Our #1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (8-1) beat the then-#1, now #3, North Carolina Tar Heels (10-2), 10-5, this past weekend. It was a well played game with many welcome surprises. 

Specialist Dominance

Right off the opening face-off, Spano dominated at the face-off X, going 10-17 on the day. North Carolina’s Wambach came into the game as the undisputed best FOGO in the nation. Our season-opening back-up dominating this match-up is a welcome sign and will continue to help feed our offense into the post-season if this trend continues. Big thank you to coach Will Lynch! 

Ricciardelli continues to stand on his head, making us look like a fools for ever doubting him. He had 10 saves on the day on 15 shots, putting him at 67%. 

Defensive Wall

Assisting Ricciardelli, the defense played outstandingly. While the Lyght-Duffy match-up earned the most attention, it was the Schwitzenberg-Pietramala battle that ended up being the difference maker. The performance earned Schwitzenberg a well-deserved ACC Defensive Player of the Week award. 

Dominating this match-up was so valuable because it took away the back-up plan. No disrespect to Duffy, but Lyght is about to win his second Schmeisser award and is the first defendant to be seriously considered for the Tewaaraton since Matt Landis. He was always going to restrict his opponent. Schwitzenberg holding Pietramala to 3 shots on goal shut down their offense completely. Without their two superstars, they had nothing left.  

Offense Made Us Worry for 16 Minutes

Not everything was up to standards, though. Another 16 minute scoring drought to start the game is unacceptable. This gives us flashbacks to last season, which ended far less than ideal for this exact reason. Part of the redefining of the team this season has been that consistency, and that needs to be maintained. The boys on offense should be thankful that our defense didn’t let UNC get started, either, with the Tar Heels’ only goals coming on man-up, That allowed for a quick recovery.

Once the drought ended, offensive execution was stellar. The highlight performances came from Yago, Miller, and Lally.  

We were particularly impressed with Yago and his ability to adapt. So far this season, he has clearly established himself as a top scoring threat, and teams are starting to treat him that way. Seeing him flex into that more quarterback-like role with 0g 3a, feels very PKav-esque, in the sense that he is able to support or take control depending on how he is being played.  

It would be impossible to mention the offensive successes without mentioning Lally and Miller. While Yago’s assists were likely the difference in the game, it was these guys who pulled the team away and locked in the win. 2 goals from each of these guys took it from a very close 6-5 to the 10-5 final we saw.  

It’s also worth the note that this was Lally’s first hit-trick. Hoping for many more. 

Duke and their Garbage Field Up Next

On to Duke! The Blue Devils started off the season hot but are on a 3 game loss streak. The boys have to be ready for the Devils to come in with a chip on their shoulder, trying to get their first ACC win this season.  This game will have significant ACC Tournament implications.

The game will be played at noon on ESPNU. And, since it is at Duke, the field will probably be terrible, once again. We won’t mince words and be polite to our nemesis the Duke groundskeeper X account.  The Koskinen playing surface is consistently substandard this time of year. They should consider utilizing some 21st century agronomy. We have read Duke received a multi-million dollar gift to improve the field. Let’s hope the money got spent before the game.

The game, however, should be a good one! 

#GoIrish 

Luke Burgar

ND-ATL 2.0