PHILADELPHIA — The task for Maryland men’s lacrosse seems insurmountable: prevent what many consider to be the team of destiny from attaining the Holy Grail.

But if members of the No. 7 seed Terps are supposed to be cowed before tangling with overall No. 1 seed and reigning national champion Notre Dame in Monday’s NCAA Tournament final at 1 p.m. at Lincoln Financial Field, they refuse to give in — or give up.

“They’ve had a great year, and we know that,” senior attackman Daniel Kelly, a Towson resident and Calvert Hall graduate, said of the Fighting Irish. “But for our group, we’re focused on ourselves. Just putting our best foot forward on Monday, and we know who we’re going against. We’re going to watch a lot of film and we’re going to be ready to go. But for us, we have a group of 50 guys that believe in one another. We’ve had ups and downs, but we do truly believe that we’re here for a reason and that we can get this done.”

Added coach John Tillman: “We know the spot we’re in. We get it. The only thing we can do is control what we do. I know they’re really good, but I have great faith in our guys, I have great faith in our coaches. We’re going to go in and just prepare as hard as we can. I feel like if we can play to our potential, we have a chance against anybody.”

That’s not to say upending the Fighting Irish (15-1) is impossible for Maryland (11-5). Since the NCAA Tournament debuted in 1971, 14 No. 1 seeds have lost in the title game and 10 of them entered the final with no more than one loss in their respective seasons.

And Georgetown spoiled any chance of Notre Dame going undefeated by completing an 11-10 win in overtime on Feb. 25 in South Bend, Indiana.

But that’s where the cracks in the armor seem to end. The Fighting Irish have strung together 13 straight victories — a streak that began with a 14-9 win against the visiting Terps on March 3.

Notre Dame is the only team at the Division I level ranked in the top seven in offense (15.7 goals per game), defense (9.2 goals) and faceoff win percentage (.586) and has scored at least 10 goals in every game this spring. And seven opponents suffered their most lopsided setbacks of the season against the Fighting Irish, including No. 5 seed Denver in a 13-6 loss in Saturday’s national semifinal.

That resume helps explain why some in the sport might view Monday’s proceedings as an inevitable coronation. But Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan dismissed that notion filtering down to the players and coaches.

“I think our players have embraced the idea that we are doing a good job of showing up and competing and trying to put our best foot forward,” he said. “I hope they’re not sitting around thinking about the totality of the season and everything else. There’s enough to do with what’s in front of us every day. All of that other stuff is for another time and for other people. Our guys and our staff and everybody, we’re just focused on what we need to do today so that we’re ready to go tomorrow.”

The Fighting Irish’s thorough dominance is reminiscent of the Maryland team that ran over its competition en route to forging the first 18-0 record in NCAA Division I history and capturing the 2022 title — the program’s fourth.

“Obviously, that ‘22 team was darn good, and Notre Dame’s is really good, too. So I can see why people might think that because [the Fighting Irish] just kind of do what they do, and they do it really well,” Tillman acknowledged. “They’re definitely not the most complicated team. You kind of know what’s coming, but they’re so good that you know it’s coming, and it’s just hard to stop because they are talented and the coaches have put in excellent schemes. Whether it’s offense, defense or the middle of the field, they’re really good there.”

If the Terps hope to reverse that setback in March, they must get a solid performance from their defensive midfield. In that loss, the starting midfield of graduate student Devon McLane, freshman Jordan Faison and senior Eric Dobson combined for six goals and seven assists.

In Saturday’s 12-6 upset of No. 6 seed Virginia, Maryland shut out the Cavaliers’ first midfield.

A year ago, Notre Dame was the No. 3 seed and (somewhat) surprised No. 1 seed Duke, 13-9, to collect its second national championship. The team has been in the position of the hunted all season, but graduate student defenseman Marco Napolitano waved off the idea that the pressure is on him and his teammates.

“The way that we’ve been thinking about it, we just have one game versus Maryland,” he said. “If we come into it with that sort of attitude and approach, I think there’s basically no pressure. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day, and I think we’ve seen that throughout the entire season. So if we just come in with that approach, we’ll be successful.”

While the Fighting Irish boasts seven returning starters from last year’s title game, the Terps have only three from their championship team: graduate student goalkeeper Logan McNaney, senior defenseman Ajax Zappitello and senior midfielder Eric Malever. And because they participated in the second semifinal on Saturday, they will have had less time to recover and prepare for Monday’s final.

But Kelly, who was a member of the 2022 NCAA title squad, remained undaunted.

“We know what it takes to win in May, and we know what it takes to win a national championship,” he said. “So I think it helps a lot. But right now, we’re just focused on our preparation and putting our best foot forward on Monday.”

NCAA Tournament final

Notre Dame vs. Maryland

At Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia

Monday, 1 p.m.

TV: ESPN

PHILADELPHIA — Having the best defender in the country brings a lot of confidence to a team and Maryland gets that from Ajax Zappitello.

There was a moment early on in Saturday’s semifinal game against Virginia, though, when it seemed as if that might not be enough for the Terps. Less than a minute into play, Connor Shellenberger, Virginia’s top scorer and Zappitello’s mark for the afternoon, buzzed past him one-on-one for the first goal of the game.

Maryland’s faith in Zappitello never budged, though. They kept him locked on Shellenberger while rarely sliding help in his direction and ultimately he rewarded them for that, holding his target to just one assist the rest of the game and leading No. 7 Maryland to a 12-6 win in front of 32,269 at Lincoln Financial Field.

“Ajax is incredible,” fellow Maryland defender Colin Burlace said. “To be able to take a player like Connor Shellenberger and put him on an island with Ajax, I mean, he’s amazing . . . He’s the leader of our defense and he’s been killing it all year. Nothing is going to change that.”

Virginia coach Lars Tiffany said he thought that first goal was going to be a harbinger in both the game and the individual clash. Shellenberger’s two points tied his season low.

“It wound up being more the anomaly that the norm,” the former Stony Brook coach said. “Connor just wasn’t able to shed him.”

Zappitello and Maryland will have a much bigger challenge when they face top-seeded Notre Dame in the final on Monday that pits the last two champions against each other. Notre Dame beat Maryland, 14-9, when they played in March. Zappitello will likely be matched up against either Pat or Chris Kavanagh, the attackmen from Rockville Center who each scored three goals in their semifinal win over Denver earlier in the day.

“Oof,” Maryland Coach John Tillman said with an audible grunt when asked what concerned him about Notre Dame. “They were the best team last year and they’ve been the best team all year this year.”

Saturday, though, Maryland (11-5) was able to overwhelm No. 6 Virginia (12-6). It did it defensively — Virginia managed 39 shots but only 15 were on goal — and it did it on faceoffs with Luke Wierman winning 15 of the 22 draws. Daniel Kelly, meanwhile, scored three goals and Eric Spanos had two goals and three assists for Maryland, which will make its 16th championship game appearance in search of its fifth title.

Maryland fans certainly had little reason to believe they would reach this level when the team lost back-to-back games to Johns Hopkins and Penn State a little over a month ago by a combined score of 26-14, but Tillman said that is what has made this late-season run that also included an upset win over No. 2 Duke in last week’s quarterfinals so special.

“It’s all about the journey,” he said. “You go through a lot of ups and downs… We’ve had some bad moments and I’ll own that. At times we have not played well. But the thing most rewarding is the guys never pointed a finger, everybody stuck together, everybody kept believing.”.

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