Notre Dame Fighting Irish lacrosse (3-4, 1-1 ACC) thumped the Syracuse Orangemen ( 4-5, 1-2 ACC) by a score of 22-6. The Irish went up 12-0 to start the game and never looked back.

The Emergence of Jake Taylor

The Irish single-game goal scoring record of 7 goals was set way back in 1993 by Randy Colley, and later tied by Ryan Hoff and Matt Kavanagh.  On Saturday that record was broken by a player with 3 Irish goals and no starts in his career, Colorado’s Jake Taylor.

The Notre Dame attack has looked slick all season, but it used a number of different lineup combinations searching for better scoring efficiency.  The boys were getting quality looks, but the ball was not finding the back of the net. The Irish went with Taylor this game even though he hadn’t seen the field much in his career.  He had a reputation as a good finisher, and the Irish needed one.

Taylor made the most of his opportunity, scoring his 8 goals every which way.  There were inside finishes, behind the back shots, and even a few mid-range snipes. So impressive was his onslaught that even though the another player on the filed came within one of tying the Notre Dame single-game points record, but Taylor left us asking Pat Kavanagh, who? (3g, 6a).

Congratulations, Jake Taylor! We hope to see more of this the remainder of the season.

The Scoring

Taylor’s 8 goals and Kavanagh’s 9 points are the highlights of the stat sheet, but Chris Kavanagh (2g. 2a), Dobson (1g, 3a), McCahon (2g) and Jackoboice (2g) also had big games.  Ricciardelli, Mirer, Angrick and Allen had a goal each, and Buchman, Gray and goalie Liam Entenmann had an assist each.

On the defensive end, Entenmann had 13 saves on 18 shots before Chris Nelson came in to close out the game.  Matt Douglas was terrific coming in for the injured Carson Cochran, logging 5 ground balls and 2 caused turnovers.

On the faceoff unit, Will Lynch showed improvement going 1o of 23 in his draws

Once again, Notre Dame won the ground ball battle 33-30 even being behind in faceoffs. The effort was top notch.

The Irish officially held Syracuse to 16 clears in 18 attempts, but watching the game live, it appeared ‘Cuse did much worse than that.

35 players saw the field.

The Plot

Jeffrey Ricciardelli opened the scoring for Notre Dame, followed by Jake Taylor’s first. Notre Dame simply blasted Syracuse the rest of the game, scoring the first 12 goals.

As impressive as the offense was, the defense was its equal, holding the Orange to a paltry 6 goals.

When it was all done, Taylor’s record 8 goals beat Syracuse on their own,

Notes

There are two takeaways from this game that will give the team confidence moving forward.  We’ll mention first the observation that veteran grad transfer Matt Douglas played very well coming in for the injured Cochran. It’s great that the substitution was seamless.

Of course, the second is the emergence of Taylor as an effective closer. Moving forward, opposing teams won’t give him the same space Syracuse did, but the fact that they’ll have to respect him in the interior will create all sorts of space for everyone else. This is not a bad place for the Irish offense to be.

Up Next: Duke week

The Irish travel to Durham next (April 9 1:00 p.m. ACCNX).  It isn’t a big secret that both teams are in need of a win, and both teams arrive with momentum from a big victory the previous week.  This game will be a particular test for the Irish defense, as the Blue Devils have an army of offensive weapons.  The defense will need to arrive ready to make choices and adjustments.

#GoIrish