Notre Dame Fighting Irish - Official Athletics Website

Game 1 Preview: Detroit Mercy

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – No. 5/4 Notre Dame opens up the 2022 season at home against Detroit Mercy at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 19 inside Loftus Sports Center. The game will be broadcast live on ACCNX.

GAME DETAILS
Location: South Bend, Indiana | Arlotta Stadium
Schedule: Feb. 19 — 7 p.m. ET
Live Stream: ACCNX
Live Stats: UND.com
Twitter Updates: @NDlacrosse
For a more in-depth look at the matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame

THE DETROIT MERCY SERIES

• Saturday will be the fifth meeting all time between Notre Dame and Detroit Mercy. The Irish have won all four of the previous matchups between the two sides.

• The most recent game in the series came in the 2019 season opener for the Irish on Feb. 16. Notre Dame won by a score of 19-6.

• In the win Bryan Costabile led the Irish with five goals and an assist. Griffin Westlin scored two goals while Quinn McCahaon and Wheaton Jackoboice each recorded a goal and an assist. The Irish defense allowed a total of just 11 shots on cage.

FANTASTIC FEBRUARYS FOR THE FIGHTING IRISH

• Notre Dame is 31-3 in its last 34 games played in February dating back to the 2006 season.

• Fighting Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan is 40-6 in the month of February during his Notre Dame tenure.

• The Irish won its only February matchup last season, defeating Robert Morris 19-7 in the season opener.

OWNING THE OPENERS

• Notre Dame is 34-7 all-time in season openers, including a 28-5 record in the Kevin Corrigan era.

• The Irish have won a program-record 19 straight season openers.

• Notre Dame opened the 2021 season with a 19-7 win over Robert Morris on Feb. 27.

• 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 37-4 in program history and 30-3 under Corrigan.

PAT KAVANAGH: 2021 TEWAARATON FINALIST

Pat Kavanagh enjoyed a breakout 2021 sophomore season that has propelled him to become the fourth Tewaaraton Finalist in program history.

• The attackman produced a team-high 64 points on the season off 38 assists and 26 goals.

• In just 10 games Pat became the all-time single-season ND assist record holder, passing older brother Matt (33) for the record. Matt’s 33 assist season came in an 18-game 2014 season.

• Of the five Tewaaraton Finalists, Kavanagh led the group in assists per game (3.17), ground balls (35) and caused turnovers (9).

• Kavanagh’s 38 assists over 12 games ranked third in the NCAA and leads the ACC in assists per game with an average of 3.17.

• In the final game of the regular season Kavanagh broke the program record for points in a game with a 10-point showing off five goals and five assists in the blowout win over No. 9 Syracuse.

PRESEASON ALL-ACC

• Notre Dame placed four players on the Preseason All-ACC Team entering the 2022 season, more than any other team in the league.

• Graduate student Arden Cohen, graduate student SSDM Ryan Hallenbeck, junior goalie Liam Entenmann and junior attackman Pat Kavanagh 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 third in the rankings, earning 16 points.

THE ATTACK IS BACK

• The Irish return 74.0 percent of their goals from last season (125 of 169).

• Seven of ND’s top eight scorers from 2021 are on the 2022 roster, including six that finished in double figures.

• Five of six attacking starters from the 2020 squad are back in 2021, as Pat Kavanagh, Griffin Westlin, Wheaton Jackoboice, Quinn McCahon and Eric Dobson return to the field.

DOMINATING DEFENSE

• The 2021 defense was one of the best units in the country, allowing just 8.92 goals per game.

• The 8.92 goals per game ranked third in the country and first in the ACC.

• Notre Dame returns standout defenseman Arden Cohen and welcomes grad transfer Jason Reynolds. Liam Entenmann, a preseason All-American, wll be in cage for his third season.

• The Irish also return a strong cast of defensive midfielders, as LSMs Jose Boyer and Ross Burgmaster are back. The SSDMs will feature preseason All-American Ryan Hallenbeck along with Nick Harris and Carter Parlette.

CHALLENGING SLATE AHEAD

• Notre Dame has never shied away from putting together a challenging schedule and the 2022 slate is no different.

• Of Notre Dame’s 12 regular-season opponents, seven are currently ranked in the top 10 in either the USILA or Inside Lacrosse Top 20 Polls.

• The Irish have four matchups on the schedule against teams currently ranked in the top four in the polls.

IRISH INDOORS

• Notre Dame has excelled when playing inside the last seven seasons, going 13-1 when playing indoors since the start of the 2015 season.

• Notre Dame is currently riding a 20-game winning streak when playing in Loftus Sports Center.

• 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 2020 season playing inside the Loftus Sports Center, defeating Cleveland State 17-7.

• Notre Dame suffered its lone defeat in 2018 against Syracuse, falling to the Orange 10-6.

CORRIGAN ALL-TIME DI PROGRAM WINS LEADER

• With the win over No. 1 Duke on April 10, 2021, Baumer Family Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Kevin Corrigan broke the NCAA record for most wins at a DI program with 311, passing Bob Shillinglaw (Delaware).

• 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 323-168 in his 35 seasons of coaching.

• The head coach is 313-153 in his 33 seasons at Notre Dame.

• Corrigan is the longest tenured men’s lacrosse coach at the DI level.