Barring a change of plans, Notre Dame has wrapped up its recruiting travels across the country (and globe for including Australia) for the spring contact period, which runs through May 25.

Next up on the recruiting calendar: a dead period May 26-29 and a quiet period May 30-June 23. Notre Dame will primarily host camps and official visits during the quiet period.

Camp dates ...

June 2: Irish Invasion
June 10: Evaluation Camp I
June 17: Evaluation Camp II
June 18: Specialist Camp

Notre Dame's search for additional defensive line help in the 2025 class continues.

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Game Recap:

Notre Dame men’s lacrosse refused to let Saturday’s NCAA quarterfinals matchup with Georgetown follow the same script of ND’s lone loss of the season to the Hoyas in late February.

The top-seeded Irish jumped out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first quarter with goals by Devon McLane and Reilly Gray. In February’s 11-10 overtime loss, Notre Dame never led by two goals.

Then when Chris Kavanagh scored his first goal 53 seconds later, it became a harbinger of what was to come in Notre Dame’s 16-11 victory over Georgetown. Kavanagh, a junior attacker, set a Notre Dame tournament record with eight points (five goals and three assists) and tied his single-game high with the output.

Kavanagh’s older brother Pat, a graduate senior attacker, also scored a hat trick with three goals and one assist. They led a fierce offensive onslaught from the Irish that never relented through four quarters.

Notre Dame dominated in faceoffs with a 23-8 advantage, which made a comeback effort extremely tough for Georgetown. Junior specialist Will Lynch won 21 of his 26 faceoffs.

The Irish limited Georgetown to one goal in each of the first two quarters. That allowed Notre Dame to build a 7-2 halftime lead. Chris Kavanagh scored his first three goals in the first half. Pat Kavanagh scored his first with seven seconds remaining before halftime.

Notre Dame extended its lead in the third quarter with a strong finish. Georgetown showed some fight with a pair of goals in the first six minutes of the third quarter, but the Irish responded with three goals in the final four minutes. The Kavanagh brothers scored one goal each in that four-minute stretch, and freshman Jordan Faison scored his first goal.

Devon McLane, who started Notre Dame’s scoring less than one full minute into the game, scored his second goal with 6:41 remaining in regulation to extend ND’s lead to eight for the first time. He scored on an assist from Chris Kavanagh to capitalize on an extra-man advantage.

Notre Dame goalie Liam Entenmann saved eight shots while allowing 10 goals. Alex Zepf replaced him for the final 2:13 and allowed one goal.

The defending champion Irish will return to the Final Four in Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. Notre Dame’s semifinal opponent will be determined Sunday in Towson, Md., when No. 4 seed Syracuse (12-5) takes on No. 5 seed Denver (12-3). Notre Dame beat Syracuse, 14-12, on March 30 in South Bend.

The two NCAA semifinal games will be played next Saturday in Philadelphia.


Photo credit: Nick Ieradi/Notre Dame Athletics
Pictured: Chris Kavanagh

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Game Thread:

No. 1 Notre Dame men's lacrosse will get its shot at revenge today in an NCAA quarterfinals matchup with Georgetown.

The Hoyas (13-3) gave Notre Dame (13-1) its only loss of the season on Feb. 25 in South Bend. Georgetown emerged with an 11-10 victory in overtime.

The Irish have won 11 games since, including an NCAA Tournament first-round victory over Albany, 14-9, on Sunday. Eight-seed Georgetown advanced with a 12-9 victory over Penn State.

Watch: ESPNU
Live stats: Here

ICYMI: @Eric Hansen wrote about Notre Dame's Jake Taylor this week:

Former Cornell cornerback Anthony Chideme-Alfaro reported today an offer to transfer to Notre Dame as a preferred walk-on. Chimede-Alfaro entered the portal in November following his senior season with two years of eligibilty remaining.

The 6-foot-2, 199-pound Chideme-Alfaro started 18 games the past two season. He totaled 38 tackles (28 solo), two interceptions and 11 pass breakups. Pro Football Focus gave him a coverage grade of 83.5 for his eight games last season.

Chideme-Alfaro has reported scholarship offers from Western Kentucky, Monmouth and Southern Utah.

Chideme-Alfaro is a product of Sacramento (Calif.) Jesuit and the son of former Central Michigan football player Anthony Alfaro.

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@RivalsFriedman saw all three of Notre Dame's commitments in Connecticut earlier this week: OTs Matty Augustine and Will Black and S Ethan Long. He got some notes on who they're trying to recruit to join them with the Irish. He also was impressed with Black's improvement.

Story:


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The Notre Dame baseball team’s Achilles' heel was on full display once again as host Louisville (32-22, 16-14 ACC) battered Irish pitching Friday to the tune of five home runs and 14 runs total in a 14-6 blowout to sweep the three-game ACC series.

And now the Irish — with their regular season complete — wait.

The top 12 teams of the ACC’s 14 make next week’s ACC Tournament field in Charlotte, N.C. After Boston College fell 11-6 Friday to fourth-ranked Clemson in game two of their three-game set, that left only Notre Dame (27-25, 9-21 ACC) and Pitt (25-26, 9-20) in contention for the 12th and final tournament slot.

The ACC Tournament starts Tuesday with pool play, and concludes Sunday, May 26, with the league championship game.

The Irish owned tiebreakers over both Boston College and Pitt, because of head-to-head results during the regular season. The Panthers stayed alive Friday night with a 5-3 win at Miami. They play the Hurricanes in game 3 of that series Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT.

Pitt had to win both Friday and now Saturday to overtake the Irish for the tourney’s 12th seed.

