Why Notre Dame men's lacrosse is built for Memorial Day weekend

Where would Notre Dame men’s lacrosse be without Josh Yago?

Head coach Kevin Corrigan doesn’t know, but he said they certainly wouldn’t be in the position they are now — or at least, not with the same confidence heading into the Final Four. Yago, a transfer from Air Force who will become a second lieutenant in the Space Force when his college lacrosse career is done, has made a massive impact on and off the field.

In the box score, Yago leads the Irish in points including 7 (4 goals, 3 assists) during Notre Dame’s quarterfinal win over Johns Hopkins. But that’s not all he’s provided to a relatively young team, at least compared to its last two national championship runs.

“His production on the field is terrific, but in the locker room and all that, his contributions have been amazing,” Corrigan said.

Take halftime in the Johns Hopkins game, when the No. 2 Irish entered as a 3.5-goal favorite but found themselves tied with the unranked Blue Jays at 6. Yago and fellow senior Will Maheras took charge in the locker room, and in doing so they changed the tone of the game.

As sophomore midfielder Matt Jeffery put it, Notre Dame was “gripping the stick a little bit too hard.” They let the gravity of the game get to them, instead of playing loose and free like they did throughout the season. The difference from the first half to the second half was obvious, and Jeffery credited Yago and Maheras for that.

“They were trying to make this game emotional and trying not to let this be our last game,” Jeffery said. “I kind of put that on myself too, and tried to let the emotions take over in the game, make it personal and tried to get another week with the guys.”

They didn’t give a speech to the team; that was Corrigan’s job. He went over what Notre Dame needed to improve tactically, but shortly after, Yago and Maheras brought the offense together and gave them all the motivation they needed.

“The older guys came in with the offense, with the six guys wrapped around each other and was like, ‘This is our game. No one can take it from us and we just gotta put our foot down and stay on the gas from here,'” Jeffery said.

Conversations like that are why this Notre Dame team is built for Memorial Day weekend, which will begin with a rematch against No. 6 Syracuse at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The winner will face the winner of No. 1 Princeton vs. unranked Duke on Monday.

Even if the Irish start slowly or don’t look like themselves, they have the talent, depth and know-how to figure out. Coming out of halftime in a 6-6 game, Notre Dame outscored Johns Hopkins 9-3 after the break. They tightened up their defense, adjusted on offense and forced the Blue Jays to play the high-tempo game they dreaded. In the first half, Hopkins dictated the tempo and slowed the game to a crawl, which is the way it wants to play. In the second half, Notre Dame made that impossible.

That, Corrigan explained, is a hallmark of postseason lacrosse.

“I would rather come out hot, but it’s that time of year where everybody’s playing their best, right?” Corrigan said. “You’ve got to kind of feel your way around a little bit early in the game and figure out what’s gonna work today. … Sometimes, it’s just good old perseverance and stick-to-it-iveness.”

That’s especially true when facing a team for the second time. Notre Dame defeated Syracuse 16-11 on April 25, the final game of the regular season. But Corrigan knows how different the dynamic can be in a rematch.

“What did they think they learned from the first game?” Corrigan said. “We’ve been watching a lot of film from the first game to say, ‘Alright, if we’re looking at it from their eyes, what are we saying?’ … This is a team that does, every year, evolve throughout the season and do different things, so we kind of know that yeah, while we saw some of what they do, we didn’t see everything that we’re gonna see on Saturday.”

Corrigan enjoys the chess match. So do his players, who aren’t satisfied with their expected Final Four berth.

“This team doesn’t want to just be there,” Corrigan said. “They want to win a championship.”