Notebook: Portal power and Notre Dame men's lacrosse team's turning point

In a game that would redefine the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team’s season, a couple of newcomers — Brown grad transfer Devon McLane and freshman two-sport aspirant Jordan Faison — put up monster numbers against one of the sport’s bluest bluebloods.

Monday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field, they and the rest of the top-seeded Irish (15-1) will have a chance to put the ultimate exclamation point on it all — and against that same opponent, 7 seed Maryland (11-5), in the NCAA national championship game (noon ET; ESPN ... game moved up an hour because of the threat of severe weather).

It’ll be the matchup of the last two NCAA titleists — the Irish winning their first crown last May, and Maryland taking home its fourth with a dominant run in 2022.

The teams met for the 17th time in history earlier this season back on March 3, when the then-third-ranked Terps were the favorite after the Irish had slipped to sixth in the polls following a Feb. 25 overtime home loss to Georgetown.

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“I can definitely speak from a defensive perspective, obviously,” Irish grad senior defenseman Marco Napolitano Sunday during a Zoom session with the media. “The Georgetown game was not our best game from the defensive end. It was mostly fifth-year and senior guys on the defense.

“We got together and we kind of talked about what our standard was and what we wanted the rest of our season to look like, because most of us weren't going to be coming back next year. So I definitely say that was a big turning point for us as a unit.

“It was less about the X’s and O’s and kind of more about what we wanted out of our standard and kind of the leadership to look like going through the rest of our season. So, it was kind of less about Maryland going into that and kind of more just about us and how we wanted to continue with the rest of our season and kind of the rest of our lacrosse careers.”

And that started with a 14-9 thwarting of the Terps in which McLane amassed six points (three goals, three assists) and Faison five (three goals, two assists).

“I think the best part about our offense is that it's an unselfish offense,” McLane said, “and that day just happened to be a day where I was left open a couple times. And then some other guys made some pretty nice finishes on feeds I had. But I think any guy on our offense can have a day any day.

“So we know that. We play with that confidence. And that helps us achieve our goals and put the ball in the back of the net, just playing with each other and playing for each other.”

It was the start of the current 13-game win streak the Irish bring into the title game, with the most recent conquest a 13-6 drubbing of 5 seed Denver on Saturday before a Lincoln Financial Field crowd of 32,269. That March 3 turning point was also confirmation of the fit of McLane on a team that was returning most of its key personnel from a national title run in 2023.

“The biggest thing, honestly, with guys from the portal that we try to start with is how much do they want to be at Notre Dame?” Irish coach Kevin Corrigan explained. “How much do they want to be part of our program?

“We feel like there's something of a delicate balance there when you're bringing in guys for one year, and you don't want your team to think that you're just bringing in these kinds of mercenaries, if you will, to come in and kind of replace someone or anything else.

“You're bringing in somebody who really wants to be part of the program, even if it's for a shorter duration. So, it starts with that. And Devon showed that interest right from the beginning.”

McLane left behind younger brother, Aidan, at Brown, a sophomore who led his team in goals in each of his first two collegiate seasons. At ND, Devon heads into the championship matchup as ND’s third-leading goal scorer (36) and points producer (44).

He had three goals against Denver on Saturday, two of them coming 54 seconds apart in the fourth quarter.

“In terms of him fitting in with our team, he's a very selfless player,” Corrigan said. “He's a very selfless guy. He's always focused on just trying to make his plays within the team concept to help us win. And so, it's an easy kind of transition.

“The games where he's most successful are games where he's able to kind of find spots and get to spots where he can finish the ball. But he knows and we know he's reliant on other guys for a lot of the points that he scores. Very few of his points this year have come off of him dodging. I would say of anybody on our team, he and Jake [Taylor] know that their goals are going to be largely assisted goals.

“They rely on everybody else to do their job, and then both of them are exceedingly good at their job, which is moving without the ball, getting to spots and finishing the ball.”

Maryland is in its NCAA-best 21st straight NCAA Tournament, has reached the Final Four for the 29th time and is in the finals for the 17th time. All when it looked at times like they’d be a team with a shorter run.