Notre Dame this season went 7-2 against the three teams it started the week battling for playoff inclusion (Pitt, BC and Miami), and finished 2-19 against the rest of its ACC schedule. The last time the Irish were excluded from the field was 2016, when it was a 10-team format. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday Louisville junior outfielder Eddie King Jr. continued to destroy Notre Dame pitching. He hit two more home runs Friday, driving in three, to finish 6-of-10 in the series with five homers, eight RBIs and five runs scored.

Rory Fox (2-3) took the loss on the mound for Notre Dame, being chased after 2 ⅔ innings.
Jack Penney and Simon Baumgardt had two hits each for the Irish. Estevan Moreno hit a solo home run for ND, which fell into an 8-0 hole before getting on the board in the top of the sixth inning.

LOUISVILLE 14, NOTRE DAME 6: Box Score

Good landing spot for the Rice grad transfer. ND was tight on numbers and had shifted to looking for a CB willing to transfer as a walk-on. Devones would had been a nice depth piece.


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Notre Dame entered its regular-series-ending, three-game series at Louisville Thursday with tiebreak advantages over the other three ACC teams chasing the final two sports in next week’s ACC Tournament in Charlotte, N.C.

That meant the Irish, winners of seven of its last eight games and 12 of 15 going in, could clinch a spot in the 12-team tourney that excludes two teams by winning two of three against the Cardinals without needing help elsewhere.

Now Notre Dame could use some help after dropping both ends of a Thursday doubleheader to Louisville, 5-3 and 5-1. The Irish still control their own destiny if they can win the final game of the series, which is set for Friday at 4 p.m. (EDT), thanks to Clemson and Miami.

The Irish are 9-20 in ACC play after losing both games to Louisville. Fourth-ranked Clemson rallied late at home to trip Boston College, 12-10, in the first game of their series on Thursday evening. The Eagles are 8-20 with two games to go.

Miami and Pitt were the other two teams that started the day trying to grab the 11th or 12th seed in the ACC Tourney, and they were playing each other in Miami. The Hurricanes (11-17) prevailed, 5-3, and clinched the No. 11 seed, while leaving the Panthers at 8-20 with two games to go.

Notre Dame this season is 7-2 against the three teams it started the day battling for playoff inclusion and is 2-18 against the rest of its ACC schedule. The last time the Irish were excluded from the field was 2016, when it was a 10-team format. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just three years ago, the Irish were the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament. Its 2022 College World Series team was a No. 4 seed and last year’s team was seeded eighth.

In game one Friday. Jack Penney’s eighth-inning RBI single pulled Notre Dame (27-24 overall) into a 3-3 tie, and the Irish loaded the bases with one out in the top of the ninth. But catcher Tony Lindwedel, hitting .061, grounded into an inning-ending double play.

And in the bottom of the ninth, Louisville shortstop Gavin Kilen drove a one-out pitch from Irish reliever Toby McDonough over the right-field fence for a game-winning, two-run homer.

Cardinal outfielder Eddie King Jr. homered twice and drove in three for Louisville (31-22, 15-14 ACC), which was outhit by the Irish, 10-7.

David Glancy, Penney and Connor Hincks had two hits each for the Irish, with one of Glancy’s being a solo home run. Brady Gumpf also homered.

In the nightcap Glancy’s team-leading 15th home run of the season was all the scoring the Irish could muster in the 5-1 loss. Evan Webster (5-2) and Kaleb Corbett limited the Irish to three hits.

King homered again and drove in two for the Cardinals in game 2.

LOUISVILLE 5, NOTRE DAME 3: Box Score

LOUISVILLE 5, NOTRE DAME 1: Box Score

And you only have to wait six seconds for a glimpse of Notre Dame.

Who's pumped?

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Last week, I shared my list of 10 recruits who could end up in Notre Dame's 2026 class. Now I'm ready to make my first FutureCast predictions for the 2026 class.

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Via Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Friedman ...

Via Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Friedman ...

From Rivals national recruiting analyst Adam Friedman ...

How long of a leash/rope does Stiffler have? I’m not calling for his head so let’s not go there. But, he’s following possibly the 2nd most successful coach in ND history who took us to Omaha. We’re not awful, but we’re nowhere near the level we were under Link(or Maneiri). Just what are the expectations for Stiffler and what is the reasonable timeframe?

Adam Friedman was in Connecticut this week for some of the recruiting showcase events. He was able to catch up with three Notre Dame commits in the 2025 class: four-star OT Will Black, four-star S Ethan Long and three-star OT Matty Augustine.

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Another kickoff announcement today:

Notre Dame's game at Purdue on Sept. 14 will have a 3:30 p.m. EDT kickoff on CBS.

I'll add that to my earlier story on the Texas A&M kickoff:

Fan favorite and former walk-on guard Sarah Cernugel has elected to return to Notre Dame as a grad student in 2024-25 on the Notre Dame women's basketball team. The 5-foot-4 Westmont, Ill, product appeared in 15 games this past season for the ACC Tourney champs, scoring 16 points and notching eight rebounds. She went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.

Cernugel joined the team as a walk-on during her sophomore year at ND and was put on scholarship by head coach Niele Ivey last August.

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.....it's VERY interesting to see how many games Lou won where his players were either not playing up-to-par, or in some cases were maybe not as talented as the opposition, but his play-calling and coaching made a huge difference.

I'm looking forward to Denbrock 2.0.

Notre Dame has set up a live webcam to watch the construction of the Shields Family Hall for Notre Dame's football program.

There's not much going on yet, but you can see that ground has already been cleared in some areas and the tennis courts are being removed.

This may be more interesting in the future, but I'm sharing it now.

It's early in the 2026 recruiting cycle, but I like how Notre Dame is positioned for these 10 recruits.