Another top-10 win for Notre Dame (4-1) as they beat Virginia (6-2), 9-7, on St. Patrick’s Day evening at Arlotta Stadium.  The Irish have won their ACC opener every year they have been in the conference, while Virginia continues its in-conference struggles.

The Scoring

Mikey Wynne led the Irish with four goals, two of them assisted beautifully by Ryder Garnsey late in the game.  Pierre Byrne had a goal to open the scoring.  Gleason had two goals and an assist, Costabile two goals, and Drake and Willets with an assist each.

On the defensive side, John Sexton’s 8 ground ball/5 caused turnover day leaps off the stat sheet.  Kielty had a great day as well with five ground balls and a caused turnover.  Schmidt had 7 saves, a few from point-blank range, and Travisano had a good day at the dot going 9 for 15.

Virginia outshot the Irish 30-25, both teams had 15 turnovers, and Notre Dame had the ground ball edge 33-29.

For the Cavaliers, Michael Kraus had a four-goal game.  Defensively, Scott Hooper had a very strong performance with five caused turnovers at close defense.

The Plot

The Irish jumped out to four goal lead and were in control early.  Virginia’s Michael Kraus single-handedly brought the visitors back with four straight goals.  Notre Dame added two more to end the half up 6-4.  What stood out to our eyes was that Notre Dame was able to limit Virginia to playing 6-on-6 and denied them any fast break or early offense opportunities.

The Irish offense lost its way in the third, while Virginia scored three to take a one goal lead.  Mikey Wynne and Ryder Garnsey came to the rescue in the fourth with two creative scoring setups to regain the lead.  Gleason provided an insurance goal when the Cavaliers pressed late in the game.

In the last minute, the Irish ride funneled Virginia to John Sexton, who closed out the opponent with two brilliant turnover-causing stick checks.

Analysis

Two contrasting issues stood out in the game.  Offensively, a strong start fizzled, but the Defensive plan worked extremely well throughout.

Offensive ups and downs

The Irish started strong with brilliant ball movement that yielded results early and often. For lack of a better way of putting it, Notre Dame then got too cute with the ball, gave it away a few times, and completely lost any rhythm.  They struggled mightily in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and answers were elusive.  The solution came in the tandem of Wynne and Garnsey.  Late in the game they started getting their defenders hung up in front of the goal, and a few probing dodges and hand signals later, they figured out a solution and crafted two short assists to Wynne at the doorstep for goals.  It was fun, creative lacrosse.

The challenge moving forward is that the Irish had 35 or so possessions and only managed nine goals.  When they were good, they were very good, but when they got tight, scoring dried up for a very long stretch of time.  Good news, of course, is that Wynne and Garnsey grinded out a solution, but the Irish can’t afford to get themselves in this situation.

Strategic success on defense

Everyone knows Virginia strongly prefers to run and push the pace.  In response, the Irish double-poled the faceoffs and ratcheted up the pressure on the ride.  This worked almost perfectly, limiting Virginia to 6-on-6 offense against a full complement of Notre Dame defensive midfielders, and limiting Virginia to an abysmal by their standards 32 possessions.  Notre Dame was happy to let the Cavaliers plod along in the half-field and take their chances there.  John Sexton was fantastic in creating this situation by dominating the faceoff wing, intercepting attempted skip passes, and being the hammer on the ride.  The icing on the cake was his close-out of the game with two brilliant turnover-causing stick checks.

Defense is a team enterprise, with the players moving as a cohesive unit, but having Sexton as a hammer changed things in this game.  Funneling traffic to the guy with the best skillset to dislodge the ball was extremely effective.

While in the 6-on-6, Virginia relied on Michael Kraus to dodge on freshman Arden Cohen, which he did to some success.  This frustrated Cohen and he took some penalties, but this should not be seen as an indictment of the excellent freshman.  It just happened that the Virginia had only the option of attacking him, but after a short run, things settled down just fine.  At the end of the day, the coaching staff trusted the freshman to cover Virginia’s most dangerous dodger, which says a lot.  Limiting Virginia to 7 goals is a result any team in the country would take without question.

Odds and Ends

  • Notre Dame continues to use a short bench on offense.  We had speculated that the increased possessions associated with playing a typical Virginia game would require extra legs, but the Irish severely limited their possessions as noted above, obviating the need for extra legs.
  • To our count, Virginia was able to catch the offensive midfielders on defense only a single time.  This is proof of fantastic hustle on the part of Notre Dame.  Well done!
  • The Irish allowed one goal in six man-down situations.  This unit is vastly improved from the early season and becoming a core strength.
  • 15 turnovers and some sloppy clears are issues that need to be addressed.  Some can be attributed to counter-attacks, which are excusable, but a lot were just sloppy ball handling.
  • The white and green St. Patrick’s Day uniforms were very nice.
  • A mid-March twilight start at Arlotta may not be ideal, and the setting sun seemed to cause visibility problems for the players.
  • Up next, the Irish #Rememberthesix as they take on Michigan on Wednesday.  The Irish should exercise caution as there is some truth to the adage “Wednesday is for the hunter.”  Short preparation present challenges that should not be underestimated.  The underdog has some advantages.

#GoIrish