Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team beat Georgetown 16-10 to win he 2017 Patriot Cup in Frisco, Texas.  The Irish looked strong in their first outing of the year, and one thing we know for certain: this is a much different team that the 2016 vintage.

 

Notre Dame opened with a lineup that was somewhat unexpected, to us, at least./

 

Gleason got the start over co-captain Marini, and freshman Byran Costabile got the start alongside Byrne and Perkovic at midfield.  The Irish immediately opened a 3-0 lead, and while the Hoyas  gamely kept it close in the first half, the Irish exploded with a 7-0 run to open the 3rd quarter and closed out Georgetown.   Frankly, even when the gap was only a goal, it never seemed that close as Notre Dame remained in control.

The take away from this game is that Ryder Garnsey deserves to wear Matt Kavanagh’s #50 and is his rightful heir.  The official scorecard reads an incredible 6 goals and 2 assists for Garnsey, but our tally showed the sophomore with even more,  4 assists.  Stingy scorekeeper notwithstanding, #50 scored every which way and was a constant threat to put points on the board.  He was an absolute magician all game. Mikey Wynne added 4 goals parked at the crease, Perkovic added 2 goals, Costabile with 2 and Gleason another.  Freshman Brian Willets added multiple assists along with Pierre Byrne.

Looking back at our pregame notes, the game allowed us to present some nice follow up:

-Setting the tone:  The Irish came out shooting and did not let up until the final whistle.  Led by Garnsey, this was the exact start the Irish needed.  They possessed the ball more than they ever did in 2016, shot way more, scored more consistently, and created more scoring opportunities.  On the offensive end, they announced themselves as a very new and improved scoring machine.

-Who will lead the defense?  Notre Dame dominated possession, and there were long stretches in the game without meaningful Georgetown offensive possessions.  The defense played well leaving no space for Georgetown to operate in front of the goal.  All of their opportunities were from the outside, transition or man up.  Sexton at the midfield picked up where he left off in 2016, and Epple hammered a few Georgetown players. Crance and Healy, while not Landis and Glazener, did what they were asked to do and did it well. The man down defense was a bit spotty giving up goals two of three opportunities, but this is still too small a sample size from which to draw a conclusion.  Shane Doss did have a rough day at the office, tallying only 1 save in the first half and 6 overall.  Had Doss played closer to his average, this would have easily been a 10 goal win.  Doss is a proven winner in goal.  One marginal outing will not inspire anyone to hit the panic button, not at all!

-The 6-on-6 offense must improve:  The even-strength offense was for most of the game, magnificent.  The Irish had few wasted possessions.  The offense flowed well and never looked lost.  There were very few bad shots, even considering that Perkovic’s radar was off. Unlike the bulk of 2016, there were simply never times where one wondered what the even strength set was trying to accomplish. If Saturday’s game was any indication of what is possible for the team this season, the 2017 squad may indeed be very special.

-faceoff/wing play/transition:  We did not see the Irish have many opportunities to push the ball in transition in new and modern ways, but they did take advantage of most of their transition chances.  Sexton was a threat at the wing and Finley took most of the faceoff opportunities and was very good.  In this respect, this year’s fighting Irish is a lot like the 2016 vintage, which is plenty good even if not emulating some of the contemporary flair.

Notre Dame checked off all the right boxes in their season opener. Michigan at home in next on the slate.  The Wolverines have looked good, albeit against suboptimal opposition.  They should provide a much tougher test than they have in the past.

#GoIrish