#3 seed Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse (10-2, at-large) host the Utah Utes (12-4, ASun champions) this Saturday at 2:30 (ESPNU) to open the NCAA Championship campaign. Arlotta Stadium will be buzzin’!

The Opponent

Coach McMinn’s Utah comes into this game as a media darling. As a very new program playing an exciting style and on an 11-game win streak, this isn’t much of a surprise.  To be fair, they have earned their accolades. 12-4 and conference champions in only their 5th year of existence as a Division 1 program is huge.

They are the #2 raw scoring offense at 16.69 goals a game, and in the middle of the pack in raw scoring defense at 12.12 goals per game.  Their lacrossereference.com adjusted offensive efficiency is 33.8%, which puts them solidly in 6th place in the country (Notre Dame is 2nd at 36%).   They are 33rd in adjusted defensive efficiency (27.8%)(Notre Dame is 2nd at 22.8%).  Their pacing is an outlier, with a lightning fast 24.5 seconds to first shot.

The Utes have two common opponents with the Irish, winning 18-16 versus Marquette and 19-12 versus Cleveland State.

Three of their losses are to ranked opponents (Denver, Rutgers and Johns Hopkins). Their notable win was at home to a then-#10 Jacksonville, 18-15.  We have to note they played Jacksonville with the visiting Dolphins on two days rest traveling from Cleveland, but it was a good win for them.

Utah likes to move the ball quickly in transition and will let the first available shot fly. They don’t spend a lot of time setting up plays. When they get into a settled situation, they like to dodge and shoot from anywhere. From what we’ve seen, they don’t rely on a player or two.  Whoever has the ball gives it a go before the defense can settle in.  It’s been a successful strategy for them and is fun to watch.

On the other end, they make a solid effort riding the ball and do use the 10-man ride a lot. Again, they are hunting transition opportunities.

The have a lot of players that are fun to watch.  Jordan Hyde (#4) has scored a massive 49 goals his season.  He’s joined at the attack by Tyler Bradbury (#23. 32g 23a) and Ryan Stines (#6, 37g, 11a).  The midfield is also prolific with Carson Moyer (#46. 23g 7a), Jared Andreala (#2, 26g 6 a) and Koa Todd (#5, 28g 7a).  Utah simply has a lot of guys putting points on the the board. They are quick and get the ball to the cage.

The have disruptive players on the defensive end with Sam Cambere and Joey Boylston averaging well more than a caused turnover per game. Colin Lenskold is their primary goalkeeper. He saves at just under 50%.  Cole Brams takes most of their faceoffs and has a season long average of 59%, which is very strong even considering the stat is a bit inflated by a 21 of 23 day last week against Air Force.

Our Pregame Thoughts

We watched a lot of game replays this week.  Overall, it’s really hard to assess them.  They executed their game plans very well against their opponents, but it was really hard not to notice they played a lot of really indifferent defenses on developing teams. Will there style hold up against a top defense? Who knows? All we know is that they were able to execute well against the teams that they played, and they certainly never played down to the level of their opponent. This is a sign of a well-coached team. They also divide the scoring load across a lot of players, making it difficult to focus on one or two things. It would be a big mistake to assume they are not capable of a strong performance against more seasoned competition.

Notre Dame just has to focus on what they do well.  Executing their strengths well should be a clear  advantage over Utah executing their strengths well.  No need to overthink on what to do, just be great (we like what colleague Drew Brennan had to say about this).

  1. Defensive control:  Stay disciplined and physical.  Get back on defense to neutralize transition and take the dodgers off their lines. If the Irish can limit the Utes’ opportunities early in the clock, things should dry up for this opponent.
  2. Offensive production: Utah has a pretty good offense spread across a lot of players.  You know who else does?  The Irish have SEVEN All-Americans, 4 of them on the offensive side. If by chance this game devolves into a shootout, The Irish have the ability to step on the gas.
  3. Clears: The Irish have gotten a steady diet of 10-man ride the past three weeks. We have to assume Utah will continue to go to their version of it searching for transition. The boys need to be careful with the ball, communicate well, and then punish the Utes if they overextend.

Other Notes

As mentioned above, Notre Dame has seven players recognized as All-Americans:

  • Liam Entenmann (1st team)
  • Pat Kavanaugh (1st)
  • Eric Dobson (1st)
  • Brian Tevlin (2nd)
  • Chris Fake (2nd)
  • Chris Kavanagh (HM)
  • Chris Conlin (HM)

The Irish also had a record seven All-ACC selections, which include SSDM Ben Ramsey and freshman LSM Will Donovan! Entenmann was also the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and Goalie of the Year.

Brian Tevlin (Redwoods) and Chris Fake (Waterdogs) were selected in the Premier Lacrosse League draft this week.

Lastly, Pat Kavanagh was selected as one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Award, lacrosse’s Heisman for those unfamiliar.

Getting back to the NCAA Tournament is an exciting time and well-earned by this Irish squad.  They were assigned a very good Utah team to play in the first round, but Notre Dame is well prepared and need not overthink this. It is just time to be great!

#GoIrish