Our #2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse comfortably beat the then-#1 Richmond Spiders on the shore of Lake Michigan at Northwestern University.

We held back on our recap of last week’s surprise loss to #14 Virginia after reflecting on the words of our colleague David Brogan. He suggested the Cavalier loss was probably more like the 2024 Georgetown loss and to reserve judgment. David is wise.

Old News

Let’s Get the Virginia Discussion Out of the Way

Last week the boys dropped a game at Virginia, 9-11. It would be fair to suggest it wasn’t their best performance. But we know now they seem to have learned from it.

The Good

Even in a loss, there were many impressive performances. Chief among them was the Notre Dame ride, which tormented the Cavaliers from beginning to end. Virginia had seven failed clears as the Irish accumulated nine caused turnovers.

With Diaz-Matos out, Tyler Spano, Christian Gallaher and the face off wings kept things even at the draw against former Domer Andrew Greenspan. Between the ride and the face-off unit, the offense did not want for opportunities with 38 possessions.

Josh Yago continued performing well with 2g 1a, as did WIll Maheras. Matt Jeffrey was a consistent threat as put together his 2 goals. Freshman Chris Iuliano was very disruptive at LSM with his 3 caused turnovers.

The Bad

A discussion of where the Irish fell short is unavoidable. Virginia played well, but they had to take great risks to stay competitive, and the boys were unable to exploit them. On offense we had far too many players unable to threaten the Virginia defense. There were a lot of 0g 0a stat lines from normally reliable seniors and graduate students.

Freshman Dylan Faison was introduced late in the game to introduce a spark. Dylan will have many productive years ahead of him, but the game should not have gotten to the point where such a burden is placed on the youngest player on the team. But with the Richmond game to reflect on as well, it seems that the coaches were on to something even if the move didn’t bear fruit right away.

Perhaps more puzzling were the holes in the defense. In our preview, we noted that winning on-ball matchups was less important than maintaining disciplined team defense to contain their assist-heavy offense. 8 of Virginia’s first 9 goals were assisted, and these goals were mostly the result of miscommunication and mental lapses. The boys held up well on-ball, but they fell short in the area most likely to hurt them. After several weeks of stellar defensive showings, the team will have some tough film to watch.

Some things just happen. The boys hit a lot of pipes and the opposing goalie made some nice saves on Irish transition opportunities. But these were not the differences in the game. The boys left Charlottesville knowing they needed to refocus.

12 Minutes of Thunder

Refocus they did. This past Saturday at Richmond they played among the strongest opening minutes any Notre Dame team has played in a long time. Beginning with a Chris Reinhardt goal 5 seconds into the game off a Tyler Spano assist, the boys manhandled the Spiders for the first 12 minutes going up 8-0 and demoralizing their opponent.

The 2024 Georgetown mindset David Brogan suggested was evident in the response of attackman Luke Miller:

It started with our practice on Monday. We hit the reset button and came in with a mentality that we need to go get it. It’s not going to come to us. We’re going to get everyone’s best on a weekly basis, so it’s important for us to stay hungry, practice hard and continue to compete within each other.

The Spiders are a good team and tried to come back with 4 straight goals in the second quarter, but a Josh Yago halftime buzzer beater more-or-less ended the meaningful resistance. Tyler Spano was excellent at the X and gave the opponent no room to string together goals. The defense was superb and held Richmond to a paltry 13% efficiency.

And to wrap up an earlier thought, the curious addition of Dylan Faison late in the Virginia game had its payoff against Richmond. The freshman was threatening in his minutes and scored his first goal.

The 8-0 start and holding the high powered Richmond offense to 8 goals speak for themselves. If there are criticisms to be made, it’s in the 20 Irish turnovers and the pedestrian scoring rate after the first quarter barrage. Their offensive efficiency cratered after the hot start. It didn’t matter, but it can’t become a habit.

Up Next

A #1 v. #2 game was promised for Chicago. It looks like those plans were only delayed a week with the upcoming #1 v. #2 matchup versus North Carolina this coming weekend in South Bend. We couldn’t be more excited. The boys are 8-1 in their last games against #1 ranked teams. We’re hopeful the Irish will add to this great record.

North Carolina has been on a recruiting heater for a decade, but hasn’t had a lot to show for it. This season, the pieces have finally come together.

As a viewer’s guide, the obvious matchups to watch are how our defense manages Owen Duffy and Dom Pietramala, and how our faceoff unit manages Brady Wambach.

Notes

It was good to see the Owls Lacrosse kids among the 5000+ in attendance at the Richmond game. The organization does great work with these kids. Please consider supporting them if you are able.

 

Go Irish.

 

Luke Burgar

ND-ATL 2.0