Return from two ACL tears drives Notre Dame's Jake Taylor in title run

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — What stirs the nation’s most accurate shooter in all of Division I college men’s lacrosse heading into NCAA Tourney quarterfinal weekend is so much more powerful and enduring than revenge.

It’s the memory of having the sport Notre Dame grad senior Jake Taylor loves so much since the age of 5 taken away from him during his college career by an ACL tear. Twice. … And never taking for granted having it back.

“Going into two major surgeries is definitely hard on the mental side of everything,” Taylor said Wednesday after practice, ahead of Saturday’s matchup against the only team to take down the No. 1-seeded Irish (13-1) since winning the first national title in program history last May, eighth-seeded Georgetown (13-3).

“I mean, I had a lot of days when it was really rough,” Taylor continued. “Just kind of nervous about if I’m ever going to play again or when am I going to play again or am I going to be the player I once was?

“So, there’s a lot of mental toll. It’s the biggest battle, more than anything else. More than getting in the weight room and finding time to just get the strength back and get the motion. It’s being able to meet those mental battles and dominate them.”

And now he wants to dominate the team that upended the Irish at home on Feb. 25, 11-10 in overtime. The rematch is set for Saturday at noon EDT (ESPNU) in Hempstead, N.Y., with the survivor advancing to the NCAA Final Four, Memorial Day weekend in Philadelphia.

He’ll certainly be an important puzzle piece. Georgetown, allowing 9.25 goals per game, is the nation’s No. 2 scoring defense and the best among the eight teams still alive in the original 17-team NCAA field.

Taylor not only leads the nation with a .514 shooting accuracy, he’s Notre Dame’s top goal scorer this season with 38. Two of those goals and an assist came against the Hoyas in the earlier meeting.

“I’m a big believer in that when you lose a game, you remember the lessons and forget about the emotions of it,” Taylor said. “Kenny Crowley, one of my club coaches back in the day, taught me that. And so, that’s something I believe in.

“And going into a game against them again, emotions are out of the picture. We're just ready to compete as any other day, any other team. And it’s another game we’re fortunate enough to play.

“We're fortunate enough to be here in May, so we’re going to ideally go in and dominate the way we should.”

Notre Dame did not dominate in its NCAA first-round matchup Sunday at Arlotta Stadium. In fact, the Irish had to come from behind to eliminate unseeded Albany, 14-9. Taylor had three goals in that game.

“I think it helps you realize you’re not infallible,” Taylor said, “and allows you to pick apart the things you did wrong and maybe need to work on going into another game.”

All eight top seeds, in fact, won in the first round — the first time that’s happened since the 2004 tourney. Georgetown is the only one of the eight still searching for its first national title.

Both teams have evolved significantly since the late February matchup, with a 10-8 loss by Georgetown at Denver on April 13 the only loss either team has suffered since then.

“I think our defense has grown astronomically,” said Taylor of an Irish team that now ranks fourth nationally in scoring defense (9.29). “With [freshman] Shawn [Lyght] being one of the younger guys coming in and being a starter, he’s definitely stood on his head all year and been a phenomenal player and phenomenal addition.

“Our D-mids are as great as ever and playing really well. So, going in, in May is essentially two different teams.”

For Taylor, who became an elite recruit in the Western lacrosse enclave of Denver, what’s different for him is health, relatively speaking. After playing just five games as a freshman in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic truncating that season, he missed parts of the next three seasons either because of an ACL tear itself or the recovery process lingering into the next season.

Taylor’s breakthrough game for the Irish came two seasons ago in an April 2 matchup against perennial power Syracuse. In his very first collegiate start, the 6-foot, 215-pounder scored a school-record eight goals. He was one goal shy of that earlier this season in a 19-9 rout of Michigan.

“Every attackman who goes around and gets hit by defenders is going to be a little banged up,” he said. “But this is the healthiest I’ve been throughout the whole season, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Grateful for whatever opportunity is put in front of him, no matter how much the media tried to force-feed the revenge storyline to him on Wednesday.

“Any game is a revenge game,” he said matter-of-factly. “There’s not a team in DI that we like. We want to be the best in every game we play and beat every single team.”

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