ND MEN’S LAX: Sunday’s quarterfinal awaits

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - After a record-breaking performance at home in the NCAA Championships’ opening round, the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team packs their bags for the quarterfinals this weekend.

16 Sports caught up with the Irish on Wednesday as they prepare for their next game against Johns Hopkins.

Notre Dame’s 20-7 win over Utah in round one was the largest NCAA tournament win in program history. Head Coach Kevin Corrigan lauds his team’s balance as one of the reasons they’ve been able to perform at such a high level.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever coached a team that had more of the pieces that you need in balance the way this team does,” Corrigan says. “It’s just a great mix of kids. On top of that, the way these kids have gotten along from the beginning of the year — it’s kind of been ‘One mind, one goal’ all year and that’s been special to watch as well.”

The Irish are just two wins away from playing for the program’s first national championship, but the players say they are taking things one game at a time.

“You know, we can’t look too far ahead,” says Jake Taylor, Irish attackman. “It’s exciting to think about, but you can never do that. You’ve got to focus on what’s ahead right now, and what’s ahead is Hopkins. That’s our only guaranteed competition left, and we’ve got to earn ourselves the next one.”

Fellow attackman Pat Kavanagh agrees.

“I don’t think we change anything up,” he says. “I think we’re just sticking to the gameplan and taking it game-by-game. Our mantra all year has just been going 1-0 each and every week. Not doing anything crazy, just keeping it simple and playing extremely hard, trusting in each teammate and knowing that if we do the little things well, we’ll come out on top.”

The Irish will play Johns Hopkins in the quarterfinal round on Sunday, May 21, in Annapolis, Md. First draw is set for 2:30 p.m. on ESPNU.

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