Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM MARCH 2025 11 UNDER THE DOME Irish On Social Media PHOTO BY MICHAEL MILLER 27 Years since an NCAA men's lacrosse program won three straight na- tional championships. The two-time defending champion Irish will aim to become the first school since Princeton in 1996-98 to three-peat. Not only was Notre Dame — which won last year's crown with a dominant 15-5 triumph over Maryland, the largest margin of victory in the title game since 1998 (Princeton over Maryland by an identical 15-5 score) — voted No. 1 in the ACC's preseason poll, but they also topped Inside Lacrosse's preseason national rankings. Kevin Corrigan's squad lost some key pieces — most notably Tewaaraton Award winner Pat Kavanagh and back-to-back first- team All-American goalie Liam Entenmann. Both were selected in the top six of the 2024 PLL Draft and replacing talents of their caliber is no easy task. However, Notre Dame still found the No. 1 ranking in Inside Lacrosse's preseason rankings, illustrating the talent Corrigan still holds even with the departure of some of the game's biggest stars. "Chris Kavanagh should be able to fill his older brother's shoes as the offensive leader, but projected starting goalie Alex Zepf is a question mark. He has sat behind Entenmann for three years with minimal playing time. But sitting behind just the third goalie ever to be named a Tewaaraton finalist should come with a wealth of knowledge. As the Irish know, having an elite talent in the net is a massive advantage over any opponent, and Zepf certainly has some large shoes to fill. — Jordan Howard of NCAA.com 5 Consecutive games with 20 or more points for sophomore point guard MARKUS BURTON: 23 at Duke Jan. 11, 20 versus Boston College Jan. 13, 28 at Syra- cuse Jan. 18, 21 at Virginia Jan. 25 and 26 versus Georgia Tech Jan. 28. That hadn't been accomplished by an Irish player since Ben Hansbrough did it in 2011. Burton produced 20+ points in eight of his first 10 games after returning from a knee injury, scoring no fewer than 15 points. His average of 22.1 points per game in ACC play, just ahead of Duke freshman phenom Cooper Flagg (21.9), led the league. If Burton can maintain his season average of 20.6 points per game (10th nationally through Feb. 10; if you took out Burton's 2-point game against Rutgers, when he departed four minutes in due to injury, his average would be 21.7 points per game, which would rank him third nationally), he will become just the second Irish player to finish a season with 20+ points per game since Luke Harangody (21.8) in 2009-10. I was just walking in, grabbed my phone so I don't have to go back to the locker room, and I got this text at 10:15. So, obviously the game was still going. Whoever sent this, I appreciate you, thank you for being cool. … 'WTF am I watching? Do you have any plays written up because holy S, your team is unorganized as hell. What are they paying you for?' "I'm glad it didn't have a name attached to it, but that right there fellas is a lesson in humility. Because as good as you feel, some people think you stink." — Notre Dame men's basketball head coach Micah Shrewsberry after his team's 71-68 win over Georgia Tech Jan. 28 I'm all in on what they've done. I'll be incredibly honest and candid, I was raised in this in the '70s and '80s, and Notre Dame football was Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State — whoever you want to say. They were a different level. Everybody tried to be Notre Dame in that era. I think after the Lou Holtz era, they've been searching. "They've had some moments, when Brady [Quinn] was there with Charlie [Weis]. They've had some good moments, and Brian Kelly had some moments. But I don't know if I've ever felt like this about Notre Dame since the Lou Holtz era." — Kirk Herbstreit of ESPN