#2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse (5-0) travel to Ann Arbor to face #20 Michigan (4-2) on Saturday at 1:00 (BTN+) .  The weather forecast is miserable:  27 degrees, cloudy and high winds. Yuck.

The Opponent

The Michigan Wolverines are a relatively new team to the Division 1 landscape, having been elevated to varsity status in 2012. They had a decades-long history as one of the country’s top club level programs before then. Entering Division 1 in a conference with perennial powers Maryland, Johns Hopkins, Ohio State and others has been a challenge, but they recruit very well and are stocked with talent (note: Tyler Buchner was committed to this program before committing to play football for Notre Dame).

The Irish are 4-1 all-time versus the Wolverines.  Michigan’s lone victory was a 12-13 midweek shocker in 2018 against the then-#4 Notre Dame team. Last year, the Irish won comfortably, 12-7, on their way to overcoming early season challenges.  Liam Entenmann had a tremendous 19-save performance, and the Irish ride gave Michigan difficulty all game.

This year Michigan has wins over Hofstra, Canisius, #19 Delaware and Harvard. Their losses were 13-17 in their season opener against #1 Virginia, and 9-14 to Irish opponent Marquette. The closeness of the Virginia game should be a reason for Notre Dame to remain focused and cautious.  In their recent wins against Delaware and Harvard, Michigan had massive scoring runs (9-0 and 16-4) to come from behind to win.  They had a 12-1 run against Canisius, too.

The Irish will face the same Wolverine attack they faced last year of Boehm, Cohen and Zawada, who are having a great season. They move the ball well and generate a lot of assists.  They are all basically 15g/15a players at this point of the season, which is Kavanagh-level output.  The faceoff tandem of Wietfeldt and Rowlett is playing at a very high level.  Carr and Taylor have shared the goaltending duties.

The Wolverines have struggled a bit clearing the ball, and they have had challenges defending man-down.  There may be some opportunities for the Irish in these parts of the game.

Our Pregame Thoughts

This game will be about maintaining focus and discipline in terrible conditions on the road. What we will look for in determining the preparedness of the team is:

  1. Get an early lead: To the extent the Irish have had difficulty against this team, it has been in letting the Wolverines get off to a hot start.
  2. Stay disciplined on defense and prevent runs: The challenge this week is vastly different that what they prepared for last week.  Michigan is a very assist-heavy offense, Ohio State outside of Jack Myers, is not. The biggest danger is letting the Wolverines get momentum and develop a big scoring run. This team has had 12-1, 9-0, and 16-4 scoring runs this season.  They are extremely dangerous if given room to breathe.
  3. Find possessions: Through faceoff improvement, aggressive riding, and ground balls, we expect the Irish to find the extra possessions that will allow their efficient offense to put the game out of reach for the Wolverines.

The boys have shown tremendous focus and discipline the entire season. The challenge this week is to maintain it against a very challenging group of attackmen who play differently that the teams they have played so far, and to do so on the road in conditions even worse than they faced in Washington and College Park.  We are confident the boys are up for this unique challenge.

#GoIrish