It’s time!

Our #1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse team begins its NCAA title defense today.  The boys will host the Cleveland State Vikings (1-1) inside Thunderdome, where Notre Dame holds a 22-game win streak. The game will be available on ACCNX at 6:00 pm.

The Opponent

Andy German’s Vikings are 0-3 all-time against Notre Dame, including an 18-8 game last year at Arlotta Stadium. The Cleveland State defense will largely be the same, but they will be without the graduated Cameron Logan in goal, whose 8-save first quarter last year gave the boys some trouble. Connon Kernan and Justin Dalum take over in the crease. Both have played reasonably well so far. Robbie Stewart, Evan Moskwa and Charlie Williams split the faceoff duties again this year.

On offense, the big question is how the team will adjust to losses in graduation and the transfer of Gannon Matthews to Ohio State. Parker Yearago and Wyatt Robertson lead their scoring so far this year, but output has been inconsistent in the Viking’s two games this year. We’ll pay special attention to the productive midfielder Amiri Austin who hails from our neck of the woods in Atlanta.

Cleveland State prevailed in OT in their season opener versus VMI, but were largely held in check last weekend against Ohio State. It’s really unclear what we can expect from them in South Bend.

Our Three Questions

As this is the season opener, our curiosity is less about how the team will play against Cleveland State, but more the lineup that Baumer Family Head Men’s Lacrosse Coach Kevin Corrigan will choose  to deploy at the start of the game in Loftus. Please don’t perceive this as a slight of Cleveland State, but rather as genuine excitement for the start of this Irish season.

  1. PKav Bubble Wrap:  Pat Kavanagh torched the Vikings last year with 2g/6a, but he hasn’t played in the preseason scrimmages at all as he completes his recovery from several off-season procedures. The official position is that he is ready to play, but we are curious the degree to which Notre Dame will use him in this game. We have to think the Irish captain will play, but we would not be shocked to see a lot of Atlanta’s Fulton Bayman to limit the load on PKav.
  2. The Starting Defense: The surprise return of the stellar Chris Conlin to join Marco Napolitano on the back line certainly reduced the questions about the 2024 defense. Conlin is on track to play the same amount of games in his college career as Jack Kielty and Arden Cohen, which is to say he has a ton of game experience. The third position remains an open question, although the general consensus among our press colleagues is that we’ll see a good bit of freshman Shawn Lyght on the field.
  3. The Midfield:  Even though the graduation of Brian Tevlin, Quinn McCahon and Jack Simmons takes a great deal of experience and versatility off the field, Notre Dame has an embarrassment of riches at the position. The makeup of the first, second and maybe even third lines will be fascinating to see unfold. The only thing we are certain about is that Eric Dobson will look to be the party starter on the first line, with Reilly Gray likely to join him to form a Two Towers offense. Beyond that we don’t know, other that to note there really aren’t any wrong answers. The Irish are incredibly deep and the coaching staff seems likely to find a way to give as many as ten offensive midfielders meaningful reps.

We don’t have anything else to add today, we’re just excited to get the season started!

#GoIrish

ND-Atl 2.0