The Irish dispatched the Marquette Golden Eagles in the NCAA first round on Mother’s Day.  Notre Dame now holds the longest continuous streak of quarterfinal appearances at 8 in a row.  The boys have a date with Denver in Long Island on Saturday at 2:30, ESPNU.  The next installment of the Western Rivalry.


It was a good day to be named Brendan.  Brendan Gleason led the Irish with 5 goals, and Brendan Collins with 4.  Mikey Wynne added 2, and Costabile, Willets, Phillips and Garnsey had 1 each.  John Sexton and Garrett Epple paced the defense with 3 ground balls and 2 caused turnovers each, and Shane Doss had a very nice day in the crease with 12 saves.

The Good and the Bad

It was a very strong performance against a very good rival.  Scoring 15 goals against Joe Amplo’s stout defense is impressive on any day.

-The Ride was finally deployed in earnest after nearly a year on the shelf.  The Irish blew up 5 of 21 Marquette clear attempts and scored repeatedly off the break.  There was one setback on goal off a 50 yd shot during a 10-man ride, but it was a huge net positive.

-Garnsey and Perkovic played and looked much, much healthier.  They made an impact on the scoreline, too.

-Scoring depth was on display, with goals by Brendan Collins, Gleason, Phillips, Willets, Costabile and Garnsey.

-Man-down defense, which has been suspect all year, beat back all four penalties it faced.

-Face-off wing play was fantastic and disruptive.

And the bad…

-Nick Koshansky appeared to aggravate his injury, further depleting the short-stick defensive midfield depth.  The Irish may be down to Schantz and Robert Collins, with freshmen Restic and Komatz shoring up the unit.  Notre Dame is very, very thin.

-Turnovers continue to be a problem.  13 were committed, many pushing the fast break.  It ultimately did not impact the game, but the Irish can’t afford to give up possessions against an opponent like Denver.  ND-Atl 2.0 argues that it appears that the Irish may be implementing elements of the Lars Tiffany/Brown offense where greater risks are taken on the fast break on the belief that the increased scoring output exceeds turnovers. As evidence he notes the aggressiveness of outlet passing was noticeable and was not dialed back after several turnovers and even late in the game.

-While the faceoff wings were highly disruptive, but at the X the Irish are still not sufficiently successful on the draw.  Marquette is a very good faceoff team, but not so good to excuse the Irish going 9 of 28.

 

Up next…the Western Rivalry continues

The Denver Pioneers are up next.  As noted in our preview of the regular season matchup, Irish v. Pioneers is must watch TV for any lacrosse fan.

We’ll discuss this later in the week in more detail, but we’re confident about Notre Dame’s chances in every aspect of the game other than faceoffs.  Denver’s Trevor Baptiste gives them a huge possession advantage that is extremely difficult to overcome.  This is no knock on Finley and Travisano.  Baptiste destroys everyone.

Tidbits

-4 of the Fighting Irish were recognized in the Inside Lacrosse All-American list:  John Sexton, Garrett Epple, and Sergio Perkovic earned 2nd team honors.  Drew Schantz was given an honorable mention.  The Irish faithful have reason to complain about Sexton’s snub off the first team.  We’ll reserve judgment for the final USILA All-American list, but there is reason for outrage.


-Sergio Perkovic was named to the Team USA selection player pool among all the MLL greats. The final team for the World Cup will be selected from this pool. Irish greats Matt Landis and Matt Kavanagh were also named to this list.

-Perkovic also wore #40 for the game in honor of 1991 Notre Dame captain and fellow Brother Rice HS graduate Mike “Steel” Sennett.