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The Irish will host Villanova in a monumental Big East showdown this Saturday in South Bend. As a primer, check out this article from USA Today on Notre Dame and Syracuse - the two last unbeatens in Division I Lacrosse.
Notre Dame sits at 6-0 with four games remaining on the schedule. Notre Dame features the leagues toughest defense, surrendering only 5.83 goals per game but recently lost pre-season All-Americans Andrew Irving and Kevin Ridgway to injury. While that would crush many teams, much like our football team's "next man in" approach ND has plugged in Jake Brems at close defense and Bobby Smith at LSM. The defense has played well so far in their absence, but ND struggled in their last game to win faceoffs without the ground ball machine Andrew Irving.
Villanova is coming off a last second loss to #1 Syracuse and beat the Irish last year in the most maddening game I have ever witnessed. Up 8-5 with 7 minutes to play, the defense inexplicably surrendered 4 goals in a matter of minutes to lose the game. This year's Villanova squad seems much improved over last year's team and features a couple stud players. If I was a betting man I'd expect Notre Dame to lose this game with their injuries and how tough Villanova played Syracuse. Faceoffs and the transition game for ND will be crucial.
Should be a very close and very low scoring game. I expect Villanova to play a sagging man-to-man or zone defense to try to force us into sloppy plays. The tape on ND shows we are great beating our men 1v1 or in transition but struggle to string passes together or shoot accurately in settled offensive sets. If we win this game it will be because our defense held them to somewhere around 5 goals.
The game will be broadcast live on UND.com.
Notre Dame sits at 6-0 with four games remaining on the schedule. Notre Dame features the leagues toughest defense, surrendering only 5.83 goals per game but recently lost pre-season All-Americans Andrew Irving and Kevin Ridgway to injury. While that would crush many teams, much like our football team's "next man in" approach ND has plugged in Jake Brems at close defense and Bobby Smith at LSM. The defense has played well so far in their absence, but ND struggled in their last game to win faceoffs without the ground ball machine Andrew Irving.
Villanova is coming off a last second loss to #1 Syracuse and beat the Irish last year in the most maddening game I have ever witnessed. Up 8-5 with 7 minutes to play, the defense inexplicably surrendered 4 goals in a matter of minutes to lose the game. This year's Villanova squad seems much improved over last year's team and features a couple stud players. If I was a betting man I'd expect Notre Dame to lose this game with their injuries and how tough Villanova played Syracuse. Faceoffs and the transition game for ND will be crucial.
Should be a very close and very low scoring game. I expect Villanova to play a sagging man-to-man or zone defense to try to force us into sloppy plays. The tape on ND shows we are great beating our men 1v1 or in transition but struggle to string passes together or shoot accurately in settled offensive sets. If we win this game it will be because our defense held them to somewhere around 5 goals.
The game will be broadcast live on UND.com.
