Notre Dame is the nation’s top ranked team after improving to 6-0 in men’s lacrosse over the weekend.
Don’t look now but there is a top-ranked team nationally on Notre Dame’s campus. The season may be young but the 6-0 Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse team checked in the top spot overall in this week’s college lacrosse media rankings.
The Irish are 6-0 on the year, fresh off an 18-8 victory at Michigan over the weekend. Of the six wins, three have come against teams currently ranked (No. 2 Maryland, No. 16 Georgetown, and No. 19 Ohio State). Two Irish opponents from this season also showed up in the receiving votes category this week (Marquette and Michigan).
No. 1 Notre Dame is set for a showdown this weekend as they play host to No. 4 Virginia, who was ranked in the nation’s top spot before falling at home to No. 2 Maryland this past weekend.
As is tradition, the university lit up the #1 on top of Grace Hall to celebrate.
Congratulations to @NDlacrosse on being named the #1 team in the US. We lit up Grace Hall to celebrate their achievement. pic.twitter.com/IxF4Z12WUj
— Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. (@FatherJenkinsND) March 21, 2023
This is certainly one way to make your long-awaited debut.
It was a long, five-year journey for Ricky Miezan to score his first college lacrosse goal. Once the top lacrosse recruit in the country and committed to play at the University of North Carolina, Miezan changed directions and accepted an offer to go play linebacker at Stanford University.
The Cavaliers opened their season on Saturday afternoon against Michigan, and Miezan wasted no time getting his first career score. Miezan took the field, caught a pass from his teammate, and trucked down the right side of the field for the low burner.
Ricky Miezan, a former @StanfordFball linebacker, has already scored his FIRST goal with @UVAMensLax 💪
Gene Corrigan is responsible for hiring perhaps the two best coaches in Notre Dame’s recent history in Lou Holtz and Muffet McGraw.
One of my favorite things that has happened since I took over managing Fighting Irish Wire back in October is that things you thought you were aware of or hip to get magnified ten-fold.
That could be assistant coaches being hired or fired, recruiting information or simply something from the history of Notre Dame.
I’ll be honest here (I always am but that’s a way to transition myself out of my comfort zone a bit):
I had no idea who Gene Corrigan was until his death at 91 years old was announced Saturday.
Some quick research helped me discover he wasn’t just the former commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference, but was Notre Dame’s athletic director from 1981 to 1987.
That made me realize that hey, Gene Corrigan is responsible for hiring perhaps the two best coaches in Notre Dame’s recent history in Lou Holtz and Muffet McGraw.
We mourn the loss of Gene Corrigan, our seventh AD and father of Irish men’s lacrosse coach Kevin Corrigan.
Our prayers are with the Corrigans as they celebrate the life of a man who touched so many here at Notre Dame and across collegiate athletics.
I had no idea that Corrigan had three children graduate from the University of Notre Dame, or that one of them, Kevin, had been the lacrosse coach at Notre Dame since 1998.
It’s fascinating to read about a man who graduated from Duke in 1952 then got his start in coaching by leading the basketball, soccer and lacrosse teams of Washington and Lee in 1955.
From there he took a job at the University of Virginia where he spent time again coaching a variety of sports before becoming athletic director at Washington and Lee.
That led him again to Virginia where he was athletic director for a decade before a decade before he took the Notre Dame A-D job, replacing the legendary Edward “Moose” Krause.
I also didn’t know until reading Eric Hansen’s piece Saturday that Lou Holtz was anything but a knockout hire at his time and had been coming off a 6-5 season at Minnesota at the time of his hiring.
Corrigan would go on to commission the ACC after leaving Notre Dame in 1987 through 1995 when he became president of the NCAA.
Corrigan clearly lived an incredible life and oversaw the Notre Dame athletic department at an incredibly fascinating time.
Even if I didn’t know anything about him a day ago, he impact on Notre Dame athletics is clearly without end.
All the best to those who knew him and if you’re like me and didn’t even know of him until now, here’s to hoping you also learned a bit about his important legacy to Notre Dame and college sports.
A former lacrosse great catching a game-winning TD pass in the preseason? Yep.
There are many fantastic stories in the preseason. None may be better than Jared Bernhardt, who caught the game-winning TD pass from rookie Desmond Ridder in the Atlanta Falcons’ 27-23 victory over the Detroit Lions on Friday.
Why you ask?
