Notre Dame midfielder Trevor Bosco heads up field in the Air Force Notre Dame mens lacrosse match in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. (Credit: Joe Raymond)

The Irish beat the #13 Air Force Falcons, 15-7, after surging to a five-goal halftime lead. The men’s team had squandered fourth-quarter leads against North Carolina and Duke before the tournament began. But that was not a concern last Saturday, as the Irish cruised to easy victory. The Irish were paced by sophomore Mikey Wynne, who contributed five goals and freshmen Ryder Garnsey, who added a hat trick.

The Irish and Tar Heels will play at noon Sunday in Columbus, Ohio, with ESPN2 televising the game. UNC (9-6) advanced to the quarterfinal following a 10-9 victory over Marquette. Notre Dame and North Carolina were co-champions of the ACC regular season, although the Tar Heels beat the Irish, 17-15, in Chapel Hill on April 23. The Irish seemed in control, only to squander their fourth-quarter lead. Along with losing the game, the Irish ceded the #1 ranking and top seed in the ACC tournament.

This time, the stakes are much higher. The winner will earn a berth in the Final Four, which will begin Memorial Day weekend in Philadelphia. The Irish or the Tar Heels will play the winner of a game between two Maryland universities – Loyola and Towson – next Saturday.

The all-time series between Irish and Tar Heels is tied at 7 apiece, with the Irish holding a 1-0 advantage at neutral sites. Notre Dame and North Carolina have played six common opponents. The Irish are 5-1 against those teams, while the Tar Heels were 3-4.

I’m neither a huge fan of numbers of prior contents nor a huge believer in revenge games.

Nevertheless, I like the Irish in this game for a simple reason: They are the better team. Notre Dame owns a better record, has more impressive victories and has been ranked higher all year. In my mind, the April game was a fluke. As mentioned earlier, the Irish snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. This will not happen again. My prediction is that the Irish advance.

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This was a team that during the regular season held the #1 ranking at one point, handed perennial power house Syracuse its worst home defeat in 29 years, and handily defeated current #1 and tournament favorite Maryland 9-4. However, before you book your tickets to Philadelphia for the Final Four, know that the Irish, in some sense, seem to be staggering to the finish line. Notre Dame has lost two of its last three games and, in both cases, lost leads in the second half. In their 17-15 loss at UNC, the Irish lost a 14-9 fourth quarter lead and, along with that, their #1 ranking. The following week in the ACC semifinal, they allowed another second half lead to get away from them as they fell to Duke 10-9 in Overtime. So which team will show up when the tournament starts on Saturday?

Following the ACC Tournament loss, Head Coach Kevin Corrigan said, “I believe in this team and I think this is a team that can win a national championship.” Were these the words of a confident coach looking ahead or the words of a coach who sees his beleaguered troops at a breaking point?

How far can the Irish get? Resident lacrosse expert Quint Kessenich from ESPN, who had the Irish ranked #1 earlier in the season, seemed concerned recently with the fatigue of the Notre Dame defense. He believes that the lack of substitutions on defense may pose concerns for the Irish in the tournament. Additionally, of the top four seeds, the Irish have the worst face-off winning percentage – an area that plagued them in their most recent two-game slide.

Kessenich also suggests that perhaps the Irish lack enough scoring depth through their line-up to win a National Championship. Teams that make deep tournament runs in any sport are usually teams that are hot at the start of the tournament. The old adage that it is often not the best teams that wins the tournament, but the team playing the best when it starts would seem appropriate here.

Despite their uneven finish, the Irish did manage to secure a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament which begins this week. So what can we expect going forward? Are the Fighting Irish playing on Memorial Day Weekend in Philadelphia? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say yes!

The Irish will open the tournament at home vs. Air Force. The Falcons signature win game was against Duke earlier in the season. They also won the Southern Conference Championship after being ranked third in the pre-season. Despite Air Force’s solid resume, a more talented Irish club from a better league and playing at home will pose too great a hurdle for Air Force. This leaves the Irish playing the winner of North Carolina/Marquette for a spot in the Final 4. I believe the Irish rebound and remove the stinging loss to North Carolina earlier for a spot in the Final Four. So I’m going with the Irish landing a spot in the Final 4. Don’t ask me past that. As once you get to Philadelphia, the records go out the window.

