NOTRE DAME, Ind. — No. 7/7 Notre Dame will open the 2020 season on Saturday against Cleveland State in a non-conference game inside Loftus Sports Center. Faceoff is slated for 1 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast live on ACCNX and can be found on the WatchESPN app or at WatchESPN.com (subscription required).
GAME DETAILS
Location: Notre Dame, Indiana | Loftus Sports Center
Schedule: Saturday, Feb. 15 — 1 p.m. ET
Live Stream: ACCNX
Live Stats: UND.com
Twitter Updates: @NDlacrosse
For a more in-depth look at Saturday’s matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame
OWNING THE OPENERS
• Notre Dame is 32-7 all-time in season openers, including a 26-5 record in the Kevin Corrigan era.
• The Irish have won a program-record 17 straight season openers.
• Last season, Notre Dame opened with a 19-6 win over Detroit Mercy on February 17 in Loftus Sports Center.
• The Irish last dropped a season opener in 2002, a 10-9 overtime setback at home against Penn State.
• In home openers, the Irish are 35-4 in program history and 28-3 under Corrigan.
THE CLEVELAND STATE SERIES
• Saturday will be the first ever meeting between Notre Dame and Cleveland State.
• The Vikings are the only first-time opponent the Irish have on the regular-season schedule in 2020.
IRISH INDOORS
• Notre Dame has excelled when playing inside the last four seasons, going 11-1 when playing indoors since the start of the 2015 season.
• Notre Dame is riding a 19-game winning streak when playing in Loftus Sports Center heading into Saturday’s opener.
• The Irish haven’t lost in Loftus Sports Center since dropping a 14-11 decision to UNC on March 14, 2004.
• The Irish opened the 2019 season playing inside the Loftus Sports Center, defeating Detroit Mercy 19-6 and then took down No. 2 Maryland in an OT thriller by a final score of 14-13.
• Notre Dame suffered its lone defeat last year against Syracuse, falling to the Orange 10-6.
CORRIGAN REACHES HISTORIC MILESTONE
• Baumer Family Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Kevin Corrigan became just the third coach in NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse history to reach the 300-win mark at a single school with the win over Marquette on April 10, 2019.
• Corrigan is one of just four active Division I coaches to reach the 300-win mark in his career.
• Corrigan has an overall record of 313-161 in his 33 seasons of coaching.
• The head coach is 303-146 in his 31 seasons at Notre Dame.
• Corrigan is the longest tenured men’s lacrosse coach at the DI level.
COSTABILE SET FOR BIG SEASON
• Senior Bryan Costabile is coming off the most prolific goal-scoring season by an Irish midfielder in program history, setting a record with 42 goals.
• Costabile was named the 2019 ACC Offensive Player of the Year and was a unanimous first team All-America selection.
• The midfielder has 89 career goals, ranking 11th in program history.
• Costabile is set to become just the ninth Notre Dame player to reach the 100-career goal mark and is 22 goals shy of becoming the program record-holder for career goals by a midfielder. The mark is currently held by Irish great Sergio Perkovic (110 goals).
• The senior currently has 103 career points, and is just 12 shy of breaking into the top 20 of Notre Dame’s career points list.
FANTASTIC FEBRUARYS FOR THE FIGHTING IRISH
• Notre Dame is 28-2 in its last 30 games played in February dating back to the 2006 season. Fighting Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan is 37-5 in the month of February during his Notre Dame tenure.
TOUGHEST SCHEDULE IN THE COUNTRY???
• Notre Dame has never shied away from putting together a challenging schedule and the 2020 slate is no different.
• Of Notre Dame’s 12 regular-season opponents, nine are currently ranked in both the USILA and Inside Lacrosse Top 20 Polls.
• The Irish ace scheduled to face six opponents currently ranked in the top 10 and eight in the top 15.
PRESEASON ALL-ACC
• Notre Dame placed three players on the Preseason All-ACC Team entering the 2020 season. Senior midfielder Bryan Costabile, senior defenseman Jack Kielty and senior FOGO Charlie Leonard each earned the honors from the conference’s coaches.
• Also included in the preseason release from the ACC was the annual coaches poll. The Irish were pegged second in the rankings, earning 18 points.
THE ATTACK IS BACK
• The Irish return 145 of 184 goals scored from last season (78.8 percent).
• Six of Notre Dame’s top seven goal scorers from the 2019 season are back in uniform for the Irish.
• Five of six attacking starters from the 2019 squad are back in 2020, as Brian Willetts (A), Connor Morin (A), Bryan Costabile (M), Wheaton Jackoboice (M) and Quinn McCahon return to the field.
• Costabile (48), Willetts (36), Morin (36) and Jackoboice (28) all tallied 25-plus points last season.
THE X-FACTOR
• Senior FOGO Charlie Leonard won 220-of-376 face-offs (58.5%) last year as the primary FOGO for the Irish and scored seven goals and added two assists.
• Leonard was named to the All-ACC Team for the first time in his career in 2019 and led the league in ground balls per game with an average of 6.5.
• Leonard has won the face-off battle in 12-of-16 games last season and scooped up 104 ground balls to pace the Irish.
• The junior won 20 face-offs in a game twice in 2019, winning 20-of-24 face-offs at Michigan and 20-of-23 versus Cornell.
• Leonard recorded a career-high 16 ground balls against the Wolverines and finished in double figures three times during the 2019 campaign.