Our #1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (13-1) defeated their first round opponent, the Albany Great Danes, 14-9. The Irish advance to face the #8 seeded Georgetown Hoyas (13-3).  The Hoyas advanced by coming back from being way down to beat the Penn State Nittany Lions, 12-9.

It took a good part of the game for the boys to find their footing, but as Coach Corrigan noted in his post-game comments, “there are no bad wins in May.”

The Plot

As long-time fans and observers of Notre Dame at Arlotta, we were quick to notice at the beginning of the broadcast that the late afternoon sun coming from over the stands was going to be an issue for the teams and to expect a few ball handling challenges.

Devon McLane got the boys started early in the game, assisted by PKav. Uncharacteristic sloppiness followed, with 6 Irish turnovers in the quarter.  None of them were forced. Albany got on the scoreboard midway through the quarter, but Jake Taylor quickly responded to put the Irish up 2-1 to end the first.

The jitters and sloppiness didn’t really improve to start the second, but Gray and McLane scored to put the Irish up 4-1 and beginning to look comfortable. Things went sideways in a hurry as a 3-minute unreleaseable penalty was assessed on Carter Parlette during an Albany goal. Albany scored halfway through the penalty, an Irish success in its own right, but as they looked to clear the balance of the man-down, an offsides miscue returned the ball to Albany with the man-down unit off the field. Another Albany goal was scored, and the quarter ended with the Great Danes scoring another in the waning seconds of the half to go up 5-4.

The Albany goals during the penalty were certainly inconvenient, but Notre Dame at no point seemed to be losing control of the game. The coaching staff did not panic and keep up the solid 3-midfield line rotation that had brought the Irish a lot of success in the preceding weeks.

That feeling was validated quickly in the 3rd quarter with the Irish scoring the next 4 goals on their way to a 9-6 lead to end the quarter.


The defense was suffocating the Great Danes and the Irish seemed well on their way to establishing firm control.

Notre Dame held fast in the 4th quarter led by Lynch’s 8 of 9 domination at the stripe. It seemed clear the Irish were not going to permit a Great Dane scoring run that might get them back into the game. A goal by Taylor, two by PKav, and some careful time management with their possessions closed out a comfortable-in-the-end Irish win, 14-9.

Scoring

PKav (3g, 2a, 3gb, 100% shooting) and CKav (1g, 4a, 2 gb) led Irish point scorers.  Chris joined his brother as the only Irish players to have a 30g/30a season! Devon McLane had 4 outstanding goals, and Jake Taylor a hat trick.

Reilly Gray had a goal and an assist, and Eric Dobson 2 assists. Faison and Busenkell had a goal each, and Will Angrick and defenseman Marco Napolitano had an assist each.

Will Lynch was very good at the dot going 18 of 26 with 12 ground balls.

The defense was tight, with Conlin having 2 caused turnovers and 2 ground balls, Napolitano with a caused turnover and 2 ground balls, Burgmaster with 2 caused turnovers and 2 ground balls,  Lyght with 3 ground balls, Donovan with a caused turnover and a ground ball, and Ramsey with 3 ground balls.  Behind these performances, Entenmann only needed to make 6 saves.

The Irish had 16 turnovers (11 first half, 5 second half), and were 16 of 19 clearing.

Notre Dame had no man-up opportunities.

The Irish had a massive 40 to 30 possession advantage, and were 35% efficient with their possessions (17% first half, 53% second half).

Our Pregame Questions

Despite some early sloppiness, the boys understood the overall assignment and managed the game well.

  1. Protect your stick! Piseno ended up covering PKav for most of the game, which ended up being a blessing in disguise. PKav’s great ball and stick control made Piseno’s devastating over the head check a non-issue. Not only did PKav keep Piseno from his takeaway strength, but the Irish captain was also able to score 3 goals with 2 assists, while the defense didn’t yield a point to Piseno. The times Piseno was not on PKav, the rest of the team kept their sticks protected to keep him away from the over the head check. A well-timed time out by Coach Corrigan as Piseno was lining up Will Lynch further frustrated the Albany star.
  2. Possession battle: The boys dominated at the face-off X, winning 18 of 27. The third quarter was a bit of a struggle with them only winning 2 of 7, but this was easily resolved with excellent ball control and some very effective counter-attacks by the defense that led to the boys out scoring them 5 to 1 in the third even with Albany on a slight faceoff run. Will Lynch and his wings were the stabilizing force when the team struggled to otherwise manage the ball.
  3. The silliness: Albany played pretty much how we expected them to: in a crazy, not-normal way. The boys stayed focused and kept to what they did best, which showed through them winning the ground ball battle 35 to 22. For the most part, the Irish were not bothered by the behind-the-back passing and cleverness of their opponent. We kept a lose running scorecard which indicated the Albany flair resulted in more Irish possessions than it did Albany goals. The Irish weren’t perfect and struggled at times against the Albany ride, but overall they did not let this become a Great Dane-style game and often punished their opponent for trying.

Coach Corrigan noted in his post-game comments that exam week limited the amount of time the boys could practice. This explains a lot, as there would have been a lot of Albany-specific preparation necessary to make this game a perfect showing. Albany, as we know and as we observed this weekend, plays a lot differently than any other opponent on the Irish schedule. The early sloppiness was unfortunate, but our takeaway was more the Notre Dame ability to refocus and take control.  A less experienced team would have been tempted to deviate from the plan when Albany found success during the long 2nd quarter penalty.

Also of note was the continued balance of the three midfield lines and the overall use of depth.  This was a critical, continued success going into the Georgetown game. Fans will remember that the Irish were limited by a short bench in that early February matchup against the Hoyas. Notre Dame will probably have an additional 7-8 players providing critical minutes when they face them again.

Georgetown up next

The quarterfinal game is scheduled for this Saturday, May 18 at noon (ESPNU). We encourage fans to attend live if they are able. James Shuart Stadium in Hempstead, NY, is one of the most electric lacrosse venues on Long Island. Many of the classic Irish games have been player here.

We will post a specific preview later in the week, but until then we have our preview and recap of the February 25 OT game to get things started.

Women’s lacrosse eliminated in a heartbreaker

The Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team’s season ended in heartbreaking fashion on Sunday. In their second round match versus Michigan, they lost 14-15 on a last-second Wolverine goal.  It was a fantastic season, lead by Jackie Wolak’s 99 point effort, which included a 7 point performance against Michigan.

Post-season honors

In addition to the multiple All-American citations received by our Irish players, Baumer Family Head Coach Kevin Corrigan will be honored at this year’s USA Lacrosse Foundation Gala on June 5 in New York.

Last items

Another thank you to our Irish seniors and grad students who played their last game at Arlotta this Sunday.  It was a pleasure and privilege to watch you play.

Please read the recap and perspective of our friend and colleague Drew Brennan at OneFootDown.  Drew will be onsite for the quarterfinal game.

We also ask that you consider if you are able, these two player-led initiatives:

Pat and Chris Kavanagh’s Ground Balls for CityLax

Max Manyak’s Pediatric Pep Talk

 

#GoIrish

ND-ATL 2.0

Notre Dame v Albany NCAA 2024
Credit: Fred Assaf