading the way with a hat track each. Taylor’s three goals Saturday give him 10 on the season. Angrick, with his first career hat trick — and all three goals came in the first period — added an assist.
Also with four points each Saturday were 2024 NCAA Tourney MOP Chris Kavanagh, Will Maheras and freshman Brady Pokorny — two goals and two assists apiece. Four others scored a pair of goals — Max Busenkell, Jeffery Ricciardelli, Fisher Finley and Devon McLane — with all but McLane adding an assist.
Faison, one of the Notre Dame football’s team’s top receivers and the lacrosse team’s No. 5 scorer last season as a freshman, did not play Saturday or in Wednesday’s season-opening 24-6 rout of Cleveland State.
In fact, he has been practicing less than a week, after the ND football team’s national title game run that ended on Jan. 20. Per head coach Kevin Corrigan, Faison won’t play in the Georgetown game, either.
So, his season debut is likely to come in Game 4, if all goes well in his ramping up, against the team the Irish beat 15-5 in last May’s national title matchup, No. 6 Maryland. That game will take place in Atlanta at Bobby Dodd Stadium as part of the Atlanta Lacrosse Invitational and will benefit America’s military veterans via Shootout for Soldiers.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame continues to tag-team its goalies, though junior Thomas Ricciardelli played the most on Saturday — three quarters — and recorded six saves while surrendering six goals. Senior Alex Zepf finished up and collected two saves and allowed two goals.
The Irish outshot the Golden Eagles, 50-21, won 18 of 34 faceoffs and committed 13 turnovers to Marquette’s 21.
• Talk with Notre Dame fans on The Insider Lounge.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, SoundCloud, Podbean or Pocket Casts.
• Subscribe to the Inside ND Sports channel on YouTube.
• Follow us on Twitter: @insideNDsports, @EHansenND and @TJamesND.
• Like us on Facebook: Inside ND Sports
• Follow us on Instagram: @insideNDsports