Because two years ago Bernhardt was a lacrosse star at the University of Maryland.
He ended his lax career as the Terrapins’ all-time record holder in career points (290), goals (202), single-season points (99), single-season goals (71), goals in a single NCAA tournament (18), and points in a single NCAA tournament (24).
That earned Bernhardt the 2021 Tewaaraton Award, given to the nation’s best lacrosse player, equivalent to the Heisman Trophy in college football.
From Maryland, he ended up at Ferris State University, where he led the Bulldogs to a 14-0 record and rushed for three touchdowns in a 58-17 win in the national championship over Valdosta State.
Overall, Bernhardt passed for 1,322 yards and 11 touchdowns and ran for 1,273 yards and 23 touchdowns in 2021.
During his prep football career, Bernhardt totaled more than 4,000 all-purpose yards and 30 touchdowns over his final two seasons running the triple option. As a senior, he rushed for 1,457 yards and 12 touchdowns and passed for 751 yards and six scores in 11 games.
The son of Catherine and the late Jim Bernhardt, Jared comes from an athletic family. His father played football and lacrosse at Hofstra and later became a longtime collegiate football coach and later an assistant for the NFL’s Houston Texans. Two older brothers, Jake and Jesse, both played lacrosse at Maryland and were members of the 2018 USA Gold Medal Lacrosse Team who went on to play professionally in Major League Lacrosse and the Premier Lacrosse League.
He signed with the Falcons as a free agent at the end of April and that set the stage for his heroics on Friday.
Jared Bernhardt, who won the Tewaarton Trophy as the best lacrosse player in the country at Maryland and then led Ferris St. to a DII national title last year as a QB, is signing with the Falcons to play WR/KR, per source. Awesome story. pic.twitter.com/Pi7OXOJU7B
The UNC Women’s Lacrosse team finishes atop the final ILWomen/IWLCA Poll for the 2022 season.
After completing an incredible unbeaten season that was capped off by a national championship, the UNC Women’s Lacrosse program finished this season ILWomen/IWLCA Poll.
And that’s no surprise.
UNC was No. 1 in the final rankings for the 2022 season, and rightfully so with what they accomplished. With a 22-0 season that was finished off with a big comeback against Northwestern and then a late comeback against Boston College, UNC captured another national championship.
Boston College finished No. 2 in the poll while Maryland, Northwestern and Stony Brook wrapped up the top 5. UNC beat three of those four teams in the tournament.
UNC held the No. 1 spot in the poll since Week 6 back and March and never gave it up from there. They beat Boston College that week who at the time was the defending national champion and number one team in the poll.
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The UNC Women’s Lacrosse team completed an epic comeback on Saturday to stun Northwestern and advance to the national championship game.
The UNC Women’s Lacrosse team is heading to the national championship and they are doing so in a comeback fashion.
After falling behind 6-0 early and then 13-6 going into the fourth quarter, UNC outscored Northwestern 9-1 in that final quarter to win 15-14 and move on in the tournament.
It was an epic comeback for a UNC team that is now 21-0 on the year and struggled in the first half which included a lightning delay.
Every time UNC would cut into the lead, Northwestern had an answer with a few goals. But then the fourth quarter came and it was all Tar Heels.
Sam Geiersbach led the way with 5 goals and 2 assists while Jamie Ortega and Ally Mastroianni had three goals each. Ortega also added three assists to her stat line.
The eight-goal comeback was the largest in the NCAA Tournament since 2007. UNC has advanced to their fifth national championship game appearance and first since 2016.
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Jared Bernhardt was the best college lacrosse player in the country, then he transferred to a D2 school to play QB. He’s now a receiver/returner prospect for the NFL.
The Denver Broncos hosted former lacrosse player Jared Bernhardt on a pre-draft visit on Wednesday, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
Yes, that’s right, a former lacrosse player.
Bernhardt (6-1, 189 pounds) won the Tewaaraton Award — given to the nation’s best college lacrosse player — as a fifth-year senior at Maryland in 2021. After that, he made a graduate transfer to Ferris State (Michigan) to play quarterback for their Division II football team.
Bernhardt completed 87-of-123 passes last season for 1,322 yards with 11 touchdowns against five interceptions. He also rushed 159 times for 1,421 yards and 26 touchdowns.
Bernhardt led Ferris State to a DII title in his only season of college football, defeating Valdosta State 58-17 in the championship game.
