No. 5 Notre Dame Blitzes No. 1 Richmond at Lacrosse Day in Chicago

EVANSTON, Ill. — No. 5 Notre Dame carried a renewed tenacity into its weekday preparations ahead of a Saturday matchup with No. 1 Richmond.

“It started with our practice on Monday,” sophomore attackman Luke Miller said. “We hit the reset button and came in with a mentality that we need to go get it. It’s not going to come to us. We’re going to get everyone’s best on a weekly basis, so it’s important for us to stay hungry, practice hard and continue to compete within each other.”

After suffering their first defeat of the season last week at Virginia, the Fighting Irish (7-1, 0-1 ACC) knocked off the Spiders (9-1, 3-0 A-10) 12-8 in a neutral site clash at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium.

With the result, Notre Dame picked up its fourth ranked victory of the 2026 campaign. The Fighting Irish have won six of their past seven games against No. 1-ranked opponents.

“We play the best schedule in the country,” Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said. “And it doesn’t get easier for us. It’s not like we go into some, step back and take a deep breath. But we want to show up and compete week after week to see if we can become the best team we can by May.”

Miller led all scorers with four goals and an assist, while Josh Yago added three goals and an assist. Yago and Miller linked up for a last-second first-half goal, with Yago eluding pressure and hurling a one-handed shot into the cage.

“Unreal finish — I probably should have thrown him a better pass,” Miller said. “Great handle by him. Insane wrap-around. That’s the type of player he is. He just makes those plays. And shoutout Coach Corrigan for drawing up a great little five-second play.”

For Richmond, Lucas Littlejohn and Jack Riccardi each tallied a pair of goals.

Chris Reinhardt scored the opener just five seconds into the game. The goal proved a precursor to a dominant 8-0 first quarter for Notre Dame.

“You just say to the guys, ‘I’m really proud of eight, and I’m prouder of a zero for them. But we got f---ing 45 minutes to play and a lot of things can happen,’” Corrigan said. “I’m kind of disappointed that we scored four goals over the next however long. Give them credit. They made some adjustments, and their goalie made some saves.”

Faceoff specialist Tyler Spano, who transferred to the Fighting Irish after a two-year stint with Division III Washington and Lee, put forth a commanding display at the center circle. Matching up with standout freshman Vincent Gaylord, Spano won 16 of 22 faceoffs.

“[He] was unbelievable,” Corrigan said. “He’s been spectacular the last couple of weeks. I’m proud of him. He’s been working hard, and the guys are super fired up for him and what he’s done.”

Richmond coach Dan Chemotti knew his team had the maturity and composure to respond. But he conceded that an eight-goal deficit made matters markedly more difficult for the Spiders.

“Our team is led by our seniors. Through wins, through losses, there’s a lot of trust between the coaches and those guys,” Chemotti said. “They don’t need to tell me what we did wrong today. They’ve been through this enough, so we’re going to keep leaning on that, and we’ll right the ship.”

Chemotti said he didn’t sense that Richmond’s No. 1 ranking created additional pressure, but added that the Spiders weren’t playing their brand of lacrosse early on.

“We were thinking a lot in the first quarter and not just playing,” Chemotti said. “We were trying to be overly strategic in some areas instead of just, ‘Hey, this is who we are. Go play.’ Once we started to settle down and be ourselves, we got the looks we wanted to get, and we got the stops we needed to get.”

While Richmond cut the margin to three goals on two occasions, Spano’s possessional prowess and Thomas Ricciardelli’s 12-save performance helped preserve Notre Dame’s advantage.

For Miller, who scored the game’s final tally with three minutes remaining, the attack derived significant confidence from Ricciardelli and the defense as the initial goal-rush gave way to lull periods in the latter three quarters.

“We have the best defense-goalie combination in the country,” Miller said. “We continue to ride off them and build off them. It’s great to be on the other side of the ball because they just lock it down on a daily basis.”

Both teams return to conference play next Saturday, with Richmond traveling to St. Bonaventure and Notre Dame hosting No. 2 North Carolina.