The #2/#3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse (1-0) prepare to host the Cleveland State Vikings (0-1) at Arlotta Stadium, Sunday at noon, ACCNX. The forecast is for clear skies, but cool and very windy.

The Opponent

Coach Andy German’s Viking are coming off a 19-12 loss at Ohio State and  3-10 2022 season. As a relatively new midwest Division 1 program they are developing quickly and have a roster drawn from all across the country and Canada.

They have several noteworthy players that Notre Dame will have to track closely.  Gannon Matthews (#22) is the current Atlantic Sun freshman of the year. He is joined on the attack line by Amiri Austin (#17), an Atlantic Sun all-freshman team honoree from Atlanta, Georgia. Ryan Haigh (#8) is one of the school’s all-time leading scorers. We are intrigued by freshman Robbie Stewart (#21) who had a very successful day versus Ohio State in a backup role as faceoff specialist.

Our Pregame Questions

The Irish are on short rest and come in to the game with less than their preferred amount of preparation.  They’ll need to focus on many things to have a successful afternoon against the Vikings.

  1. Progress on defense: The defense was great last week, but as a new unit they will need to continue to develop their communication and chemistry.
  2. Repeat offense in outdoor conditions:  The offense came out firing last week, but they will be challenged repeating their output outside of Thunderdome.  Arlotta will be cold and windy, and they will have to focus on taking care of the ball.
  3. Zone busting:  After the Marquette game, we suspect teams will look to play more zone versus the Irish than they have seen in a few years.  The boys will need to diagnose the defense quickly and find ways to quickly break it down.

More often than not a February games in South Bend are played indoors so weather isn’t an issue. Playing in Arlotta this week is important for the team’s development. Their next few games will be in similar conditions and on the road. The sooner the boys test themselves, the better.

#GoIrish