Notre Dame hopes to leave its mark on lacrosse Final Four

The Notre Dame lacrosse team has a lingering memory of its last trip to the Philadelphia area, and it's not a good one.

Three weeks ago, the Irish (12-2) were the top-ranked team in the country. That would have been a surprise to anyone who had not seen them play before, as they suffered a 13-8 loss to Duke in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament.

The Blue Devils - who handed the Irish an 11-9 defeat in last season's NCAA title game - raced out to a 10-1 third-quarter lead from which the Irish would never recover.

"We were feeling pretty good about ourselves - probably a little too good - and it showed up in the way we played," Notre Dame faceoff specialist P.J. Finley said. "If you can say there is such a thing as a good loss, that was probably it. It woke us up."

Finley, a midfielder from Malvern Prep, is part of a faceoff unit that will be challenged Saturday when the Irish face fourth-seeded Denver (14-2) in a national semifinal game at Lincoln Financial Field. The winner - neither program has ever hoisted the trophy - will advance to the championship game Monday against the winner of the Maryland-Johns Hopkins game.

Denver freshman Trevor Baptiste set both school single-season and the NCAA record for faceoff wins by a freshman this season. He has 285.

Finley has 120 and takes the majority of them for Notre Dame.

"It's going to be crucial to be successful against him, he's a great weapon," Finley said.

Denver handed the Irish their other defeat this season, 11-10, in overtime.