Before becoming a star lacrosse player in college, Bernhardt was a star triple-option quarterback at Lake Brantley High School in Florida. He ran a 40-yard dash in 4.70 seconds at Maryland’s pro day last month and he projects as a receiver/returner in the NFL.
Going from lacrosse to pro football is not unheard of — recent examples include center Jason Kelce, running back Alex Collins, wide receiver Chris Hogan, quarterback Kyle Lauletta and linebacker Micah Kiser, who played with the Broncos last season.
Bernhardt will likely go undrafted and he might be a college free agent target for Denver in early May.
Boston College kicks of their quest for a second straight NCAA title, led by the electric Charlotte North.
When the 2022 women’s lacrosse season gets underway on Saturday, all eyes will be on one person. Charlotte North, a graduate student at Boston College, will take the field for her final season as the No. 1 Eagles open their title campaign with a matchup against No. 4 Northwestern. She’s already accomplished just about everything you possibly can as a college athlete. In 2021, North led BC to the program’s first National Championship, set a new single-season goals record for the NCAA and won the Tewaraaton Award, which goes to the best player each year.
She has dominated in every aspect of the game, but with an extra year of eligibility due to the pandemic’s cancellation of the 2020 season, North has returned for one more season.
“It wasn’t a tough decision,” North said in an interview via Zoom with FTW. “I’m surrounded by so many incredible people here at BC, especially my teammates and coaches. I mean, it was really them that made the decision really easy. That year that got cut short, we felt like we had so much more in us. We felt like we lost a lot of time together at the end of the day.”
North’s admiration for her teammates and coaches was evident as she frequently deflected attention to them and credited others for her success on the field. It certainly hasn’t been a one-woman show in Chestnut Hill, even if North has emerged as the name in lights. Jenn Medjid (61 goals), Belle Smith (47 goals), Hollie Schleicher (92 draw controls, 33 ground balls, 16 caused turnovers) and fellow Texan Rachel Hall (143 saves) are all superstars in their own right heading into this season. Temple transfer Courtney Taylor is expected to beef up an already strong defense.
The Eagles have become a lacrosse powerhouse under head coach Acacia Walker-Weinstein, who took over the program before the 2013 season. Boston College has made the tournament every season under Walker-Weinstein, including NCAA championship game appearances in 2017, 2018 and 2019 before winning it all in 2021. Prior to her arrival? Just one NCAA tournament appearance in 2011.
Before North & Co. propelled the Eagles to their first title, players like All-Americans Sam Apuzzo, Dempsey Arsenault and Kenzie Kent set the foundation. Apuzzo, who won the Tewaaraton in 2018, has served on Walker-Weinstein’s staff as an assistant coach since graduating and has been instrumental in North’s development as a player.
“I’ve learned so much from [Apuzzo] in my time here and same with Kayla Traenor, who is now the head coach at Syracuse,” North explained. “I got to learn from them for two years. I wouldn’t even be a sixth or an eighth of the player that I am without learning from them. They’ve taught me everything that I know, and they’re such great mentors for so many people in the game.”
Weinstein-Walker was effusive with praise for her star player, complimenting her drive to win, infectious personality and focus on constant improvement.
“She’s working on things that stopped her last year, and she’s not not too afraid, and she’s not content, and she’s just, she’s getting better and better and better,” Weinstein-Walker said. “It reminds me of Tom Brady. He’s never content. If there’s a diet that he can do that makes him stronger, he’s gonna do it like Charlotte will do anything that it takes, and I think it’s very unique to her.”
When you think of lacrosse hotspots, Dallas, Texas is probably not one of the first that comes to mind. But the Lone Star State has quickly produced some high-level lax stars as high school and club programs have grown. North played for Episcopal School of Dallas (ESD) and Grit Lacrosse under the tutelage of Maggie Koch and Molly Ford.
Charlotte is a natural athlete, but her lacrosse career didn’t start until seventh grade. She played field hockey and basketball, leaving her spring open. “I went out [for lacrosse] and I was really small. I wasn’t talented by any means, but I did love the nature of the sport. I loved you know how fast it was. I loved just everything about it.”
North eventually dropped basketball after her freshman year of high school, focusing on lacrosse. She quickly fell in love with the sport and started turning the heads of coaches around the country. In a 2021 interview with USA Lacrosse Magazine, Koch — who worked with Charlotte at both ESD and Grit — described North’s love for lacrosse in a wonderful way.
