A little late on this... playing Maryland today on ESPNU at noon. Big game. Will be wearing these uniforms:
Notre Dame to Wear Shamrock Series Uniform This Weekend | Inside Lacrosse
Last time we wore this kit was in a fall ball scrimmage against Air Force. We got our asses kicked.
Maryland is a horrible matchup for a couple reasons:
-Most of their scoring comes out of their midfield, with Mike Chanenchuk being one of the best players in the country. Our midfield defense has been pretty weak this year, with Jack Near playing very solid lacrosse but the LSM/SSDMs outside of him playing questionable on ball and off ball defense.
-Maryland tends to play an assist heavy brand of lacrosse where they dodge-and-dump to a shooter who takes a shot from the wing or crease or backside. This means a great goalie who can eat up outside shots can neutralize them, and a bad goalie can be a death sentence. We don't have a good goalie.
-Maryland plays slow with very few unforced turnovers. This means against a defense like ours that doesn't play for takeaways that we might have insanely long droughts without really even touching the ball.
-Maryland is very good at faceoffs with exceptional wing play, which could neutralize our typical advantage with O'Connor.
-Maryland has one of the best goalies in the country, and we're getting most of our scoring recently off of outside shooters. Against him you really want interior finishers.
It's OK to be a bit optimistic because:
-Maryland, unlike Denver, is not very creative with their off-ball movement and offense. So while they play a problematic style for ND (slow pace, no unforced turnovers, dodge and dump), it's possible to play them straight up or no-slide and not give up a lot of great looks. Then it comes down to the goalie making saves.
-Maryland played AWFUL against Hopkins last week. And Hopkins barely escaped 4-8 Navy by a score of 6-5. So there's at least some indication that Maryland isn't playing the same brand of dominant lacrosse they were to start the year.
-Maryland has the best defense in the country and some incredible athletes. They're very hard to score on in settled 6-on-6. But Hopkins got a lot of unassisted goals in their win, plus 2 man-up goals, and showed that if you don't turn the ball over they can get attacked pretty effectively from behind the goal and the wings from the attack as they're slow to slide. Doyle/Kavanagh will have to have big games. The key is to not rush possessions or commit unforced turnovers on silly passes.
