Spoiler alert…. Spallina lied about the National Championship. It’s Notre Dame that will play for the championship!
Our #2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12-2) beat the #6 Syracuse Orange (13-5) 15-7 today. We will have our official recap/preview up soon, but here are our initial reactions and unvarnished game notes from the game.
Before the game
As I can confirm from the 9 hour drive to Charlottesville, it rained a lot. The wet field made its presence known, but we honestly expected the field to be more torn up than it played, which is a good sign. We hope it holds up through the 2 games tomorrow. A lot more rain is expected this championship weekend.
The Game Notes
First Quarter
The first quarter was a very mixed bag. Offense felt unstoppable, attacking and scoring from multiple different looks. The weather had an obvious effect, but it felt as if the boys were handling it better than Cuse and built a big lead of that. Ricciardelli started off insanely hot, but he can only do so much. Defensively, the double teams aren’t landing turnovers and left the defense spinning for 2 of the 3 Syracuse goals.
The main area that needs to improve to win is the face-off dot. Already having 2 violations and being 2 of 8 is not the start we hoped for. The 3-0 Cuse run came because they were playing make it, take it.
The boys break down with a few seconds left in the quarter and let up a goal. We can’t repeat these momentum-killers.
Second Quarter
The second quarter felt a lot better. The defensive shift on the man-down is very noticeable. Killing both penalties (especially the 2 minute locked in) was huge for momentum. The offense continues to fire on all cylinders, proving they can beat the 1-on-1 match-ups and forcing the defense to slide which will play very well into our style of offense. The boys have them spinning defensively, just need to get the shots on target.
Ricciardelli has played amazing, cannot highlight that enough. Face offs remain an issue. They are forcing it to a scrum more which is better (and allowed for the killing of the last 15 seconds of the 2 minute locked in which was huge). Occasionally Lyght has been moved up to a wing. I don’t like him up there but the boys are winning the ground balls when he is so I can’t complain yet. Importantly, Spallina has been quiet so far. The boys won’t let the pick game work and he can’t beat Lyght. 3 goal lead at the half.
Third Quarter
The start of the second half was much of the same. We were reminded of why Corrigan is the best coach in lacrosse, with a challenge for an off-ball crease call during a goal. Drew Donovan manning the iPad deserves an ice cream cone for spying the crease violation. Faison converting off that was huge for momentum. It was a net two-goal swing.
Face-offs have had a slight improvement but losing the ball after each clean win reverts it. Cuse getting a 2 minute unreleasable to end the quarter can be big for the Irish. A run during the penalty would be nice, but face-off wins will be needed.
Fourth Quarter
The final quarter started with the boys with 1:45 left in the unreleasable man-up. As much as face-offs left room for improvement, they showed up when it mattered, winning 3 in a row during the locked-in goal. The 3 goals during that locked-in man-up were the difference in this game. It was obvious that the run broke Syracuse souls and they weren’t going to come back. Just for fun, the boys added a few more to end the quarter. It felt like everything was clicking. If Monday is anything like this final quarter of play, we are very hopeful.
A very satisfying win. The boys accelerated from beginning to end.
Stat Highlights
Josh Yago with 7 points (3g 4a) paced the team. WIll Maheras drove the early scoring with his 3 assists and a goal. Brock Behrman (2g 2a) was very productive.
13 players logged points, and 13 of 15 goals were assisted. Everyone ate.
14 saves against 7 goals for Thomas Ricciardelli. Chef’s kiss.
Two insightful wrinkles by the coaching staff. Fisher Finley as a big-bodied SSDM was very effective defending size. Brady Pokorny on the man-up unit unlocked amazing things for the team. What amazing late-season adjustments by the coaches.
Joey Spallina, zero goals for Syracuse. Thank you, Shawn!
It’s great to be back on Championship Monday! Like we mentioned, our full recap and preview of the nation championship will be up soon. Excited to have one more Irish game to watch!
#GoIrish
Luke Burgar
ND-ATL 2.0
