Notre Dame Fighting Irish men’s lacrosse (1-0) excelled in all aspects of the game and smashed the Robert Morris Colonials (1-3), 19-7. On a gorgeous Saturday afternoon at Arlotta, the Irish were buzzing on their return from a year-long hiatus.
The Plot
Kyle Gallagher won the first faceoff and Quinn McCahon once again scored the first goal of the season for the Irish. Robert Morris’s 7th year grad student Jimmy Perkins leveled the score, but the Irish scored the next 6 and had complete control of the game.
Robert Morris quickly resorted to a packed zone to try to slow the Notre Dame scoring rate, but the Irish still went into halftime up 12-2. The onslaught continued until the Irish were up 16-4 after 3 quarters, after which they substituted more liberally and finished the game with the 19-7 win.
39 Domers saw the field, including 6 freshmen: Eric Dobson (starter), Jack Conroy, Ross Burgmaster, Carter Parlette, Bryce Walker and Michael Lynch.
The Scoring
Sophomore Pat Kavanagh led Notre Dame scoring with 2 goals and a whopping 7 assists. Quinn McCahon had a hat trick and an assist. Captain Wheaton Jackoboice (2g, 1a), senior Mikey Drake (1g, 1a), and junior Griffing Westlin (1g, 2a) were big contributors among the starters. Mo Mirer continued to impress and scored a goal.
The graduate transfers stacked up points. Will Yorke had 2 goals, and Sean Leahey and David Lipka added a goal each. Faceoff specialist Kyle Gallagher added 2 assists.
The freshmen contributed as well! Eric Dobson had a goal and 2 assists, and Bryce Walker had a goal on his birthday. (Shout-out to our reader and friend if 18 Stripes @CoachLonsdale for driving the Dobson hype train the past few years!)
Even the SSDMs got in on the action with John Hallenbeck scoring 2 goals and Nick Harris adding another. Defenseman and Co-Captain Jack Kielty added an assist as well.
Goaltender Liam Entenmann had an incredible 10 saves against 4 goals, and Matt Schmidt finished the job with an additional 4 saves against 2 goals.
The faceoff unit was immaculate. Kyle Gallagher led the charge, winning 13 of 15 with 11 ground balls, while Charlie Leonard assisted winning 9 of 12 with 6 ground balls. Junior Almeida finished the game winning 1 of 3.
The Irish were perfect man-up, killed 2 of 3 man-down situations, but only cleared 15 of 20, largely on some end of game sloppiness.
Our Three Questions
This game was very fun to watch. Our pregame questions:
- Who Plays? Of the 39 players who saw the field, 30 or so had truly meaningful minutes. This is a lot. The first midfield was McCahon, Jackoboice and the giant freshman Eric Dobson, but they had very balanced time with the second line of Leahey, Lipka and Mirer. Interestingly, the attack rotation was very broad. Drake, Westlin and Kavanagh were the starters, but Yorke, particularly, as well as Taylor, receiving equal billing. Ford and freshman Burgmaster handled primary LSM duties with Boyer in street clothes, and there was a substantial SSDM rotation that included Cassidy, Hallenbeck, Harris and McNamara.
- Defense! Much will be said about the offensive onslaught, but this was a day for the defense. The Colonials are a high-powered offense, holding them to less than half of their average on the Irish’s first day back is something special. Kielty-Cohen-Thornton are as advertised, and they are also huge. Ford and Burgmaster handled the LSM role well, and the SSDMs were top notch. Goaltending was phenomenal. Entenmann was incredible, and Schmidt was great in relief. Entenmann was so sharp, ND-Atl 2.0 openly asserts he believes Liam may be a Sith lord.
- How sharp? Even factoring this as their first game back, the boys looked in great form. They were mostly tidy with the ball, with only Kavanagh and Dobson having anything resembling sloppy moments (and we’re not even that comfortable criticizing them on this basis). Once there was wholesale substitution, there was some carelessness, but nothing too bad given the circumstances.
Offensively, the Irish moved the ball well and used lots of players and explored a lot of looks. Chemistry looked great from the beginning. Even when the Colonials switched to a zone, it didn’t take long for the Irish to figure it out. Admittedly, Robert Morris is not known for their defense, but the Irish checked all the boxes we hoped.
Around the ACC
North Carolina’s amazing offense continues to roll along with a 27-12 win over High Point. Duke handled Air Force 17-7, and in the first official conference game of the season, Syracuse bounced back from an embarrassing loss to Army with a throttling of #2 Virginia, 20-10. Outside the conference, a game of note was Georgetown’s 19-1 win over St. John’s, the second game the Hoyas held their opponent to a single goal.
Up Next
The Irish take on the Bellarmine Knights on Saturday at 4:00 pm, ACCNX.
Lastly, keep the family of Irish football alum Louis Nix III in your prayers.
#GoIrish
