SOUTH BEND, Ind. — In revealing some of the ascenders for a Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team that will start its 2025 season Wednesday against Cleveland State positioned to evolve into the first three-peat national champ since the late 1990s, captain Ben Ramsey offered up junior attackman Will Mahares, and with an interesting qualifier.
“I think he’s going to have a sick season,” said Ramsey, expected to have one of those himself as one of three Irish preseason first-team All-Americans and six total on the two teams the United State Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) concocted last month.
For the top-ranked Irish (16-1 in 2024) to collectively have the kind of run Princeton put together from 1996-98 at the top of the sport, there are some challenges to overcome, including the weight of three-peating itself.
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“It’s the goal every year,” 37th-year Notre Dame coaching icon Kevin Corrigan said ahead of Thursday’s indoor practice at the Loftus Center, “but we’re not trying to win three championships. We’re trying to win one. This team has only existed since September.
“We’re proud of what last year’s team did, but that was last year’s team. This team’s done nothing. We’ve got our course in front of us, and certainly we know what the goal is. And it’s always to win that national championship. But we’re not talking about three of anything.”
Or even two Kavanaghs.
The first-ever Irish Tewaaraton Award winner — the lacrosse equivalent of the Heisman Trophy — has exhausted his eligibility. But while Pat Kavanagh has moved on, brother Chris Kavanagh returns.
The senior attackman from Rockville Centre, N.Y., and 2025 Irish captain along with Ramsey, was named the NCAA Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player last spring, led the Irish in goals with 44, and edged brother Pat for most points — with 81 to Pat’s 80.
Another vacuum comes from the departure of generational goalie and one of only three goalies ever to be named a Tewaaraton finalist, Liam Entenmann. Senior Alex Zepf and junior Thomas Ricciardelli are the contenders to succeed Entenmann.
A third goalie on the roster is freshman Will Ohnmacht, a 6-foot-2, 220-pounder from Baltimore, who has a football background as well.
“We’ve got a great competition there,” Corrigan said of Zepf and Ricciardelli. “We’re not asking anybody to replace Liam, because it took us 37 years to have one Liam. And we don’t expect to have one the next year. But we have two excellent goaltenders, and I think we’re going to be in great shape there.”
Speaking of lacrosse/football hybrids, two of the three Irish football players expected to suit up for Notre Dame lacrosse this spring, grad QB/wide receiver Tyler Buchner and freshman wide receiver Matt Jeffery, started practicing shortly after the longest football season in school history ended on Jan, 20. Both are midfielders.
Buchner played lacrosse in 2024, as a college junior, for the first time since his sophomore year at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla. Calif., that after transferring back to ND after spending the 2023 football season as a backup quarterback at Alabama.
He played in 11 games for the Irish last season in a defensive role and became a regular during ND’s postseason run.
The 5-11, 195-pound Jeffery is a former USA Today high school Player of the Year and was a top five recruit nationally in lacrosse. The Cheshire, Conn., product walked on to the football team this past season.
Another former football walk-on, now on football scholarship, Jordan Faison, has yet to practice with the lacrosse team this winter following ND’s extended run through the College Football Playoff that concluded with a 34-23 loss to Ohio State in the CFP National Championship Game, Jan., 20 in Atlanta.
“We’re not in any hurry right now with him,” Corrigan said of Faison, who caught 30 passes for 356 yards and a TD as a sophomore for the Irish (14-2). “Think about it, what a terrific run. From MVP of the bowl game last [December of 2023] to a national championship [in lacrosse] in the spring, straight back to football and a run to the national championship game in the longest football season, by the way, that anyone’s ever played.
“So, we’re not in a hurry to get him back on the practice field right now. He needs a little rest, mentally and emotionally as much as physically. He’ll be back with us at some point I think, and we’ll go from there. But really happy for him and the unbelievable experience he’s been having since he got to Notre Dame.”
Faison had 22 goals as a freshman for the Irish, fourth-most on the team in 2024, with eight assists.
“Last year he took some time off last year too, didn’t come out initially,” Corrigan said. “And we thought, ‘OK, well let’s take our time. The guy’s new. He wasn’t here all fall. We’ve got plenty of time. We’ll work him in.’ And we kind of threw that plan out after about a week and said, ‘That guy’s pretty good. We could probably use him.’
And now it’ll be up to Faison as to when he jumps back into the mix with the sport he was originally recruited to play at ND.
“I told Jordan, ‘You call me. I’m not going to call you.’” Corrigan said. “You can’t talk about [rest] and then call him the very next day and go, ‘Are you rested yet? Are you ready to go?’ So, we’re just leaving him alone, and when he’s ready, he’ll get back out.”
Cleveland State, Wednesday’s opponent (6 p.m, EST) at the Loftus Center, is one of only three unranked teams on the Irish regular-season schedule. Five of the 11 are ranked in the top 10.
That includes a March 1 date in Atlanta with No. 4 Maryland, which the Irish defeated 15-5 in the title game in May, and a Feb. 22 road test at No. 10 Georgetown, the last team to beat the Irish.
Notre Dame did avenge that early 2024 regular-season loss to the Hoyas in the NCAA Tourney during its still-active 14-game winning streak.
“Leadership is being developed on this team still,” Corrigan said. “And so much of leadership that happens is just an everyday thing. Are they showing people how the work gets done? Are they holding teammates accountable to doing things?
“It’s not about making speeches and doing that. It’s about the little things, and the consistency of those little things every single day.”
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