Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse: Important win over a tough Ohio State squad down in Columbus

Winning is never easy.

When you are the defending National Champions, you know each and every time you step on the field, you are going to get the other team’s best.

On a Saturday afternoon in Columbus, OH our Irish men’s lacrosse team got Ohio State’s best and we punched right back coming away with a gritty 13-10 victory. The boys moved to 4-1 on the year and won their second straight over a top Big Ten foe.

It was an extremely solid with for our Irish as we continue to build momentum here this spring, and we continue to carve out our own identity as THE 2024 Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team. And if you can believe it, with us now having played five games on the year, we are down to six more regular season games left. It’s amazing how fast things are going and after the battle this week against Michigan, we will be looking at the fact that over half of our season’s regular schedule is complete.

If this year in college lacrosse has taught us anything, it is that pretty much any team can win on any given afternoon / night. There are only three unbeaten teams left in the NCAA Div I (Army, Harvard and NJIT) and for three consecutive weeks, the #1 ranked team in the country has lost a game (most recently Denver falling to Yale). What we might be seeing is one of the more fascinating seasons of college lacrosse in a really long time. There is a lot of parity and come time in May for the selections to be made around who will make up the tournament’s field, we are going to see upwards of four to five teams who will be disappointed and have a legitimate feeling that they could make a run to Philly and Memorial Day weekend. Have I mentioned before that I think the tournament field needs to be expanded to 24 teams??? See my Twitter thread here.

All of this is why a win against Ohio State on Saturday was so huge for our Irish. It gets us to 2-0 versus the Big Ten, gives us the opportunity get to 3-0 against their conference and it sets us up in an advantageous spot for when we finally get to the ACC portion of our schedule.

To note, great work on the coaching staff’s overall schedule set up as the Irish will get a break following the upcoming game this Saturday. The week off will come at the perfect time for the team to get healthy, get their minds in the right place and gear up for what could potentially be nine straight weeks of lacrosse for our Irish. And I think all of us Irish fans are all gearing up for that nine week stretch to be a reality.

There is a ton to cover this week, but before we do, if you want to wear green on Saturday for our Irish, get your City Lax shirts, link here and tweet below:

Okay, more analysis in our “Some Notes and Thoughts” section, but let’s get into it as we break down each quarter.

First Quarter

The Irish got things on the board just under five minutes into the game as Will Angrick got one home off a nice pass from Max Busenkell to put us up 1-0. So great to see these two getting involved on the score sheet early in the game (more to come on that later on). From there we got the next two goals as Chris Kavanagh put them both home to get the score to 3-0. The first of these two was a highlight reel no-look goal and it would be a harbinger of what was to come as it was the start of a huge day for Chris. The period would come to a close at 3-0 Irish and an awesome job by the defense across these first fifteen minutes as we held the Buckeyes scoreless.

Second Quarter

Ohio State would get on the board with two goals in the first four minutes of the quarter to get the score to 3-2 on tallies from Ari Allen and Blake Elland. Will Lynch would then win the next faceoff and one of the bigger plays of the game would happen as OSU would be called for a two minute non-releasable penalty on a body check to the head. The Irish would take full advantage as across this two minute span we would score three goals to put the score to 6-2 Notre Dame with 9:20 to go in the quarter. Scoring on the man-up unit in this span were Pat Kavanagh, Eric Dobson and Chris Kavanagh. The Irish then had a great chance to make it 7-2 as we caused a turnover on the ride, but Jake Taylor was denied from in close on a terrific save. Eventually Gannon Matthews would get one back to make it 6-3 and that is where we would be as we entered the break.

Third Quarter

Ohio State would open up the scoring in the second half on a goal by Matt Caputo to make it 6-4 Notre Dame. The Irish would get one back with Reilly Gray scoring on a drive from the left which got home to make it 7-4. OSU would get the next two goals to make it a one goal game at 7-6 before Jordan Faison would get his first of the day to once again make it a two goal game with 3:42 left in the quarter. The Buckeyes would get the last of the third with :26 seconds left and we would head to the fourth with the score at 8-7 Irish. Certainly a lot closer than a lot of us Irish fans were hoping for as we headed to the final 15 minutes.