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Here are the basics:

Men’s:

• Faceoff – happens in the center circle between two opposing players and starts off each quarter and happens after every goal is scored.
• Each game consists of 4 quarters that each last 15 minutes
• The crease – 9ft semicircle that goes from goalpost to goalpost that offensive players cannot enter
• There are 10 players from each team on the field

3 midfielders – responsible for bringing the ball up the field into the attack zone,

3 attackers – best stick handlers, primary goal scorers

3 defenders – use longer sticks, constantly checking other players and working with the goalie to clear the ball

1 goalie – only player allowed to touch the ball with their hands (only when blocking shots)

• Only midfielders can run the entire field without restrictions
• Offensive players stay in the opponent’s defensive zone
• Substitutions can happen at any time during the game
• Wear helmets and more padding than women’s lacrosse players

Men are allowed

• body checking– using the body to hit an opposing player that is either within fifteen feet of a loose ball or holding the ball
• stick checking – hitting the ball carrier’s stick with their own stick in order to dislodge the ball
• poke checking – defender hits his stick against the hands of the ball carrier
• slap checking – slashing the opponent’s hands
• wrap checking – defender’s stick is swung around the body or over the head of the ball carrier

Women’s:

• The only protective gear they wear are gloves, mouth guard and eye goggles.
• Wear kilts with shorts as part of the uniform
• Game is two 25 minute halves
• Women’s lacrosse does not allow slashing, checking, pushing, shoving, tripping or any other physical contact with the opponent
• Free Position – given to a player after a major or minor foul has been committed

If it was a major foul all players must stand four meters behind the player that was awarded the free position

• There is no offsides in women’s lacrosse
• Players may cover the whole field
• Attackers – primary goal scorers, front line of the offensive attack
• Midfielders – two defense wings, two attack wings & one center, cover the entire length of the field, control the tempo of the game
• Defenders – point, cover point & 3rd man, generally stay on the defensive side, work to clear the ball
• Goalkeeper – plays inside the crease, wears extra padding, allowed to block shots with hands

In case you need better visuals, here is a great video!

Now you can get out there and cheer on the Fighting Irish Lacrosse teams!

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We will endow professors, deans, officials, and coaches; but we won’t endow the president. Believe me, whoever that poor fellow is, he spends a lot of time hearing people tell him, “I pay your salary.” If we endowed the presidency, that would literally be true for one lucky alumnus (and one unlucky CSC). On the converse, though one man can tell the football coach, “I pay your salary,” the coach can respond, “No – you paid it once, and you can’t take the money back.” And when an alumnus throws this in his face: “Do you know how much money I give,” the coach can respond, “I’m not sure, but I know none of it goes in my pocket.”

We will accept donations for a building and name it for the benefactor; but we won’t place anyone’s name on the Main Building or the Grotto. Even though the one, like an aging diva, has required a lot of work over the years, and the other needs some touching-up after the occasional ivy fire, only The BVM gets her name on either. We’ll mount plaques here and there, just like in Sacred Heart – but entire holy places don’t get anyone’s name. Look at the Stadium: technically it has never had a name other than Notre Dame Stadium. But we do plaques, we named the gates, and now we’re giving it a Duncan and a Corbett pillow on either side to bolster it in comfort, and something yet-to-be-named as a footrest.

We will name halls for people and families; but we won’t take the name off later*…except if you’re a priest or professor no one remembers. The Lemonnier Library is now Bond Hall, and the Hoynes College of Law is now Crowley Hall. You see, Fr. Lemonnier and Prof. Hoynes didn’t pony up any cash. This is of immediate concern for Walsh and Badin, two antique penitentiaries in need of entire inside-out reconstructions. Tom, Steph, it’s nothing personal, but you might want to buy your personalized sweatshirts now because they may not be around for much longer. And look out, Dillon, Lyons, Howard, Carroll, Corby, Cavanaugh, Farley, Nieuwland, Rockne, Joyce, and Hesburgh – you could be bought out.** I leave Morrissey and Zahm off the list because though Andy and John would love to get their names off those two flophouses, no one would want to take credit.

We will create colleges, schools, institutes, centers, and programs in donors’ names; but we won’t study just anything. For instance, we have an institute for Irish Studies (Keough-Naughton to be precise). But we would never have a program in Michigan Studies. Well, I suppose we might study the State of Michigan, but that would fall under the Philosophy Department, since the program would ask such imponderable questions as “Why two peninsulas,” “Who was Ann Arbor and what did she do to deserve this,” “Why haven’t Michigan State fans fully evolved.” I mean we would never have a program in Wolverine Studies – who needs to learn more about a gluttonous, blood-crazed weasel when we can observe one froth and snarl in its filthy habitat six times each Fall. And we wouldn’t even have an endowed chair of USC Studies…though if we did, it would be more appropriate to make it an endowed mattress instead.

We will accept endowments from alumni, friends, and fans; but we won’t take money from just anybody. There is a long-standing rumor that we refused a donation from the Chicago priest who wrote smut. What would it have endowed – a chair in bodice-ripper cassock-ripper literature? We won’t accept donations from individuals who made their money in unseemly ventures; so no gifts from arms dealers, Big Ten officials, or Jesuits. And we won’t accept benefaction from foreign despots; hence nothing from the President of the NCAA, the President of ESPN, or the Pope.

