Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS BY JORDAN WELLS S omehow, Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan's team finds a way to dig deep every time it needs to. Take your pick. Most notably, there is the 13‑12 double‑overtime win over No. 1 Syracuse March 28 — Notre Dame's first victory over a No. 1‑ranked team in program history — and the 15‑14 triumph over No. 2 North Carolina April 18, when the Fighting Irish came back after trailing by two goals with 1:15 remaining. "It's great that we've been able to do that," Corrigan said. "I think the key to it is our guys are focused on what they need to do in the moment. "Against UNC, we're down two with a minute and 30 seconds left, and they've got the ball. We can't think about scoring a goal right there, we've got to think about executing defen‑ sively to get the ball back. And then when we got it back, we got a penalty, and we have to execute the man‑up. Then you have to execute the face off. "It's about poise, staying focused on the play that you need to make at that time." Since Notre Dame hired Corrigan in 1988, the head coach has kept his program's mission simple — steadily progress to the next level. "I think your goal is always to try to get to the next level from where you are," Corrigan said. "At that point when I first got here, it was realistic to try and win the Midwestern bid to the NCAA Tournament — that was our first goal. Then it was to win games in the tournament. Then it was to get to the Final Four, and now it's to get to the championship and win the cham‑ pionship. "I didn't come in here saying, 'Hey, we're going to win the national cham‑ pionship in 28 years.' It's all been about getting to the next level." Mission (almost) accomplished. Notre Dame has made it to three Final Men's Lacrosse Aiming For National Title Junior Matt Kavanaugh scored two goals in the final 1:15 to lead No. 1 Notre Dame to a 15‑14 comeback win over No. 2 North Carolina on April 18. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS