"I'm Interested in Winning a Championship": Kavanagh, Others Speak Ahead of Penn State Matchup
- Luciano Antonini
- 4 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Notre Dame lacrosse's Kevin Corrigan, Chris Kavanagh, and others spoke to the media ahead of the team's Sunday matchup against Penn State in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.
Photo by The Irish Tribune
Here are the most important things Notre Dame men's lacrosse head coach Kevin Corrigan and senior attack Chris Kavanagh had to say to the media after the team's Wednesday practice.
Head Coach Kevin Corrigan
Q: Do you see any similarities in the preparation this week to which you saw a week ago?
"Well, we're just getting started, really. You know, if we take the day off after the game, the day after that's a really light, slow day. So today was really our first day back at it, and we're just [going] to, in some ways, follow the script of last week that we're not going long, we're trying to go, you know, short and hard and we've played a lot of lacrosse, you know, between January 12th and now. So I don't think we need to, you know, drag them [the team] through the mud here. I think we just need to stay sharp and stay tight, and stay excited to play more than anything else. You want them, like relishing every day they get to play lacrosse right now, so we're not going to grind out any two-hour, three-hour practices right now."
Q: It seems like they enjoyed last week and certainly the result. I mean, do you get that sense that they're pretty happy to be doing this still?
"Yeah, absolutely, which is what you want. You know, you don't want them this time of year going "oh, man, here we go again", right? I mean, it's easy to do that. It is. It's a long year. But no, they're excited to be playing, thrilled that we earned another week, and excited to try one more time to do the same thing. "
Q: What do you think you guys are doing really well right now?
"I think the biggest thing is we played hard and we took good risks. We didn't play a perfect game because you can't play a risk-free game, because that's not a perfect game in our sport. You got to be more aggressive than that, right? And so you're going to make some mistakes and some things aren't going to work out, but we stayed very focused forward. You know, if we made a mistake we were just focused on what's the situation now? But we made some plays too, because we were playing that way."
Q: Can you speak to the legacy of your former players helping the current players? You know, I know, Chris and Pat [Kavanagh], and then you have Liam [Entenmann] and Thomas [Ricciardelli].
"All those guys, our guys are great. They reach back and talk to our guys. They send them stuff. They're all over them. probably too much, I don't know. They love, you know, reaching back and talking to these guys. So, no, I think it's great. I think it makes our guys feel like they're part of something bigger, and then an appropriate kind of connection to those guys that have come before them. And God knows they can learn a lot from those guys. So hopefully they are."
Q: Can we assume that [Matt] Jeffery is out again this week?
"Yeah, Matt [Jeffery] is not going to play this week.."
Q: Did you see the hustle out of this team at today's practice that you want to see at this stage of the season?
"Yeah, I mean, again, we played hard. We were only at it for an hour, so I thought the guys went hard and, yeah, they're pushing. I think I just want to see the excitement, right? That's the only thing I asked them at the end of practice. I want to make sure every day that we're getting to do this right now, that we're excited about it, because next week you don't want to look back and go, oh, that was our last practice or that was our second to last practice. And you know what I mean? I mean, let's go [win] it right now that, hey, we're not going to allow that to be, because we're going to bring energy every day to what we're doing."
Q: Don't take this the wrong way [media chuckles], Kevin, but at this stage in your career, do you enjoy these opportunities, maybe differently than you used to, to relish them?
"I'd like to think I always enjoyed these opportunities. I mean, honestly, I've always felt like the job was to get your team to May and be in as good a position and as good, playing as well as you can, right? You kind of figured the team out. They figured themselves out, and now it's a matter of, like, how do we perform on those days? And so I've always enjoyed this time of year, you know, to be honest with you. Yeah, so, yeah, no, I enjoy it very much. I don't sleep a lot, but you know, I enjoy this very much."
Q: What's the number one thing you've got to do against Penn State?
"I think we just got to execute. I mean, you know, they're a very good team, they have a lot of different guys. They're not a team that relies on one or two guys on either end of the field. And so it's not kind of the focus, maybe a little bit like we had last week with their goaltending and a couple of their offensive guys, I think this is a team that's very well balanced and even their best offensive player, I think, what makes him so good is that he's not a ball dominant guy. he makes plays in a lot of different ways. So you have to defend him, you know, the whole time he's on the field."
Senior Attack Chris Kavanagh
Q: You're gonna miss graduation.
"That's a good thing.."
Q: What did you guys do well last week that you want to bring with you this week and beyond?
"Um, yeah, I thought, uh, it's our energy level, especially going on the road, was very good. Um, our preparation all week was phenomenal. Every day, especially during exam weeks, you get sluggish, you're sitting in a chair all day, and I thought we brought the same energy we brought to practice on game day, so it's always hard dawn on the road, and I thought we did a great job with holding our own and obviously dominating that game."
Q: Pretty confident right now?
"Yeah, but it was our first day of preparation. Obviously, the guys are a little tired, but that's what comes with [it] and going into the playoffs. So I think, you just got to keep preparing hard."
Q: Being back in the NCA tournament, it's obviously a little different. The stakes are different. Was it comfortable [for] you in that environment?
"Yeah, like I said last week, talking to you guys, I think we've got to lean on our experience, and that's what we did. We're a veteran group. We know what it takes to win. We've been there. We've been to the big [stage], so I think we've got to have to [lean] on that all the way through. "
Q: What do you see in Penn State?
'We haven't really watched them yet. We're going to watch them now, so we'll learn a little bit in a couple of minutes. "
Q: How does that past experience help you this time of year?
"Yeah, I mean, in certain situations, when you get punched in the face, especially during a playoff game, you lean on your experience. Experiences that you've had in the past and that led you to success, yeah, I think that's our motto this time of year, and that's what we would keep doing."
Q: I know it's not your primary focus, but what does it mean to you to be a finalist for the Tewaaraton [Award]? Is that something you're interested in at all?
"Uh, no, I'm interested in winning a championship, so. That's an individual award. I want to win a team award."
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