Unsettled: Notre Dame Unbeaten, How Good Can Offense Be?

Welcome to this week's edition of Unsettled, a weekly look at big stories, random observations and the numbers from the NCAA men's lacrosse scene. Check back each Sunday for the latest.

If Notre Dame wants to win another national championship, its offense will be key to that effort. Three of the last five national champions led the country in scoring offense (Maryland in 2022, Notre Dame in 2024 and Cornell last year), and the other two champions ranked third (Virginia in 2021 and Notre Dame in 2023).

It takes more than defense to win championship in modern college lacrosse.

The Irish came into the weekend with the nation’s No. 1 offense, but that was a figure heavily influenced by a 29-goal effort against Bellarmine. The last two weekends have told a different tale, albeit against teams known for strong defenses.

On Saturday, Notre Dame edged Ohio State and its star goalie Caleb Fyock by a 9-8 score with Air Force grad transfer Josh Yago delivering the game-winner with 2:47 to play in a game where everything was truly earned and fought for.

The week before, the Irish beat Maryland 11-8 with most of the damage coming during a seven-goal run that bridged halftime. Outside of that stretch, the Irish scored just four goals in the other 45 minutes of gametime.

So, what kind of offense can head coach Kevin Corrigan expect the rest of the way?

Growing pains were expected – the Irish graduated their top three leading scorers in Chris Kavanagh (39 goals), Jake Taylor (31 goals) and Devon McLane (21 goals) – from an offense that ranked 10th nationally last year. They also suffered another loss when dynamic midfielder Jordan Faison elected to concentrate on football and skip lacrosse this spring.

Those departures have opened up new opportunities and the balance Notre Dame has displayed might be its biggest strength. 

Sophomore Luke Miller had just two goals last season, but has emerged as one of the top threats. He and Yago are tied for the team lead with 18 points and Miller followed up a hat trick against Maryland with a career-high four goals against Ohio State. Yago's experience and leadership is also crucial – he had 156 points in 47 career games at Air Force.

Brock Behrman is another player on the rise with new playing time. After scoring just five goals combined in his first two years, he has nine goals and seven assists to rank third on the team in scoring.

Veterans Will Maheras and Jalen Seymour each have eight goals and freshman Teddy Lally has adjusted well to the college game with six goals and seven assists. How comfortable is Lally? He tried a behind-the-back shot in a tie game with a little over three minutes to play against Ohio State.

The options don’t end there. Will Angrick was a regular on the midfield units in 2024 and 2025 and he had a hat trick against Georgetown. Prized sophomore Matthew Jeffery shows signs of truly getting untracked after a season in which he was named the ACC Rookie of the Year despite a late start in coming over from the football team.

With all of these ingredients at Notre Dame's disposal, the Irish are certainly capable of building another potent offense, and they have one of the nation's best defenses to lean on when they struggle. Is it enough to bring another title back to South Bend?

Random Observations

The Patriot League is acting like the Patriot League. Lafayette stunned Army 10-9 on Friday night, its first win over Army ever, ending a string of 41 straight losses. Boston University leads the league with a 2-0 mark following a wild 14-13 comeback win at Lehigh on Saturday afternoon. Lafayette and Loyola are a half game back at 1-0. The Greyhounds have won four straight games overall, including a league win over Colgate, after getting outscored by 15 goals in two losses to open the season. Four other teams are 1-1. Needless to say, more drama is coming.

Richmond keeps answering every test, pulling away for a 14-10 win over Georgetown on Saturday to move to 6-0. The Spiders defense is outstanding, and the offense is just so versatile. Aidan O’Neil has a team-high 28 points (14g, 14a), but the next five highest scorers range from 13 to 19 points. It’s impossible for opposing defenses to focus on one or two options.

Princeton had no hangover effect from a weekend sweep of Syracuse and North Carolina. The Tigers erupted for a season-high 20 goals against a stout Rutgers defense, scoring nine times in the first quarter and carrying a 14-3 lead into the half. Eleven different players scored goals, led by Colin Burns and Tucker Wade with four each.

Penn State won back-to-back games for the first time this season and left no doubt, humbling reigning national champion Cornell 19-7. The Nittany Lions scored the first eight goals of the game and led by as many as 14 goals. Kyle Lehman scored six times for Penn State, which played without leading scorer Hunter Aquino.

Virginia is still searching for answers after a 13-9 loss at home to Towson on Saturday night. It was the Tigers first win over Virginia since 1991 and Towson did it without their star – Mikey Weisshaar – playing a leading role. Weisshaar scored just once. Alex Roussel had a first quarter hat trick to get Towson going and finished with five goals and four assists and then Tiger goalie Matt Nilan shut the door with 15 saves.

By the Numbers

3 • Number of one-goal losses at home by Lehigh. Two have come in overtime, including Saturday’s 14-13 loss to Boston University when the Mountain Hawks had a three-goal lead with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter and had retaken the lead with 16 seconds left in the fourth.

19 • Turnovers for Maryland in a 13-8 win at Delaware, compared to just seven for the Blue Hens. The Terps snapped a three-game losing streak, but still have things to clean up before Saturday’s non-conference finale against Virginia.

10 • Consecutive wins against Bucknell for Navy after the Mids rallied from a four-goal deficit to beat the Bison 16-12, avoiding an 0-2 start in league play.

18 • Career-high tying 18 saves for Harvard's Graham Stevens in a 17-7 win over Michigan in Houston. Harvard is 5-0 for the second time under head coach Gerry Byrne.

47 • Combined goals for Loyola’s starting attack of Mason Cook, Kenan Everhart and Matthew Minicus this season – 63.5 percent of the teams’ total. Minicus had a season-high four goals in Saturday’s 15-9 win over Providence.

63 • Saves for UMass goalie Owen Salenger over the last four games – all UMass wins – while allowing just 30 goals in that span. Salenger made 10 saves in a 7-6 win over Vermont Saturday.

87.5 • Faceoff winning percentage for North Carolina’s Brady Wambach (21 of 24) in a 19-7 win over Brown.

9 • Career-high points for Duke freshman attacker Michael Ortleib in the Blue Devils’ 21-6 win at Air Force. Ortleib had three goals and six assists as Duke improved to 6-0 for the season.

10 • Failed clears for Villanova in a 10-6 loss to Penn on Saturday. Penn's defense was locked in all day, including 11 saves from goalie Jack Pelot.

6:31 pm • Official start time for next Friday’s Hofstra at Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team as the two Long Island schools battle for area code bragging rights.