I was watching the Premier Lacrosse League semifinals last night, a terrific game between the undefeated, top-seeded Whipsnakes and the Redwoods, a team made up of mostly Notre Dame guys: Matt Kavanaugh, Ryder Garnsey, Brendan Gleason, Sergio Perkovic, Nick Ossello (who also played football for a year at ND), John Sexton, Garrett Epple, Jack Near, and I hope I'm not forgetting anyone. About the only ND alum who is not with the Redwoods is Brian Constabile, who had a strong rookie showing for the Chrome. The one star missing this year is Matt Landis, a fabulous defenseman, who gave up the PLL to enter Navy SEAL training. Impressive.
Most of these guys were the nucleus of the ND lacrosse team that was within a hair's breadth of the national championship a few years ago, losing the NCAA title game in 2014 and in the national semifinals in overtime in 2015. They were good enough to beat anybody and reached the number one ranking, but never quite caught the break to get the title.
That continues to happen to these guys in the PLL. Last year, the Redwoods played the Whipsnakes for the championship, fell behind 9-2, came back to tie and send the game to OT, then fell just short. Last night, same story, second verse: they fell behind 8-2, came back not only to tie but to take the lead, went into OT tied 12-12, and despite a few opportunities just couldn't cash in. Kavanaugh and Garnsey both had big games, Jack Near made key plays in transition to get things going, and Garrett Epple totally shut down PLL MVP Matt Rambo, not even allowing so much as a shot, let alone a score or assist, though Rambo came into the game leading the league in points (and just had a crazy 10-point, 8-assist game in his previous outing). But despite those stellar performances, things just didn't go their way when it mattered the most.
Bummer.
These guys are great fun to watch and generally do our alma mater proud (with the exception of things like the big hit that got Epple suspended for a game last week).
Lacrosse is an amazing sport, the fastest growing youth sport in the country. Our current ND team features sons of football stars Rick Mirer and Joe Restic. This is a sport with a terrific past, developed by the Iriquois nation, and an even better future. Go Irish!
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