I firmly believe that if we stay within these sensible and straightforward boundaries, and if we respect a few simple exclusions, then anything or anyone can be…well…endowed.

EFS CSC

*Yes, I know what happened with the Band Building.

**No one is touching the hall with my name or St. Edward’s. Even though I didn’t hand over an envelope full of gold certificates, it’s called “but for causation.” That is, but for me dragging my French butt derriere to Northern Indiana, no one would have had the chance to name anything but a musty log cabin and two muddy lakes (which used to look like one in winter).

Padre’s book Father Sorin Says: The Founder Comments on Today’s Notre Dame is available from the Hammes Notre Dame Bookstore and Amazon. It should be given as a thank-you gift to all donors and benefactors, and as an April 1st gift to friends who foolishly support other teams.

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The paths to Our Lady’s University are as varied as the men and women who find their way there. Some of us made it there via family legacy; some of us as the result of a lifelong dream,and others because of the role models who surround us. Tony Suber’s path to Notre Dame followed that third road — he saw men around him who he strived to become and they were the guiding force which drew him to Notre Dame. How does a minority student from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania get offered a chance to play Division I lacrosse at Notre Dame and later in life return to become a Development Officer for the University’s high networth benefactors? Walk Tony Suber’s journey with me.

Q: As a kid growing up in Pittsburgh, at what point did you become interested in attending Notre Dame?

A: “I became interested in Notre Dame when I was a freshman in high school at Sewickley Academy. Ray Zellars is a family relative of mine and he was being recruited to play football for Notre Dame when I was a freshman in high school. This gave me the chance to watch his recruiting process and to speak with him about the process as well as the difference between all of the schools which were recruiting him.”

“We already had a strong spiritual background in our family and with me attending Sewickley Academy education was obviously very,very important. Going to a top-20 college was not only a serious consideration but it was almost demanded as far as expectations were because of thecaliber of the Academy. Notre Dame presented itself as the kind of school that presentedboth fantastic academics and spiritually-based education — and it didn’t hurt that the ND network in the city of Pittsburgh was very strong, very vocal, and very palpable to some degree. I remember growing up seeing Notre Damemen in my community and around the city of Pittsburgh who I would say very proudly wore their Notre Dame colors – to them those colors stood for much greater accomplishments and values.They represented ND very well and did it in such a distinguished manner compared to other men and other alma maters. It really made Notre Dame stand out. The type of men that Notre Dame men were, I gravitated towards those kinds of men. Unlike a lot of kids and applicants I did not grow up wanting to go to Notre Dame, it became a choice because of maturity. The icing was when Coach Kevin Corrigan recruited me to play lacrosse there.”

Q: How did you become interested in playing lacrosse? How old were you when you started playing lacrosse? Did you play any other sports?

A: “I started playing lacrosse at the age of 14. That was the year I left a public city school and attended Sewickley Academy. My first semester on campus I played soccer in the fall and during the next sporting season I played basketball. In the spring all of the kids that played with me on those two teams played lacrosse. The choices for spring sports were lacrosse, baseball or cross country and since my closest friends were all going to play lacrosse I chose that sport as well. I had never played lacrosse before but I was a natural athlete and was excited and willing to learn and play a new sport.”

Q: What was it like being a non-football athlete at Notre Dame?

A: “I think that in terms of being a Division I athlete, the differences were minimal from a student-athlete perspective. The biggest difference is that there was no media microscope for our lacrosse players, even for the best lacrosse players, like there always is for the football players. I was never concerned that my life off the field was ever going to be scrutinized or put under a microscope like a lot of my peers who played football. Not to say that I took advantage of that in a negative way, but there was a palpable difference that I experienced.”

“What I experienced then and even now is being accused of being a football player at Notre Dame. Still today I get the accusation or assumption that I played football at Notre Dame. Maybe it’s because of my size and stature. It’s not uncomfortable, but it’s something that I have to clarify because it’s usually the second or third question I get asked.”

Q: Can you talk about the enormous growth of the sport of lacrosse both at Notre Dame and nationwide?

A: “During my high school years (1989-1993), because the sport was so rare in terms of the number of schools in the city of Pittsburgh that had lacrosse programs, we were forced to travel to six different states during the course of one schedule year to find good competition. We traveled as far west as Michigan, as far south as North Carolina and as far east as the Baltimore/Washington DC area. We played just about anyone who was willing to play us no matter where they were located. In Pittsburgh during the late 80s early 90s there were nine competitive high school lacrosse teams. Today it is recognized as a state sport with a state championship game.”

Stay tuned for more in the “Where are they now?” series!