The March 3 loss to the Irish was the start of a 1-3 stretch. Maryland gathered itself but then lost its regular-season finale to Johns Hopkins, 7-5, and then got blasted by Penn State in the Big Ten Conference Tourney, 19-9.

The Terps’ defense has been stellar during its NCAA Tourney run, in knocking off Princeton (16-8) then Notre Dame’s ACC rivals — 2 seed Duke (14-11) and on Saturday 6 seed Virginia (12-6).

“I know they [the Irish] are really good, but I have great faith in our guys,” Maryland coach John Tillman said. “I have great faith in our coaches. We're going to go in and just prepare as hard as we can.

“I feel like if we can play to our potential, we have a chance against anybody. And so, that means we need to get ourselves ready and control the things we can. And then regardless of the opponent, the weather, whatever it may be tomorrow, we've got to go out, play hard.

“Again, if things don't go well, we've got to stick together. We've seen that on a macro level with the season game to game. But now we need to do it on a micro level, just make sure that regardless of the game, we just stick together because they're going to make plays. They're going to score. They're going to win faceoffs. They're going to get saves.

“We're going to get knocked down. Whatever it is, it's all about the next play and not getting too caught up in, hey, it's not going the way that we want.”

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After going 18-for-23 in winning face-offs against Denver on Saturday, Irish junior Will Lynch has ascended to the top spot in that national statistic, leaping over Bryant’s Nathan LaLiberte into the lead with a season percentage of .636.

That after ranking 43rd nationally individually in 2023 (.498) and the Irish 49th as a team.

Close behind and surging in the national face-off percentage stats is Maryland senior Luke Wierman, who’s third (.624). In the March 3 matchup, Notre Dame and the Terps split the 26 face-offs 13-13, but Lynch had the head-to-head edge against Wierman by a 12-6 count before the Irish rotated in a backup.

As a team, Maryland ranks second in that category, by far the best thing statistically the Terps do.

“We've had the luxury, obviously, of a lot more possessions than our opponent,” Tallman said. “And so, that allows you to overcome maybe some turnovers or some mistakes.

“It doesn't mean you have to be perfect, but you definitely need to be efficient and make the most of your opportunities, because eventually, over the course of the year, you just can't expect your face-off guy to be at that clip.

“It's just hard to do, and especially in the playoffs. And obviously against a guy like Lynch who's really, really good.”

Former Notre Dame and Alabama quarterback Tyler Buchner is experiencing two momentous weekends late in his first semester back at Notre Dame after playing football in the fall at Alabama.

Last weekend the junior academically picked up his Notre Dame degree. And this weekend he’s playing for a national championship in a sport he hadn’t competed in seriously since his sophomore year at The Bishop’s School in San Diego.

And playing in some key stretches for the nation’s No. 1-ranked team.

So, does he have a future in the sport beyond this weekend?

“That's going to be up to him. We'll see,” Corrigan said. “He's got a long way to go, I think, to be the player ultimately that he could be in this sport.

“He just consistently keeps kind of chopping away at getting back to really recognizing the plays within our game that he can make and that he should make and that we need him to make. So, right now I think that's enough to occupy all of us. And what he becomes after this will depend on what he does with his time in the offseason.

“He didn't even have a fall to acclimate himself and get back to playing lacrosse. So, he's been playing lacrosse since Jan. 10, and that's the first time in probably five years that he's played any serious lacrosse.

“He's got a big gap to cover there, but he's doing a great job at keeping it manageable just by working every day toward what he needs to be capable of doing to help our team right now.”

• Maryland leads the series 9-8, with Monday’s matchup being the sixth to occur in the NCAA Tournament. One matchup came in the ACC Tournament, in 2014, as Notre Dame was coming into the conference and Maryland was on its way out to join the Big Ten.

• With its 13-6 win over Denver, Notre Dame moved up two spots in the national scoring defense standings to No. 2 (9.19), behind only Townsend (9.12). For the Irish to win the statistical title outright, they’d need to limit Maryland to eight goals or fewer.

• The Irish are in their fourth NCAA Championship Game, and playing someone other than Duke on that stage for the first time.

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