☘️ NOTRE DAME KEEPS WINNING

The USILA released its 2024 awards on Thursday, and for the second year in a row, Notre Dame’s Kevin Corrigan was named D1 Coach of the Year. This should come as no surprise, as Corrigan’s Fighting Irish have been on an all-time heater.

After winning back-to-back NCAA Championships, Notre Dame is poised to contend for a third straight title in 2025. Earlier this week, the team confirmed reports that Devon McLane will be returning for one more season in the spring.

McLane, who transferred in from Brown, played both attack and midfield for the Irish last spring, finishing with 45 points (37 goals, 8 assists). Pat and Chris Kavanagh were the only players on the team with more points.

With McLane back in the fold, he should join Chris Kavanagh and Jake Taylor to form Notre Dame’s starting attack line (171 combined points last season).

Then you take a look at Notre Dame’s incoming talent. They have the No. 1 ranked freshman in the country, midfielder Matthew Jeffery (spent this fall as a wide receiver on the football team), and a highly touted attackman in Brady Pokorny. Those two could be major contributors as freshmen this spring.

But wait, the talent pool on the horizon headed to South Bend is even deeper. Notre Dame has 12 commits in the recently re-ranked Class of 2025 Top 100 recruits at Inside Lacrosse — no other school is in double-digits.

Corrigan has been coaching Notre Dame for 36 years and has led his team to 351 wins, which is the most of any head coach at a single school in D1 history. But in the past two years, his program has ascended to dynasty level.

Considering the talent that is returning this season and expected to flow into the program in the near future, it’s difficult to imagine a disturbance in Notre Dame’s stretch of dominance any time soon.

Can anyone stop Notre Dame in 2025? Reply to this email with your thoughts!

🏆 Complete USILA Awards

Here’s a full rundown of awards handed out by the Intercollegiate Men’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IMLCA) and US Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) this week:

• D1 Coach of the Year: Kevin Corrigan (Notre Dame)

• D2 Coach of the Year: Gordon Purdie (Adelphi)

• D3 Coach of the Year: Casey D’Annolfo (Tufts)

• D1 Outstanding Assistant: Jesse Bernhardt (Maryland

• D2 Outstanding Assistant: Joe Catalanotti (Adelphi)

• D3 Outstanding Assistant: Taylor Mendoza (Washington & Lee)

• JUCO Coach of the Year: Aaron Verardi (Hartford)

• Sticks and Service Award: Kean University Men’s Lacrosse

• Extra Man Award: Will Hopkins NCAA

• Lifetime Service Award: Jeff Long (retired, Ithaca)

• The Creator’s Award: Tom Gill (retired, USMMA)

• Howdy Myers Man of the Year: Tom Mariano (head coach, Pace)

• Frenchy Julien Service Award: Matt Palumb (official, NCAA & PLL)

• Doyle Smith Sports Information Award: Ernie Larossa (Johns Hopkins)

For more information on each of these awards, click the button below.

🤑 Lacrosse Player Kicks $10,000 Field Goal

If you’re at a football game, it’s never a bad idea to keep your kicking leg warm.

Just ask Lehigh’s freshman goalie, Gordie Smith, who nailed a 45-yard field goal to win $10,000 during the football team’s 45-17 win over Colgate last Saturday.

Smith, who somehow made the kick in just his socks, was immediately mobbed by his teammates and Lehigh’s mascot.

In high school, Smith was a three-sport athlete who played football, basketball and lacrosse at St. Paul’s in Maryland. He was a kicker on the football team and holds the school record for both field-goal percentage and extra-point percentage.

😳 The 49ers’ 350-Pound Long Pole

If you happen to be watching a San Francisco 49ers game any time soon, keep an eye out for No. 69 on the defensive line. That’s rookie Evan Anderson, who recently spoke about his lacrosse background during an interview with The Athletic.

According to the story, Anderson was a 350-pound long-stick defenseman at Jones high school in Orlando, Florida. One time he body-checked an opponent so hard that it fractured the player’s skull.

“I didn’t even hit him illegally,” Anderson told The Athletic. “But how it looked — they just had to call it because it was such a big impact and his helmet came off. They’re like, ‘It had to be something illegal.’”

Whether you’re a high school attackman or an NFL quarterback, Anderson is a terrorizing force. The undrafted rookie out of Florida Atlantic has seven tackles, one sack and a forced fumble in the past five games.

📍 WLL Locations Debate Rages

With the newly formed Women’s Lacrosse League (WLL) set to begin in 2025, the debate around team locations is starting to heat up. We asked our Instagram audience where they would like to see each team go, and the post has garnered over 1,200 comments.

Here’s a heat map showing which states in the country have the most NCAA Division I Women’s Lacrosse programs:

Former Syracuse star Sam Swart was among the commenters on our post: “PHILLY”

California Redwoods midfielder Nakeie Montgomery chimed in, too: “Caliiiiiiii”

PLL co-founder Paul Rabil said during a press conference last week that full team names, locations, rosters and coaches will be announced by the end of the year.