The #8 Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse team (0-0) will open their season Saturday at 2:00pm versus the Robert Morris Colonials (1-2), outdoors at Arlotta Stadium.  The game will not be open to the public and will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.

We eagerly await this start to the 2021 national championship campaign for the Fighting Irish.

The Opponent

The Colonials are a high-scoring, very experienced, Canadian-heavy roster.  In their first three games, Robert Morris averaged nearly 15 points a game against very good competition, including Duke and High Point.

They are led by graduate student Ryan Smith from Ontario, Canada.  He averages an excellent 5 points per game this year, and has been a consistent scoring option for the Colonials for years. Fellow Canadian, senior Corson Kealy has also provided great scoring (8g, 3a)

7th year grad student Jimmy Perkins is another scoring threat. Perkins graduated Robert Morris in  2018, went on to play at Utah for two years, and returned to Robert Morris for this Covid-19 impacted year.

Senior Jake Boudreau, another Canadian, is another offensive player to watch.

The Colonials faceoff below 40% as a team, although senior Michael Autry had good showing against Colgate this past weekend.

Senior goalie Ben Savick has started all three games, but has struggled at times.

The bottom line is that the Bobby Mo offense is very good, and it is stylistically a very tricky one to defend.

What to expect from the Irish

17 new players on the Irish roster, including five graduate students.  We should expect to learn a lot of new names at a minimum!  It will be a tricky game for the Irish being their first true game in a year playing against a team that already has played through several tough contests this season.

There is a lot of buzz about this team, including a lot of not-so-quiet expectations for the attack for the first time in several years, along with a defensive backline that is second to none.

What we’ll be looking for in this first game:

  1. Who plays?  With few exceptions, both the players who start and who will see meaningful minutes on the field is not well known.  Will the grad students take primary roles?  Will any freshmen play? Which sophomores will take the next step?  This roster is so large and so deep, it seems likely the coaching staff will go far deeper than the typical 20-player depth we’ve seen the past few seasons.  This goes extra for the attack and midfield, where we expect a much bigger number than usual to play significant roles.  It’s a shame that only 10 can be on the field at any time, and that there’s only one ball in play.  There are so many players we want to see on the field!!
  2. Defense!  It occurred to us that Kielty and Cohen played together for the Irish in excess of 1500 defensive possessions.  We can’t think of any that have had many more at Notre Dame.  Add to this duo the highly acclaimed Kyle Thornton and you have something very special.  Robert Morris will give them a true test and an excellent frame of reference. Bobby Mo is perfectly capable of scoring 15 against anyone.  How will the defense perform against this standard.
  3. How Sharp? It’s been a weird preseason, but the Irish have had an extra long time to get in tune.  We’ll see how much attention detail there is in their first game back.  Taking care of the ball, turnovers, substitutions, clears, etc.

We’re just excited to see the Irish on the field again.  We would be lying if we said we didn’t have high expecations, but for today, we’ll just be happy to watch them play.

ND -4, o/u 21.5 for those interested in that sort of thing.

#GoIrish