☘️ WHY KAVANAGH WON TEWAARATON

After becoming Notre Dame’s all-time leader in points and winning back-to-back NCAA championships, Pat Kavanagh has officially added a Tewaaraton Award to his trophy case.

The Notre Dame attackman was selected as the 2024 Tewaaraton Award winner on Thursday night over four other finalists: Duke’s Brennan O’Neill (last year’s Tewaaraton winner), Virginia’s Connor Shellenberger (a three-time finalist for this award), Yale’s Matt Brandau (this year’s NCAA points leader) and Notre Dame’s Liam Entenmann (a goalie and Pat’s teammate).

A solid case could have been made for any of the five finalists to win this year’s Tewaaraton. Here are the three biggest reasons why I think the award ultimately went to Kavanagh…

Reason 1: Kavanagh is clutch. Pat was the heartbeat of the No. 1 team in the nation — a team that defended its title and did so with authority. He had 20 points in the NCAA Tournament, seven more than the next-closest Tewaaraton Finalist (Connor Shellenberger). Six of those points came in the National Championship against Maryland. Notre Dame went 16-1 this year, and in the Irish’s only loss, Kavanagh scored with 39 seconds left to force overtime. He did not have a single bad game all season, illustrating the “Kavanagh Clutch” gene throughout the spring.

Reason 2: It’s an attackman award. You know how the NFL’s MVP award is a “quarterback” award? The same can be said for the Tewaaraton and attackmen. It’s been more than 10 years since a midfielder won it on the men’s side, and there has never been a defensive player to win it. Liam Entenmann was only the third goalie ever to be named a finalist for the men’s Tewaaraton Award. While Entenmann was undeniably just as essential to Notre Dame’s 2024 title run, Kavanagh had an advantage over his teammate due to the position he plays

Reason 3: The third time’s the charm. The case for Kavanagh should be very familiar to the Tewaaraton voters by now — this was his third time as a finalist for the award. Last year, they picked Brennan O’Neill over him, even though Kavanagh beat O’Neill head-to-head in the National Championship. After leading Notre Dame to a second straight title, how could they honestly pick over him again? As great as Entenmann played this season, it was clearly Kavanagh’s turn to win this award.

After claiming the National Championship in Philadelphia on Monday and the Tewaaraton Award in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, Kavanagh’s next stop is Albany, N.Y., where he will join his older brother Matt on the Boston Cannons. The Cannons selected Pat with the sixth-overall pick in this year’s PLL Draft and open the 2024 season against the New York Atlas on Saturday afternoon.

For more on that PLL matchup and the three others slated for this weekend, keep scrolling…

Reply to this email with your reasons why someone other than Pat Kavanagh should have won the 2024 Tewaaraton Award.

🥍 The 2024 PLL Season is Here

The good news for diehard lacrosse fans is that the sport does not skip a beat, as we transition from the spring season into the summer. The Premier Lacrosse League will open the 2024 season in Albany this weekend, and there are plenty of high-profile rookies who are quickly making the transition from college into the professional ranks.

Seven of the eight teams will play this weekend (the California Redwoods open the season with a bye week). Here’s a little bit more on each matchup…

Utah Archers vs Philadelphia Waterdogs: This is a rematch of last year’s Championship Game. It’s also the debut for legendary Princeton/Denver coach Bill Tierney as head coach of the Waterdogs. Utah has the best player in the world — reigning MVP Tom Schreiber — but Philly’s offense is loaded and just added first-round draft pick Matt Brandau (101 points for Yale in 2024). This game will have a “playoff” feel despite being the season opener. WATCH ON ABC/ESPN+ at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 1.

Boston Cannons vs. New York Atlas: It’s homecoming weekend for the Atlas. They’ll open against the Cannons, who now have a pair of Kavanaghs in veteran Matt and freshly minted Tewaaraton-winner Pat. Head coach Brian Holman turned the Cannons into winners overnight last season, then led Boston to a victory in the PLL Championship Series last February. Atlas head coach Mike Pressler took his team in the opposite direction last season and is looking to bounce back strong in Year 2. WATCH ON ESPN+ at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 1.

Carolina Chaos vs. Denver Outlaws: Welcome back, Outlaws. This Denver franchise won three MLL Championships (2014, ‘16, ‘18) and has returned to compete in the PLL this season. The Outlaws had the first pick in this year’s draft and selected a generational talent in attackman Brennan O’Neill out of Duke. The Chaos, meanwhile, will be the same team with a new look. Carolina added a huge name in free agency, Jules Heningburg, and drafted a stud midfielder in Shane Knobloch out of Rutgers. WATCH ON ESPN+ at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 2.

Maryland Whipsnakes vs. New York Atlas: For the second weekend in a row, we get to watch Connor Shellenberger vs. Ajax Zappitello. New York now has a Virginia flare, after picking Shellenberger No. 2 overall and reuniting him with his former college teammate Xander Dickson. At some point this season, another UVA legend in Payton Cormier will be added to the mix. Zappitello will fit right in with his new Whipsnakes teammates. Some of them are former Terps, and now they get to officially call Maryland their PLL home. WATCH ON ESPN+ at 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 2.

🤑 Win A Gold TLN Helmet

So, you think you know ball?

Prove it by joining TLN’s Weekly Fantasy group in the PLL app. We’ll be setting a lineup each week, and we want to see if any of you out there can beat us.

We also want to give one of you a chrome gold TLN Cascade XRS Pro helmet. The winner will be picked at random. All you have to do is join our weekly fantasy group and set a lineup to be entered into this giveaway.

Click the image above or the button below to enter the giveaway and join our Weekly Fantasy group! Feeling confident in your lineup? Share it with us in a reply to this email and post it on social media to get your friends to join.

🍿 LIVE Notre Dame Tailgate Show

The Mitchell Pehlke Lacrosse Show has quickly become the most entertaining piece of lacrosse programming on the Internet. The show is only four episodes deep, and we already pulled off a production from Notre Dame’s tailgate immediately following the team’s win in the National Championship.

Hit play on the video below to watch Mitch, Hoagie, Miles and D00gs break down everything we saw over the weekend…

You’ll want to stick around until the end of this episode because the guests who show up on set are amazing. Among them are Jordan Faison, Shawn Lyght, Will Lynch, Nick Ossello, Ryder Garnsey, Liam Entenmann’s mom, Chris Kavanagh’s girlfriend and more!