Good morning. Here’s the latest from around the lacrosse world:
1. Notre Dame lacrosse is a wagon right now. Everything keeps coming up Irish.
Fresh off its first NCAA championship, the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse has appeared on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” and “College Gameday,” procured the prize of the transfer portal in Brown attackman Devon McLane and landed Alabama football quarterback and former Michigan lacrosse recruit Tyler Buchner — whose return to South Bend has been the talk of both sports.
Last week, the Irish won USA Lacrosse Magazine’s Best of Lacrosse 2023 honors for Best Game as voted by fans on X, formerly Twitter.
...and the winner is @NDlacrosse
The people have spoken. Notre Dame's thrilling triple-overtime win over Maryland was voted the Best Game of 2023.#BestofLax pic.twitter.com/FkBfWSQgNG
— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) December 5, 2023
Not to be outdone, the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team also got in on the accolades. On Tuesday, the Irish clinched a win in the Best Team Celly category, earning 39.9 percent of votes.
No team celebrated harder — or more creatively — than Notre Dame in 2023.
The Irish are the #BestofLax winners for Best Team Celly of 2023 ‼️ pic.twitter.com/IysrLA8cpH
— USA Lacrosse Magazine (@USALacrosseMag) December 12, 2023
Notre Dame has advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals two of the last three years and added a pair of impact transfers in Olivia Dooley (USC) and Arden Tierney (Richmond). The Irish released their 2024 schedule Tuesday. They open with five straight games in South Bend, including bellwether matchups against Northwestern and Syracuse.
2. It’s not all gains for Notre Dame. USF announced Tuesday it signed former Irish attacker Alison Harbaugh from the transfer portal. Harbaugh is the daughter of Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh.
The Bulls are still a year out from making their debut, but the new program already has a ton of momentum. USF’s summer transfer haul included landing NIL pioneer Sofia Chepenik from Clemson. The school is also in the midst of a major facilities upgrade.
3. It’s the time of year when lacrosse people rank things. That includes the Premier Lacrosse League Players Top 50, a list of the league’s top 50 PLL players as voted on by the players themselves. On Tuesday, they unveiled Archers defenseman Graeme Hossack at No. 7.
4. Some National Lacrosse League news courtesy of Inside Lacrosse.
The Philadelphia Wings will be without forwards Holden Cattoni and Blaze Riorden for the foreseeable future. Each will miss 4-6 weeks due to upper body injuries.
And the NLL will almost assuredly take a second look at the fight that took place Saturday between Colorado’s Dylan Kinnear and Georgia’s Mike Manley in Atlanta — especially since a referee absorbed some blows in the middle of the melee.
