As the NCAA tournament resumes, so too do our previews of the upcoming contests. In case you missed our previews from last week, find them here!
And if you are looking for some takeaways from last week’s games, find those here!
Lets turn our attention now to the upcoming weekend, and the contest between Notre Dame and Georgetown.
Georgetown is the only team to beat the Irish this season, having defeated them 11-10 on February 25th. Neither team has lost much since then. The Irish are undefeated and won the ACC tournament with a combined score of 34-15. Had they not lost to Georgetown, their season would be receiving more attention. They have been dominant against an insane schedule.
The Hoyas lost at Denver on April 13th, but are otherwise perfect since their trip to South Bend.
This game will feature some of the best midfield play in the countr. Three offensive midfielders (Alex Vardaro, Graham Bundy, Eric Dobson) were selected to the PLL, and were joined by Georgetown SSDM Dylan Hess.
Notre Dame SSDM Ben Ramsey (first-team), middie Devon McLane (second-team), and Irish LSM Will Donovan (third-team) were all selected as All-Americans by Inside Lacrosse. That’s a lot of talent in the midfield.
It’s going to be a great game, with several tactical storylines to watch. Let’s get into the keys to the game.
Who Can Start On Time?
The Hoyas were careless with the rock throughout the first quarter against Penn State. With less than a minute to go in the first quarter, coach Kevin Warne was forced to burn a timeout and he proceeded to light his team up in the huddle. That energy was missing from the Hoyas in the first.
Similarly, Notre Dame was unusually sloppy in their opening round game against Albany, especially early. After a dominant ACC tournament, the Irish seemed maybe a touch complacent. Casual play is the enemy of greatness. I don’t expect this to happen again.
Prior to that effort, Notre Dame used quick starts to control games early. They led 5-0 against Duke and 6-1 against UVA. If the Hoyas they start slow again, the game could be over early.
Depth Scoring
Of all the teams remaining in the tournament, Notre Dame plays more offensive players than anyone. They ran three separate midfield lines against Albany and their second line has been a story recently.
Max Busenkell has 15 points on the season, but has goals in four straight. Sophomore Will Angrick is an old school hammer of a dodger, who has 5 points in his last three contests, and Reilly Gray is another power dodger with 3 goals in his last two contests. That group allows the first unit to stay fresh, and recently have been punishing defences.
Other than maybe Jake Stevens and friends at Syracuse, they are the best second line in the nation.
On the flip side, no remaining team will play fewer offensive players than Georgetown, who use an unusual rotation. Against Penn State, the Hoyas basically played seven offensive players in various formations. TJ Haley and Jack Schubert played most of the game at attack, while Graham Bundy, Alex Vardaro, Jordan Wray, Aidan Carroll, and Patrick Crogan split the remaining four spots.
Schubert’s incredible emergence has given the Hoyas more scoring pop than they had just a few weeks ago. Secondary scoring means different things to different teams, and Schubert’s emergence has allowed their other scorers to play midfield and consequently dodge short sticks; that’s been huge.
On a team that is fairly one-handed, Schubert’s ambidexterity is remarkable. In the second quarter, he scored similar goals from opposite sides of the field. First, righty.
Then, lefty.
Whoever can get more scoring from their non-superstars will have a major leg up in this game.
Who Controls the Tempo?
Related to their lineup rotations is the pace that both team will want to play at. Georgetown beat Notre Dame earlier in the season by dragging out long possessions, never allowing the Irish to run in transition, and not letting Entenmann to get warmed up with easy shots.
This season, Georgetown has recorded 33 shot clock violations, which is actually significantly more than their opponents. Keep in mind that the Hoyas went 13-3 this year and dominated conference play. Obviously shot clock violations are not good for the offence, but they show that the Hoyas are willing to drag it out. The Irish have had just 21 shot clock violations.
Both teams use their tempo to finish teams. Against Penn State, the Hoyas got the ball with 10:17 remaining in the fourth quarter. With one second left on the shot clock, Patrick Crogan scored to make it a 10-9 game. There was 8:31 left on the clock.
The Hoyas got a gift when Penn State challenged the call, providing their middies with some rest. Georgetown won the ensuing faceoff, chewed through another full shot clock, and Crogan scored again. With 7:11 left on the clock, the Hoyas had a two-goal lead.
The Hoyas bench went nuts, because they knew their squad was controlling the game.
Against Albany, Notre Dame broke the game open in transition. In the second half, Devon Mclane subbed on, cleared the ball and went right to the net.
A few minutes later, the Irish blocked a shot and were full speed ahead, and ended the play with Pat Kavanagh scoring on a breakaway.
The reaction of Kavanagh was similar to the reaction of the Georgetown. Both teams knew at that moment that they were bending the game to their will, and controlling the tempo.
Whoever can win that battle will have success in this game.
Can the Hoyas Defend the Multiple Eras of ND Offence?
The Irish plays two eras of offence in the same possession. The midfielders almost always initiate the offence with old school, smash mouth dodging. The headliner here is Dobson, a dominant on the run shooter and great feeder.
These actions are an ode to middies like Paul Rabil and Connor Buczek, who dominated with downhill, punishing dodges.
It looks like this.
And this.
Dobson’s toughest matchup this year was Georgetown SSDM Dylan Hess. Hess dominated the matchup early in the season, and will need to do it again. His success allows the Hoyas to leave a pole on Jordan Faison, a smaller, quicker weapon who is hard to cover for most shorties.
Hess is a monster who was great against Penn State. His matchup vs Dobson will be the one to watch in this game. Dodging him is not typically fun.
After the initial dodge, the Irish morph into a positionless amoeba (a very modern strategy, hence the two “eras”), where Pat and Chris can be expected to dodge from anywhere at any time. Here. the focus will turn to Freshmen defender Ty Banks for Georgetown, who will again try to win the matchup with Pat.
Georgetown will need to be ready to support the early dodges in the midfield, and then try to keep some organization in the chaos that follows. The chaos is where Jake Taylor does his damage, and the Hoyas will need to stay sticky away from the ball.
Defending both the initial midfield dodges, and the late possesion creativity will be paramount for Georgetown.
A Battle to Watch in the Corners
On the other side, Georgetown initiates a lot of their offence from an unusual angle. They spend a lot of time in the invert, but rather than dodging directly behind the goal, they prefer to dodge towards the corner of the end zone. Even more unusual, where most teams will have their players dodge across the back of the net, Georgetown often has their guys dodge up the same side of the field.
This is effective mostly because of the gravity that Bundy provides. With legitimate 15-17 yard range, defences cannot show even the slightest help towards the dodger. But when they don’t come, Georgetown’s middies are elite at shooting on the run or seeing through the defence.
Here is Wray scoring unassisted from that angle.
And when the slides come, Bundy is the long-gun. This shot hit the post, but the fact he even shot it shows the confidence and ability he has.
Just for fun, I am going to include a clip of a goal he did score. Jack Fracyon is a top goalie in the nation, and Bundy scored flat footed from 15 yards. LOL
X Factors
For Georgetown, it’s Schubert. I picked him last week and he was dominant. His ability to score unassisted goals will be massive.
And for the Irish, it’s McLane. I loved how aggressive he was against Albany, and will hope it continues. With Hess on Dobson, and a pole on Faison, McLane will have the opportunity to score.
It should be a fun one. Check back here for more reviews this week!