Fourth Quarter

Nothing better than coming out to start the last quarter and be on a mission. We put things away by getting four goals across the first 7:50 of the period. Eric Dobson, Jeffery Ricciardelli (man-up), Bryce Walker and Chris Kavanagh all found the back of the net. Jefferey continues to just score when he gets the ball on man-up and great to see Bryce get back into the scoring column, you could tell he was fired up when it hit home. These four goals got the score to 12-7 Irish and even though OSU would score the next two to make it 12-9, Chris Kavanagh would make it 13-9 with a man-up goal to put the game out of reach. The Buckeyes would get the last goal of the day with a little over a minute to go, but that would be it. It was a 13-10 Irish victory and we moved to 4-1 on the season. We are up to #2 in the Inside Lacrosse media poll and btw, kudos to the new #1, ARMY, who are ranked in the top spot for the first time in their program’s history.

Some Notes and Thoughts

Let’s call this game what it was....the Chris Kavanagh game. Five goals, three assists and eight total points. It was a tremendous effort by him and one of his best games in an Irish uniform. One of my favorite things about Pat and Chris Kavanagh is the work that each puts in across the offseason. Throughout their careers, they have each gotten better in the subsequent season and this year is no different. Chris has continued to excel by making his outside shot even more potent. And what I think he has done a really good job with this year is his ability to hit different corners from the outside. He is not only hitting the top of the net, but also taking advantage of the low corners which has made him so tough to stop this year. The goalie just doesn’t know what to expect as he has done a really good job of changing up his stick angle and his finishing spots. Awesome work by Chris, so fun watching him and what he is doing this year.

The two minute non-releasable penalty by Ohio State in the second quarter is one that I am sure the Buckeyes would like to get back. They had just gotten the score to 3-2 and were building momentum, but with the Irish on the man-up and with our ability to win the ensuing faceoffs, we took advantage to the tune of three goals. And I love how ND handled this entire situation across the two minutes: To start, Pat Kavanagh put the first goal home 17 seconds into the man-up. We won the next faceoff and then Eric Dobson got the second goal with just over one minute having gone by on the penalty. The Irish once again won the next faceoff and rather than take the time subbing in the man-up group, we made the smart play and called timeout to gather the squad, get the right folks on the field and draw up a play. Chris Kavanagh then scored 32 seconds later as we got the score to 6-2. We even had an opportunity to possibly get a fourth goal, but OSU won the ensuing faceoff. No matter what, at that point, it was going to be really hard for Ohio State to come back and it was a backbreaking sequence from our Irish man-up squad. AWESOME work by the man-up unit, the coaching staff and Will Lynch for keeping possession at the faceoff dot.

Would love to know what was said between the Irish players at the end of the third quarter. Jake Taylor had just been knocked over by Ohio State’s goalie and you could tell the boys were upset and thought a penalty could have been called. I think it lit a fire under the team, and as we took an 8-7 lead into the quarter, we quickly made it 12-7 to put the game out of reach. That is the mark of a team that wanted to make a statement and let their opponent know that that hit on Jake was not going to be forgiven nor forgotten. True team play right there and sometimes in lacrosse, it’s the little things that matter most.

The second line midfield consisted of Will Angrick, Reilly Gray and Max Busenkell. Later in the game Bryce Walker got some run on this unit as well. Overall this group finished with three goals and two assists. It was great to see this second line get their names on the score sheet and looking forward to what is to come across this group. Clearly the coaching staff is looking at different makeups across this line, and as we have now seen five players play across this group, I would not be surprised to see us possibly get that third line into the rotation as well. To note, we did not see Jalen Seymour in the game and not sure if that was a coach’s decision or if he was out for the game. Something for us to keep an eye on moving forward as Jalen is too good to keep off the field.

Great to see Eric Dobson get a couple of goals in this contest. His goal scoring has gotten off to a slow start this season so really good to see him hit home in both man-up and regular situations. And giving credit to where credit is due, kudos to OSU on limiting Jake Taylor to one assist on the day. They found a way to contain him, but as we have seen before, when you lock off the Irish inside, that opens the door for players like Chris Kavanagh to make you pay from the outside.

