Irish and Tar Heels Square Off For ACC Championship Crown

April 29, 2017

By Robby Hamman

Notre Dame Game Notes

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team takes on North Carolina in the ACC Championship final in Durham, North Carolina at noon ET on Sunday, April 30. The game will be played at Koskinen Stadium on Duke’s campus.

The game will be broadcast live on ESPNU with Anish Shroff (play-by-play), Quint Kessenich (analyst) and Paul Carcaterra (analyst) on the call. With a win the Irish will secure its second ACC Championship title in program history.

Game Details

Location: Durham, North Carolina | Koskinen Stadium
Schedule: Sunday, April 30 — Noon ET
TV: ESPNU | WatchESPN
Live Stats: UND.com
Twitter Updates: @NDlacrosse
For a more in-depth look at Friday’s matchup – Game Notes: Notre Dame

Irish At The ACC Championship

• Notre Dame will be playing in its second ACC Championship title on Sunday afternoon. The Irish have an all-time record of 3-2 at the ACC Championships in the four seasons they have competed in the tournament.

• The Irish claimed an ACC Championship title in the team’s first season in the league in 2014. Notre Dame won a pair of one goal games over Maryland (6-5) in the semifinal and Syracuse (15-14) in the final.

• Notre Dame is 1-0 in ACC Championship finals with the aforementioned win over Syracuse in 2014 coming in Chester, Pennsylvania.

The North Carolina Series

• Sunday will be the 17th meeting of all time between Notre Dame and North Carolina. The Irish and Tar Heels have split the all-time matchu with each side winning eight games apiece.

• The ACC Championship title game will be the first meeting between the two sides in the ACC tournament.

• The two teams played earlier this season on April 22 in Notre Dame’s regular season home finale. The Irish won the game by a final of 14-13. Mikey Wynne scored five goals and Sergio Perkovic added three goals and two assists to power the Irish past the Tar Heels.

• The series has featured a lot of close games, as 15 of the 16 meetings have been decided by three goals or fewer.

The 100 Club

• Senior midfielder Sergio Perkovic became just the seventh player in Notre Dame history to reach the 100-career goal milestone against Duke on April 8. Perkovic scored two goals in the game.

• The senior has 110 goals in his career, which represent the most in program history for a midfielder.

• Perkovic is second on the team in 2017 in goals, as he has 22 on the season with nine coming in the last three games.

• Twenty of Perkovic’s goals have come in NCAA Championship games and he has 17 hat tricks in his career.

• Teammate Mikey Wynne is just two goals away from joining Perkovic, as the junior has 98 career goals.

• If Wynne reaches the 100-goal mark this season it will mark the first time in program history that a team has had multiple 100-goal scorers on the same team.

Between The Pipes

• Senior goalkeeper Shane Doss has been a mainstay in the Notre Dame starting lineup for the majority of his career, as he has racked up 46 starts in goal.

• Doss leads the ACC in saves per game (9.45) and is second in save percentage (.528) and goals against per game (8.83).

• The goalkeeper ranks sixth on the Notre Dame all-time saves list with 453 in his career.

Vote For Sergio

• Sergio Perkovic has been named a finalist for the 2017 Senior CLASS Award. Vote here.

• The Senior CLASS Award recipient will be announced during the 2017 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse National Championships® in Boston, May 27-29.

• To be eligible for the Senior CLASS Award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.

Notre Dame Vs. Top Ten Teams

• Notre Dame is 32-22 against teams ranked in the top 10 in the USILA Coaches Poll since the start of the 2008 season.

• The Irish are 3-3 this season against top 10 teams, as the program defeated No. 2/1 Maryland 5-4 , No. 4/4 Ohio State 12-7 and No. 4/4 Duke in the ACC semifinals 7-6 and fell to No. 4/5 Denver 11-10, No. 3/4 Syracuse 11-10 and No. 10/10 Duke in the regular season 11-8.

One-Goal Games

• The Irish have played a lot of close games in 2017, as seven of their 11 contests to date have been decided by one goal, including four of the five against ACC opponents.

• Notre Dame has a 5-2 record in one-goal decisions, pulling out victories over Maryland (5-4), Virginia (11-10), Marquette (11-10), North Carolina (14-13) and Duke in the ACC semifinal (7-6).

• The team’s two losses by one goal have come at the hands of Denver (10-11) and Syracuse (10-11).

Last Time Out

• The Irish defeated No. 4/3 Duke in the ACC Championship semifinal on April 28 at Koskinen Stadium by a final score of 7-6.

• Freshman Bryan Costabile led the Irish on the offensive end, posting the first hat trick of his career with a team-high three goals.

• Wynne scored two goals and Garnsey and Schantz each added a goal to secure the Notre Dame victory.

• Notre Dame put on a defensive clinic in the win, shutting out the Blue Devils in the first half of play. The shutout marked the first time Duke has been held scoreless in a first half this season.

— ND —

The University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team pursues excellence on and off the field through the three pillars in which the program is built: Character, Culture & Community. These three foundational values guide the promise of the program, which is to provide its student-athletes with the most compelling and enriching experience in all of college athletics. Through academics, competition, service and travel, the program aims to immerse its players in situations that enhance their student-athlete experience to help them become the people, students and teammates they aspire to be.

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Robby Hamman joined Fighting Irish Media as athletics communications assistant director in September 2016, coordinating efforts for the volleyball and men’s lacrosse program. Hamman is a 2010 graduate of Bethel College, where he earned bachelor’s degrees in sport management and business administration, and earned his master’s degree in business administration from Defiance College in 2013.