“If you look at the same time frame at Notre Dame, the explosion of the sport of lacrosse really lends itself to why I was recruited. I did not grow up in a lacrosse hot bed (which would be Baltimore and Long Island); instead I grew up in an area where no one knew we actually played lacrosse. But that was my reality and because of the explosion of the sport I had the opportunity to compete at such a high level at Notre Dame. I was not playing at the level of a Baltimore or Long Island kid, but I was very well prepared by the time I got to Notre Dame thanks to all of the traveling I did.”

“Today the exponential growth of lacrosse just continues.”In 2012 there were nearly 300 men’s lacrosse teams at NCAA schools (http://www.laxpower.com/common/participation12.php) and over 350 women’s lacrosse team (ranging from Division I to Division III).  At the high school level the participation level has grown 149% just since 2006 (http://www.laxpower.com/common/ParticipationRates2012.php). Staggering participation numbers that just continue to grow.

Q: As a former fundraiser for Notre Dame’s development office, can you talk about the power of the Notre Dame brand and the ND alumni network?

A:“I don’t know that I can add anything to anyone’s assumptions, but I can say the following. No matter where you go in the world someone loves you, or someone hates you, because of your affiliation with Notre Dame. What I always cared about most is that they cared enough to love us or hate us. The day we become irrelevant to their care we’ve got a problem. There are tons of stories that I could share relative to my time in the Notre Dame Development Department, but each one of those experiences I hold near, dear and sacred. But in terms of service to the University I don’t think I could have picked a better place to work than for the Development Department at ND, to pay back the University for what I believe is a fantastic legacy for me and my family.”

Q: Where has your career taken you since your time at Notre Dame?

A:“Right out of college I worked in the marketing/communications field for United Media Group and DesignSpin, followed by working in the insurance industry as a Sales Manager for Liberty Mutual. Then I went into fundraising and institutional advancement at Notre Dame in their Development Department and it was there that I truly found my passion. And that passion was, or rather is, helping individuals with exploring and figuring out their philanthropy; and on the flip side of that, helping non-profits figure out and create strategies around developing high network relationships.”

“After leaving the Notre Dame Development Department what I found to be true for most non-profits is that high level net worth development is a very complex role and I was lucky that ND gave me the opportunity to begin my career in development at that level. It (high level net worth development) is a very rare commodity in the philanthropic world. It’s all about who you know and to some degree who knows you.”

Q: What was your biggest challenge as a Notre Dame student-athlete? How did Notre Dame prepare you for life after college?

A: “My biggest challenge as a student-athlete at Notre Dame was time management. As a Division I student-athlete you can’t imagine how good you’ve got to be at managing all of the new responsibilities that you have coming from a high school environment. In high school you can rely on your family, parents, siblings and to some degree your teachers, administrators and coaches. In college you can rely on them to some extent, but at the end of the day you are becoming an adult and you are expected to manage your life accordingly. The last thing that any of those people who love you with all their heart want to do is hold your hand while you make that transformation because if they do they are actually impeding your development.”

“Interestingly enough, what was not a challenge was adapting to being an African American student at Notre Dame. I was fortunate that I had my Sewickley Academy experience to in some ways over prepare me for what occurred at Notre Dame. I had six years to get used to that prior to even getting to ND and in some ways I was over prepared because of the sheer amount of wealth that was present at the academy which was staggering. It was a great background to have to prepare me for the transition to Notre Dame.”

Q: What advice would you give current student athletes?

A: “Find a way to be a student. And what I mean by that is find opportunities that you havea passion for or that will help you find a passion. Develop who you are in this young adult to adult transition phase. Find friends who are not your teammates and begin to develop relationships with the University. Make connections outside of your sport. Far too many (Notre Dame) athletes spend their free time in their dorm rooms resting and not taking advantage of what I believe is one of the greatest crucibles of networking in the country. If you separate yourself from the rest of your peers then you have no one else to blame but yourself. Find ways to be involved.”

Tony’s thoughts …

“I have three thoughts and I’m trying to decide which one is most important …”

“Prior to Andre Jones’ passing he and I were working on some ideas centered around developing a holistic Notre Dame experience for student-athletes,  football players in particular. It is one of the things I would love to see the University embrace, to wrap its arms around at a much deeper level thanwhat they are already doing. They are doing some of this but it needs to be at a much deeper level and more hands on.”

“The University needs to find ways to introduce current student-athletes and football players to the Notre Dame business community. I know that the topic is a touchy issue with compliance, but we shouldn’t avoid it just because it’s a touchy subject. We should proactively find ways to get our football players engaged with our Notre Dame network. Very few college football players leave the University and live out their dream of becoming a NFL player. What happens to the other 90 percent? There are far too many former football players that because of their own doing, by not engaging themselves in the Notre Dame network, take far too long to get tied in as a young business professional. I still have conversations with former football players from the 80s that share with me that they don’t feel very connected to the Notre Dame business community at all.”

“I think we can do something about it.”

“There is an easier way to do it. It shouldn’t be this difficult.”

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