Kevin Corrigan Couldn’t Care Less About the When and Where

When coaches are given the alternative to speak about making a homecoming of some type, they often choose to speak about how good it’s to be house. Even if it is lip service, they make an effort of some kind.

For Notre Dame lacrosse head coach Kevin Corrigan, Championship Weekend is strictly that homecoming. The Notre Dame mainstay performed at Virginia and then served as an assistant coach. His father, Gene Corrigan, coached at Virginia earlier than changing into the faculty’s athletic director.

On Tuesday, throughout the NCAA Championship Weekend press convention, Corrigan stated that his father was the purpose he fell in love with lacrosse.

“When I grew up,” stated Corrigan, “my dad was the lacrosse coach at UVA. I grew up going to his practices from the time I could walk. You know, fixing the old wooden sticks, and putting popsicle sticks in the guy’s gut walls, and all the stuff that these kids have no idea what I’m even talking about, but that was my experience, and my dad was coaching, and it doesn’t get much better than that… Always remains my hero.”

But no matter feelings Corrigan feels about his alma mater are buried, deep, deep down, at the least for this weekend. Despite it being a homecoming for Corrigan, it is why the group is there that issues, not the place the group is taking part in.

“In all honesty, I really don’t care,” Corrigan stated of his return to Charlottesville. “It’s really not about that. It’s about this team that has one chance to win a championship, and this is it. And honestly, I don’t care if we’re playing on the moon. We’ve got, hopefully, 120 minutes of lacrosse and an opportunity that these guys will never have again, so that’s my and our entire focus.”

And that is a superb factor, too. Notre Dame might want to focus completely on the job at hand: Syracuse. The two groups met earlier in the season, in South Bend, the place Notre Dame emerged victorious, 16-11. But that rating would not inform the story of how shut the sport truly was.

Entering the third quarter, Notre Dame trailed 8-7. Although the Irish put collectively a 5-0 run to take a large lead, Syracuse battled proper again. It was a one-score sport with 13:48 to go in regulation. Even if the Irish received it late, Syracuse was proper there with them.

Notre Dame has solely confronted one different group a number of occasions this season: Virginia. Neither match-up went the group’s approach. But as Notre Dame will get able to face Syracuse once more, Corrigan would not assume a rematch makes too huge a distinction.

“I don’t know that it’s anything different than normal,” stated Corrigan, “other than you know how you look in certain matchups, you know? I mean, I think it’s helpful that way, but you gotta be careful to fix a team in time, anytime, right? And, you know, we played them a while ago, and we all continue to develop, and you can’t count on anything that happened in the first game necessarily developing the same way.”

Both groups have grown since that late April sport. The Irish offense appears to have discovered a circulation, scoring 13+ factors in consecutive video games for the first time since doing so in opposition to Marquette and Bellarmine. Josh Yago had the best sport of his time with the Irish, placing collectively a seven-point outing.

Syracuse, in the meantime, stored North Carolina’s offense in examine twice and outlasted Yale in the First Round. Starting goalie Jimmy McCool had 17 saves in opposition to Yale and 13 in opposition to North Carolina in the quarterfinals.

“I think they’re playing really good defense right now,” Corrigan stated on Tuesday, “and I think their goalie’s been playing well, and that always presents a challenge.

Nobody quite matches up to the level of Notre Dame’s defense. It’s the strongest of the remaining four teams. But Syracuse, at 10.61 goals allowed per game, is within striking distance. McCool is capable of putting together another double-digit save game and getting Notre Dame into trouble.

It’s unlikely that Saturday’s game will turn into a track meet, but Syracuse will get its due throughout the matchup. With the Orange’s skill players, it’s not a question of if but of when. Syracuse as a team averages the 11th most points (that’s goals and assists) per game in the country.

“Offensively, they simply have so many guys,” said Corrigan, “and they all the time appear to search out methods to place their offensive guys in good conditions, in conditions that they like, proper?”

Joey Spallina is one of those guys. The senior attackman is averaging the most points per game in the ACC at 4.72, and will create problems. He had three goals against Notre Dame in the first contest. With time and an understanding of how the Irish will seek to guard him, he’ll become more of a problem, not less.

And Spallina isn’t alone. Payton Anderson had four goals on seven shots. Finn Thomson had two goals, one of which was a man-up opportunity. Notre Dame, which has the worst remaining man-down defense by a wide margin, cannot allow Syracuse the four chances it did last time.

The Irish were called three times against Johns Hopkins, and although it didn’t hurt them, Syracuse is better equipped to punish than the Blue Jays were.

The good news for Notre Dame is that Josh Yago isn’t alone on the offensive side of the ball. Luke Miller, who leads Notre Dame with 31 goals, had a historic showing of his own against Jacksonville. While he was much quieter against Johns Hopkins with just two goals and an assist, he had 10 shots. He’s not afraid to let it go and challenge the opposing goalie.

Corrigan spoke about Miller’s consistent play during Tuesday’s presser.

“As we went into this yr,” said Corrigan, “we, once more, type of simply had the religion that he is doing it day-after-day in our practices, which implies he can play at a excessive degree, and if he is bought the poise and the make-up to do this, and he does. And that is not even a query with Luke. He’s an awesome competitor, however a really poised child, and a really assured man. So, we love him. He’s been terrific for us.”

Notre Dame will need Miller and Yago firing on all cylinders, just as they both have during the playoffs to date.

But even when the offense struggles, the Irish can lean on their defensive trio of Shawn Lyght, Will Gallagher, and Nate Schwitzenberg. With those three in front and Thomas Ricciardelli behind in net, Notre Dame will have a chance against any opponent they face.

When Notre Dame takes the field on Saturday and potentially Monday, the talking points that dominate the pre-game coverage will be about history. How Notre Dame could win its third title in four years. How Corrigan is making a return home. Where the modern Irish dynasty could rank in the history of the sport.

Neither Corrigan nor his 2026 team cares about that. They’re focused on the task at hand. Because that’s what’s in front of them. The past can’t be changed, only the future remains.

“Some different time, we’ll speak about different groups,” Corrigan said after Notre Dame’s victory against Johns Hopkins. “Right now, that is about this group, and I could not be extra happy with them.”