Our Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9-4) take on the #5 Penn State Nittany Lions (11-4 ) for a spot in the Final Four. Faceoff is Sunday at noon and will be played at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis. It will be broadcast on ESPNU. 

The Irish will look to continue their dominant lacrosse that we saw in their round one game versus Ohio State. The Nittany Lions are looking for a return trip to Memorial Day weekend after their controversial end to their season in 2023. They will not be an easy team to beat.

The Opponent

While their record may suggest a slight struggle this year, Penn State had a consistently strong season with no bad losses. Their four losses have all come against the best teams in the nation, with two losses to Maryland, a loss to Ohio State and a loss to Cornell in overtime. This will be not be any easy win.

Offensively, the Nittany Lions are led by Matt Traynor (#22) with 36 goals and 16 assists. Traynor is supported by Liam Matthews (#51) with 23 goals 4 assists, Kyls Lehman (#4) with 22 goals 7 assists, Jack Aimone (#55) with 22 goals 10 assists, and Luke Walstrum (#21) with 16 goals 14 assists. As is apparent from the stats, they have no lack of scoring threats. 

This Penn State team is a very assist heavy unit. Our defense will have to watch out for the one more pass, something that has been a consistent challenge for Notre Dame.

On defense, they are led by Kevin Parnham (#16) with 29 CTOs and 39 GBs, and Alex Ross (#6) with 21 CTOs and 27 GBs. Between the pipes is Jack Fracyon (#11), who has 130 saves on the year putting him at a 49% save percentage. This unit is not weak by any means but is also not the team’s strong suit. The boys should have no problem picking this defense apart.

Their faceoff unit is strong. Lynch, Hagstrom and the wings will have their hands full.

Our Questions

  1. Maintained Dominance: Plain and simply, the 14-3 run starting from just after the beginning of the second quarter in last week’s Ohio State game is what we have been looking for all season. While we don’t expect something as crazy, we still hope to see a similar level of dominance from the boys this week.
  2. Controlling their offense: As we previously said, this Penn State offense has a ton of threats. The defense needs to force them to play our game and get them out of their comfort zone. The boys were able to do that last week and we trust they can repeat the same effort. Communication on the off side will be critical.
  3. Stopping unnecessary turnovers: Last week’s game had an unusual 19 turnovers. This simply can’t happen again against a team like Penn State. The boys need to limit the Nittany Lion’s chance on offense, and the best way to do that is to keep the ball in our hands and stop the turnovers.

This is the last game between the Fighting Irish and a third straight Memorial Day weekend appearance. This game gives the Irish the chance to prove everything we have thought of them all season. Don’t miss it!

Notes

In Saturday’s quarterfinals, Syracuse beat Princeton and Cornell beat Richmond to secure places in the Final Four. Both were one-goal games that were instantly labelled instant classics, but only by fans who don’t like defense. They were fun games to watch, but defense was definitely sold separately.

Our seniors and graduate students had the honor of graduation on the road. It’s a traditional that signals both academic and athletic excellence, since it only happens if the team is in the playoffs for a Memorial Day berth. Congratulations to the boys!

Please also take the time to listen to the Exit 77 Notre Dame lacrosse podcast, hosted by our friends Drew Brennan and David Brogan.  Lastly, there is still time to contribute to the CityLax initiative sponsored by CKav and Shawn Lyght.

#GoIrish

ND-ATL 2.0