Irish men’s lacrosse to face familiar foe in Final Four

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (WNDU) - After defeating Johns Hopkins over the weekend, the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team is Philadelphia-bound for the Final Four.

The No. 3 Irish will face No. 2 Virginia, who have been their kryptonite this season. The only two losses of the season for Notre Dame (12-2) have been to the Cavaliers.

Despite that, the Irish say this is the exact opponent they want to face.

“We’ve beaten everybody else we’ve played this year,” says Head Coach Kevin Corrigan. “In fact, in the last 21 games, we’re 18-3, and our three losses are to UVA. So, I want to play them. If we’re going to win the championship, we’ve got to go through them. So, I couldn’t be more excited that that’s our first opponent in the Final Four.”

Corrigan’s players agree.

“Obviously, we learned a lot from both of those losses, and that there’s things that we do really well and there’s things that they do really well,” says Irish graduate midfielder Jack Simmons. “So, how are we going to exploit some of their weaknesses with our strengths?”

“They played very well against us,” says Irish graduate defender Chris Fake. “They’re a very good team, and, you know, it’s just one we want.”

First draw on Saturday is set for 2:30 p.m. The game will air on ESPN2.

The winner advances to the national championship on Memorial Day, where they will face the winner of the other semifinal matchup between Duke and Penn State.

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