SOUTH BEND —Notre Dame men’s lacrosse will open its three-peat bid on the road in this year’s NCAA Tournament.
The Irish (8-4) learned Sunday night they must face fourth-seeded Ohio State (14-2) in Columbus on Sunday at noon at Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium. The match will air on ESPN2.
Advertisement
The winner will advance to the NCAA quarterfinals in Annapolis, Md., on May 17-18. That matchup at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium will be against the winner of the first-round battle between No. 5 seed Penn State (10-4) and unseeded Colgate (10-7).
Winners of back-to-back NCAA titles, coach Kevin Corrigan’s Irish are coming off a 14-12 loss to Syracuse in the ACC Tournament semifinals on May 2. Notre Dame also lost at Syracuse, 14-9, during the regular season on April 5.
Jordan Faison: How Notre Dame football, lacrosse plan to share Jordan Faison’s talents this spring
On March 8 at Arlotta Stadium in South Bend, Ohio State scored with seven seconds remaining to escape with a 10-9 win. That loss was the second straight for the Irish after opening their title defense with a 3-0 start.
Advertisement
Ohio State enters the NCAA Tournament with a season goal differential of plus-63. Notre Dame is at plus-56 after allowing just 108 goals through 12 games. Only Army (105 goals allowed) was stingier at the Division I level, but the Black Knights were snubbed by the selection committee after an upset loss to Colgate in the Patriot League tournament.
NCAA Championship Weekend is May 24-26 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
Notre Dame was seeded third in 2023 on its way to the first NCAA title in program history. The Irish entered the 2024 event seeded No. 1.
The top three seeds in this year’s NCAA Tournament are Cornell (14-1), Maryland (11-3), and Princeton (12-3).
Advertisement
Notre Dame, which has made 18 of the past 19 tournament fields, has reached the quarterfinals or better all but once in its past 13 NCAA Tournament appearances.
Mike Berardino covers Notre Dame football for the South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com. Follow him on social media @MikeBerardino.
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame men’s lacrosse opens NCAA title defense at Ohio State
