#2 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7-1, 1-1 ACC) will host the #1 Duke Blue Devils (10-1, 3-0 ACC) Saturday at 4:00, ESPNU. The first two left out of the 2022 NCAAs are now the first two in the country.

It’s time for a hype video

The Opponent

The Irish have played the Blue Devils more than any other opponent the past few years.  Notre Dame has a 13-16 all-time record against Duke, but won both games last year.  More importantly, the Irish beat the Blue Devils both times this opponent entered this game ranked #1.

Duke has had a what is a very typical season for them. Some early season jitters including a loss at Jacksonville and closer-than-they-should-have-been wins over Denver, Penn and Syracuse. Since then, they have been scorched earth, pummeling their opponents, including a drubbing of Virginia last week.

Their attack unit is one of the best, and certainly has three of the most complimentary players in Division 1: Andrew McAdorey (22g, 17a) at X, Dyson Williams as a premier closer (36g, 2a), and Brennan O’Neil (35g, 26a) coming in from the wing both as a scorer and as an elite distributor.  Their midfield has also come into form led by the 6’4″ 225 lb Garrett Leadman.

We have enjoyed watching Kenny Brower and Wilson Stephenson on defense this season.

Graduate transfer William Helm has performed well in goal, and Jake Naso remains one of the premier faceoff men in college lacrosse (.625).

Our Three Questions

The focus items are straight-forward:

  1. Consistent, balanced offense: Our offense is nearly unstoppable when going, but they need to  avoid stretches of inconsistency like they had in the middle of the game against Syracuse. To do this, they have to stay balanced across their lineup and leave their opponent no easy choices on defense.  Their wins last year were great examples of this.  In the first game, PKav and CKav ran all over them, and in the second, when Duke looked to focus on the Kavanaghs, Dobson, Taylor and McCahon put up huge numbers.
  2. Defensive control: Duke’s attack is three complementary options, but the key is not to let it be easy for O’Neil and to avoid poor communication in the interior that will lead to Dyson Williams layups.  Duke has a lot of big, physical, players.  The boys will need to work hard for 60 minutes and simply keep control of the pace of their offense.
  3. Keep momentum at faceoff:  Lynch had a great weekend against Syracuse, and he played very well against Naso last year (19 of 35 and 15 of 30).  The unit has been making great progress and this is a matchup that seems to suit them. Naso has gotten better, too, but all we are looking for is any kind of upward trend.

 

The school, fans and team will do all they can to set the mood and create a great atmosphere for lacrosse.  The forecast looks great, and it will be a great game to watch.

 

#GoIrish