Our #6 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (2-0) handled business in dominant fashion this past weekend with wins over Marquette (16-11) and Bellarmine (29-10).

Recapping the Wins

While opening the season with two wins is nothing to complain about, there are still a few concerns with the week. Mainly some unexpected defensive struggles. Giving up a combined 21 goals against these two teams is not the best look, especially when a good bit of them weren’t in garbage time.

We are willing to give a bit of leeway to the Bellarmine game with the Irish being up 16-1 at half before a 6 goal Bellarmine quarter. However, Marquette was a different story, with goals remaining consistent for the Golden Eagles across every quarter. Will Donovan was notably outstanding against Marquette.

Ten goals against a team is not the end of the world. But the boys have to get settled in before they face stronger offenses. 10 goals can easily turn to 15-20 against a stronger offense.

Offensively, while there was fluctuation in scoring consistency, a program record in single game goals speaks for itself. We would like to shout-out Brock Behrman for his 7 point outing in that game with 4g 3a.

The high score alone isn’t the only good to come out of that, but also spread and assists. 17 Irishmen found the back of the net this week. In these early season match-ups, making sure everyone is settled and gets experience on the field is one of the most critical parts. And everyone out there certainly looked like they belonged. Two goals from bagpiper Ryan Sforzo is also great to see (along with a great lead out debut on the pipes).

Assist wise, the boys had 25 between the 2 games. Once again, outstanding. Assists are a key sign of team offense. Getting into the harder section of the schedule just means they will have to rely on each other more. It’s great to see they are already doing that.

Georgetown

Looking to tomorrow, the Irish with take on the #3 Georgetown Hoyas (1-0). We can call them the temporary #1 team with the Saturday losses of #1 Syracuse and #2 Maryland. Unfortunately, due to weather the game has been moved into the Thunderdome and will not be televised. Time to anxiously follow live updates. Radio feed available.

Georgetown’s new top dog is Rory Connor. The Colgate transfer put up an astounding 7 goals against Penn in their opener. In all likelihood, this will be Lyght’s match-up and it will be a battle.

Supporting Rory Connor is his brother and also Colgate transfer Liam Connor. Liam put up 5 assists in that very same Penn game. Staying on his hand and keeping his feeding under control will be a necessity for the Irish.

As always, Alabama’s Anderson Moore is a beast in cage. The boys will have to value shots and make sure to take the best one and not the first. Nothing will get by Moore easily.

The first ranked match-up of the season being against a top 3 team will be exciting! This is where we set the tone!

#GoIrish

Luke Burgar

ND-Atl 2.0