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Newsstand: Notre Dame men's lacrosse captures the spirit of legendary Lou Holtz

IMG_9992by: Tyler Horka05/14/26tbhorka

It’s a quick turnaround for Notre Dame men’s lacrosse this week. The Fighting Irish won their first NCAA Tournament game on Sunday and will play their second on Saturday. Essentially, it left them a standard work week to prepare.

And head coach Kevin Corrigan is using that five-day span to motivate his players the same way the late, great former Irish football coach Lou Holtz would.

“On Monday, we suck. On Tuesday, we’re not much better. On Wednesday, we’re starting to get better. On Thursday, we’re pretty good. And on Friday, they can’t beat us.”

That’s the way Holtz would attack a practice week. He’d have his guys believing they weren’t worth anything early in the week so they’d work harder. By the end of the week, they thought there wasn’t a team in the country that could take them down.

The team trying to take down Corrigan’s squad is Johns Hopkins (10-5). The unseeded Blue Jays upset No. 7 national seed Cornell last weekend. No. 2 national seed Notre Dame (11-2) took care of unseeded Jacksonville (11-6) by a score of 18-5 in South Bend.

Saturday’s quarterfinal on the campus of Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., starts at 12 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPNU. Winner advances to the national semifinals in Charlottesville, Va., during Memorial Day weekend.

Notre Dame social media posts of the day

You know everything is clicking for the Fighting Irish when a senior gets the first goal of his career in an NCAA Tournament game.

The best defensive back unit in all of college football, perhaps.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips issued a comment in support of the Irish…

Fighting Irish quote of the day

“They definitely fit what I’m looking for in a school. It’s really strong academics, really strong football. And the tradition and culture there with Coach [Marcus] Freeman, Coach [Joe] Rudolph and Coach [Rob] Delaney — there are all sorts of levels to how it all feeds together and meshes together.”

— 2028 offensive lineman Wyatt VanBoening on his recruitment by the Irish

Blue & Gold headlines of the day

• How Notre Dame football answered six biggest questions of 2026 spring practice
• Why four-star DL Tyler Alexander changed his official visit plans in favor of Notre Dame
• Why Champ Monds was right quarterback for Notre Dame’s 2027 class

• Reviewing Notre Dame football’s 2024 recruiting class after two years
• How Notre Dame flexed its recruiting muscle by landing five-star Olu Olubobola
• How Notre Dame’s 2024 class will impact 2026 season | Notebook