No 1 American player commit to American lacrosse discussion over.
No 1 American player commit to American lacrosse discussion over..
coaching staff bewildered during his ACC debut against Syracuse on March 30, 2024.
While the then-freshman held former No. 1 recruit Joey Spallina to just one point in the South Bend clash, Lyght’s lockdown defensive effort didn’t spur his coaches’ astonishment.
Amid a stoppage in play, Fighting Irish assistant coach and defensive coordinator Ryan Wellner approached Lyght with genuine concern.
“He’s like, ‘Shawn are you okay? Are you sure?’” Lyght recalled. “I had no emotion on my face. I was stoic and kind of just calm. He was thrown off by it because it was my first ACC game, and you would think I would be jittery. I was excited, but I just took it as any other game.”
Poise under immense pressure defined the 6-3, 200-pound defenseman’s rookie campaign at Notre Dame. It helped the true freshman burst onto the college scene, embodying what Fighting Irish coach Kevin Corrigan called the “most seamless” transition from the high school level he’s seen in his near-four-decade tenure.
“He rarely repeats a mistake,” Corrigan said. “He doesn’t carry one play into the next play, good or bad. That ability to just stay in the moment, process the game at a really high level, and in some sense, his humility says, ‘I’m not here to prove to anybody that I’m the best player on the field. I’m just trying to play the best I can play and be a part of a group that can be great.’”
Surrounded by fifth-year seniors and All-Americans, Lyght carved out a role as the top cover defenseman for the eventual back-to-back national champions.
Lyght, who started in all 17 games in 2024, helped his defensive unit boast a national-best 8.94 goals allowed per game. He drew matchups with Spallina, Virginia’s Connor Shellenberger, Duke’s Andrew McAdorey and Maryland’s Eric Spanos — routinely holding the NCAA’s most gifted scorers to pedestrian numbers.
“There were times where I was looking to him in terms of poise, confidence [and] level-headedness,” said Marco Napolitano, a two-year defensive starter for Notre Dame who graduated in 2024. “No matter who he was guarding, no matter the stage, he was never fazed. I was looking up to him as a grad student, trying to take some pieces from his game.”
Although the spotlight shined brighter on Lyght than he’d previously grown accustomed to, the Scotch Plains, N.J., product said he developed his championship-caliber clutch gene as a two-sport standout at Seton Hall Prep.
Less than 100 miles away, Lyght basked in Memorial Day glory at Lincoln Financial Field in front of a large contingent of family and friends. Now the sophomore defenseman is intent on helping the Fighting Irish battle back to a third consecutive NCAA championship game.
“Winning is truly not easy,” Lyght said. “Even when you have a team full of superstars, chemistry and you’ve been playing well all season, you have to show up every day. You can’t take a day off, and you have to be willing to get on each other, hold each other accountable. You’ve got to sacrifice whatever it is that isn’t helping you reach that goal.”
