Our #2/#2/#1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse team (5-1) flattened the#19 Michigan Wolverines (5-3) by a score of 19-9. The boys finished their slate of Big Ten games 3-0 by a combined score of 46-28, and have now won 8 straight against the conference.

The Plot

Green uniforms and 50 degree temps greeted the 3,655 fans at Arlotta.

The scoring opened with an Irish man-up goal by Devon McLane on an assist by CKav.  Notre Dame’s incredible one goal per opponent penalty pace continues.  It was interesting to see Michigan try to disrupt the Irish flow by trying to force Notre Dame into playing 5 on 4 by locking out PKav for portions of the penalty. The boys got great looks anyway even if the goal itself was technically more off the ride.

Michigan followed with a man-up goal of their own, followed quickly by another.  The Irish responded with unassisted goals from Faison and PKav.  A hard-fought quarter ended tied 3-3.

Notre Dame opened the second quarter with a strong defensive stand, and then the magic started with McLane scored his second, slipping off a pick for CKav. Quickly afterwards Max Busenkell added another goal.

…then Dobson

…and Taylor from Dobson

…and Faison from PKav

…and CKav

…and Faison again.

So it went with Entenmann stellar on the other end to bring the score to 10-4 at the half and the Irish firmly in control.

The Jake Taylor Show

The fans in attendance and those watching on television got to see a special performance from Jake Taylor in the third quarter.  Taylor scored early on an assist from CKav, then another on an assist from CKav, then another, this time from PKav, and another from CKav.

Then there was a brief intermission for a Will Angrick goal.

Taylor got right back to it with another goal from PKav, and then ended the quarter with a grand finale, a wild BTB goal off a BTB pass from PKav.

If the Jake Taylor Show was not enough, Entenmann’s 6 incredible saves on the other end left the Wolverines in shambles and down 17-5.

The Wolverines scored a few in the fourth as the Irish experimented with personnel combinations. PKav scored another, and the Irish assault finished with an Atlanta to Atlanta goal by Fisher Finley from Fulton Bayman. Notre Dame finished convincingly with a score of 19-9.

 

The Scoring

ACC Offensive Player of the Week Jake Taylor led Irish scorers with 7 goals, one short of his own Notre Dame game record. Chris Kavanagh joined him at the top of the scoresheet with a goal and 6 assists (and 4 ground balls for CityLax!).

Pat Kavanagh (2g, 4a, 2 gb) was right behind them with 6 points (giving the starting attack an incredible 20 point day). Jordan Faison added a hat trick, Devon McLane 2 goals, and Eric Dobson with a goal and an assist.

Finley, Busenkell and Angrick each had a goal, and Fulton Bayman had another assist.

On the defensive end, Liam Entenmann was absolutely incredible with 14 saves. In this game it was not just the number of saves that impressed, but the ridiculously crazy quality of some of them that was truly special. Our friend Drew Brennan at OneFootDown is not wrong to advocate for his Tewaaraton Award consideration.

Shawn Lyght and Ben Ramsay each had 2 caused turnovers.

There was some stellar effort in accumulating Notre Dame’s 38 ground balls. CKav (4), Conlin (3), Burgmaster (3), Donovan (3), Ramsay (2), Busenkell (2), Parlette (2), Parker (2), McLane (2) and PKav (2) highlighted the non-faceoff specialist ground ball list.

A strong Colin Hagstrom performance gave the Irish a 17 of 32 edge at the faceoff dot.

The Irish rode well holding Michigan to 14 of 18 clears, but the Irish were a bit sloppy themselves clearing 20 of 24.

The boys scored on their only man-up opportunity keeping their incredible pace going, and the man-down units played well holding their opponent to 2 of 7.

Our friends at LacrosseReference.com calculate that Notre Dame’s offensive efficiency was a ridiculous 46.3%, with the defense limiting Michigan to 25%. The Irish were quicker than usual with an average of 35 seconds to first shot and a 43.9 second average possession.

41 players saw the field for the Irish, including 4 freshmen.

Our Pregame Three Questions

Our preliminary thoughts were straight-forward and answered well by the Irish.

  1. Controlling transition: The offensive midfield did a great job getting off the field and avoiding getting buried on defense when they had to cover a fast break. They seemed much more mindful of the traps set for them. It was hard to keep track during the offensive onslaught, but there didn’t appear to be any occasions where Michigan had an opportunity to exploit a trapped midfielder.
  2. Defensive control: Entenmann had another stellar performance.  He seems be in Michigan’s head at this point. The defense in front of him also played very well across the board in limiting the Wolverines’ high-powered offence (10th in efficiency), holding them to a full 10% below their season efficiency average. There were possessions here and there where opponents got open at the crease (mostly Tiernan as would be expected), but overall it was very impressive.
  3. Offensive rhythm: It was a really impressive day by the Irish. Even in the first quarter when the were probing the Michigan defense, they were still playing at 38% efficiency, which would be in the top-5 national average. From there they dialed it up to an incredible 58% in the second and third quarter.

Notes

Going into this season there was some uncertainty regarding the defense (not doubts). What has developed is a very strong back line that works very well together, topped by an excellent rope unit. While Conlin and Napolitano were known and experienced quantities, Shawn Lyght’s emergence as their equal partner has been fun to watch. His ability to effortlessly recover is impressive. Whenever we worry that he is about to get beaten, he’s back on his player’s hands in a controlled step or two. It’s a rarely seen ability anywhere in lacrosse.

The second line midfield is coming into its own. Angrick/Gray/Walker/Seymour/Busenkell give the coaches a lot of options, and the unit has been consistently contributing. Watching them develop into a formidable unit has been fun.

At the bye-week midpoint of the season, the Irish are #1 in offensive efficiency and #8 in defensive efficiency, and tops in cumulative efficiency.  Only Duke and Penn State join the boys as teams in the top ten of both.

Let’s not forget that our women’s lacrosse team is having a great season as well! They beat #2 Boston College on the road after having already beaten #1 Northwestern.

Please take a moment to listen to Drew Brennan and David Brogan’s podcast Michigan game recap at Exit 77.

Up next for the Irish is the start of ACC play with a visit by #6 Syracuse on March 30 at 2:00 (ACCN). The young Orange offense has developed into something special. You can watch a preview of what to expect in their game versus Duke tonight at 7:00 (ESPN app).

#GoIrish

ND-ATL 2.0