“If you’re on the highway and you see a dog with its head out the window and its tongue flapping in the wind, I look at that dog and I think, ‘I hope I’m that happy at some point today.’ That is Charlotte with a lacrosse stick in her hand.”
North’s college career didn’t start with Boston College. The 5’7 attacker committed to Duke out of high school. She played two seasons in Durham, leading the Blue Devils in goals both seasons as she scored 59 her freshman season and 82 as a sophomore.
Weinstein-Walker knew she had to make a move when Charlotte decided to enter the transfer portal after the 2019 season, but she attributes the success of the merger to the makeup of her team. “I give all the credit to the girls on the team and the leaders who just understood Charlotte and really, really understood that she just had a passion for lacrosse and [that] she was in love with the sport and she was unselfish and humble, despite her celebrations and despite her bold play,” Weinstein Walker stated. “I think that allowed Charlotte to step into the spotlight really easily, and I give all the credit to the girls on the team who helped her with that.”
North plays with intensity, always putting eye black on in pre-game as she listens to an undisclosed playlist (although she shared she’s a huge Justin Bieber fan). Her goal celebrations — which she’s done a lot of — are enthusiastic, but she’s always careful with her stick.
In her first full season as an Eagle, North scored an NCAA record 102 goals. Her 31 goals in the postseason set a new NCAA tournament record, and she amassed 174 draw controls over the course of the season, second most in BC history. She earned a spot on just about every list, culminating in becoming BC’s second Tewaaraton Award winner.
Women’s lacrosse has evolved dramatically over the the last two decades — hard sidelines weren’t even introduced until 2006 — and the game has become more fast-paced and exciting. Improved sticks have allowed players to get more creative with their shots and skills, and North is the latest in a short line of players that are earning national attention and changing the game.
“Charlotte North is an electric player, and it’s not just her scoring that impresses me but it’s how she does everything on and off the field,” ESPN analyst and former Virginia lacrosse star Dana Boyle said of North’s game. “Her game is unique, her creativity is next level and she’s changing the game for the better and bringing eyes to the women’s game that might have passed our sport by.”
Her impact goes beyond the women’s game, however. Inside Lacrosse named her the No. 1 player in the country — men’s or women’s — and some of the biggest names in the men’s game are paying close attention. Paul Rabil, a former college/pro star and founder of Premier Lacrosse League, is one of North’s biggest supporters.
“Charlotte’s elevating lacrosse at-large. Not just women’s lacrosse…the sport,” Rabil told FTW via email. “She’s an incredibly gifted athlete with charisma and kindness. A rare combination that you only see once in a generation of players. I’m hopeful that she takes on the assignment of full-time pro lacrosse player when she graduates, joining the wave of attention and growth that the game has shown the last few years. I’m a big fan and in her corner to support.”
Now with name, image and likeness rules changing, North has been able to capitalize on some of her growing popularity. If you visit her website, you can purchase officially licensed tee shirts and jerseys, grab a pair of branded sandals, or follow the link to her Cameo page where she can record you a personalized message. She’s even become a popular Halloween costume for young players:
“The goal is to win a national championship with this year’s team and an ACC championship,” North said definitively. “This year is a new team, and we’ve been working since the fall on building up our identity as our team this year and building that chemistry on the field.”
A quick look at all of the signing day action yesterday.
It is that time of year again when the sports programs get an early start on signing their top recruits ahead of next season. For Florida, five programs were active on Wednesday, with the lacrosse team adding a whopping eight signatures, while the men’s and women’s basketball teams signed three and two, respectively, and men’s tennis and gymnastics both bringing in a top recruit. No sports were in action yesterday nor will any be today, so let us take a look at the newest members of the Gator Nation.
A week’s worth of Olympics is now in the bag and so far things are looking pretty darned good for current and former Florida Gators competing in the Tokyo Games this summer.
A week’s worth of Olympics is now in the bag and so far things are looking pretty darned good for current and former Florida Gators competing in the Tokyo Games this summer. While things have been rolling along in some sports such as swimming, others like track and field are just getting started. Speaking of which, over a dozen members of the Orange and Blue will be active in latter events in the coming days, among many others still out giving it their all. Then there is some news to report on back in Gainesville as well. Here is a look at everything you need to know heading into the weekend.