It was a little bit of off day for our Irish’s defense as we gave up ten goals. An off day for just about any other squad and that # is more in the 14-15 goal range. It says a lot about the level and caliber of play that we get from this group as even when they are not at their best, they are still a ridiculously tough unit to score on and penetrate. Additionally, for the day, the Buckeyes were 0-2 on the man-up so a continued great job by the Irish there. If there was one thing that I feel I noticed in this game across our defense, there were times where we left a man open in the middle a little too much (we did not get sticks on hands in this situation) or we slid when we did not need to slide. Once again, things we can correct moving forward so I am not worried one bit.

Speaking of defense, it was pointed out to me by others that there were a few times in this game where Jordan Faison and Eric Dobson were on the field to play defense. Sometimes that is just the way it works with the transitions not allowing our defensive subs in the exact flow of the game.

I felt like Ben Ramsey had a couple of opportunities to take it to the cage and score a goal against the Buckeyes. That was a hallmark of Ben’s game last year and I would not be surprised if he got on the board against the Wolverines on Saturday. Keep an eye out for this.

Notre Dame’s specialty units are ELITE. On the season, our man-up group is 13-17 and our man-down unit is 4-10. For man-up that is 76.5% or if we round up, 77% (hello “Exit 77”!) on our extra man possessions. That is incredible and if we can keep that pace up, it would be one of the better seasons of all time. In just the same respects, 40% on man-down is excellent and it speaks to the communication and skill that we put out there when the other team looks to score on us with their extra offensive player. I will also mention that the man-down unit killed off a two-man OSU advantage at one point in the first quarter. Kudos to Coach Wojcik and Coach Wellner, really wonderful jobs with those specific units.

Diving a little deeper into some stats on the year paints a good picture for why the Irish are 4-1 and ranked #2 right now. In just about every statistical category, this Irish team is outperforming our opponents. Here are a few #s and stats that stood out to me:

Groundballs: ND at 166 and opponents at 110

Turnovers: ND at 66 and opponents at 83

Faceoffs Won: ND at 76 and opponents at 61

Clear Percentage: ND at .895 and opponents at .810

Shot Percentage: ND at .393 and opponents at .252

Assists: ND at 53 and opponents at 25

The biggest thing that these #s point out to me is that Notre Dame is getting a lot MORE offensive possessions than our opponents. That is HUGE. And when we do get the ball, whether across 6 on 6 or man-up, we are taking advantage of those possessions (and being unselfish as seen by our assists). I think if teams want to beat Notre Dame, one of the best ways to do so is to take the Georgetown model and try and slow the game down and limit the Irish’s possessions. And that type of game can only work if the opponent gets up early or if they hold ND from scoring.....and both have proven to be tough this year.

Fred’s Pics

As always, at the bottom of this article will be some of the pics that Fred Assaf took while at the game. Each week I am more and more impressed by the work that Fred does, he’s unreal. All photo credits to Fred Assaf.

What’s Next

We talked about it earlier, but the opportunity is there for the Irish to get to 3-0 against the Big Ten as we face a tough Michigan team this weekend at Arlotta. The game is at 2 PM EST and should be an opportunity for our Irish to wear our alternative “green” uniforms and helmets as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day a day early. Come on out and support the squad to all those who live close!!

Michigan is 5-2 overall having dropped their first game of the season against Virginia, winning their next five and then losing this past weekend to Harvard at home. We have one common opponent as the Wolverines also beat Marquette having recently played them in a neutral site matchup down in Florida.

Sure this is a game that Michigan transfer Jake Bonomi has had circled on his calendar for a while now as it will be an opportunity for him to face off against his old teammates.

Overall, while every single game is important, it would be really big to get a win on Saturday with the Irish heading into their week long break. We don’t want the taste of a defeat lingering for two weeks so this will be an excellent chance to get a solid win and then get some time away to prepare for the back half of the season. It has been said many times before here in my articles, but I expect the leadership of this team to make sure the boys are extremely focused on Saturday, that we will be ready to go and that we will be playing at a high level in Arlotta come the afternoon start.

Keep your eyes peeled for the next “Exit 77” podcast as David Brogan and I will be looking to record our next episode this Thursday. We will take a look back at the Ohio State game and preview the upcoming Michigan matchup at Arlotta. David was in attendance in Columbus this past weekend so will be great to get his perspective on the game as he was there with his family.

Lastly, don’t forget to follow along with our friends at “18Stripes” who continue to do an unreal job of covering Irish lacrosse.

Let’s Go Irish!