We have finally arrived to one of the best weekends in lacrosse as the Final Four occurs in Baltimore, MD. While Duke and Denver will face off in the first game, Maryland and Notre Dame will play afterwards to decide who will have a chance to play for the National Championship.
Maryland and Notre Dame enter this game as they play for the third time this season. Maryland went to South Bend and beat the Fighting Irish 12-8. Then Notre Dame got revenge on the Terps as they beat them in the ACC Seminfinal game 6-5. Matt Kavanagh scored the game winner with six seconds left in regulation which the Fighting Irish used to catapult them into the championship game and earn a automatic bid to the national championship game.
With both teams set to match up for the third time, will we see another classic, hard fought battle in Baltimore?
Maryland Offense vs. Notre Dame defense
Edge: Maryland
Maryland roared out of the gates as they chewed up and spit out Bryant in the NCAA Quarterfinal game last weekend. They scored nine goals in the first half on their way to a 16-8 drubbing of the Bulldogs.
On Saturday, the key players on both sides of the ball that will decide the game will be Maryland’s Michael Chanenchuk and Notre Dame’s Stephen O’Hara. Both players were named First Team All Americans and both are vitally important to each team.
Chanenchuk had nine points last weekend and is what makes this offense go. O’Hara had a tough task of limiting Lyle Thompson last weekend and played pretty well given the circumstances. It will be interesting to see if Coach Corrigan decides to put O’Hara on Chanenchuk since O’Hara plays down low.
Why the edge for Maryland though? This has more to do with Notre Dame’s defense which has given up double digit goals to their opponents in three of their last four games. Syracuse, Army and Albany all made Notre Dame’s defense look poor. While Conor Kelly has come up with big end of the game saves, he statistically has been very poor.
Maryland Defense vs. Notre Dame Offense
Edge: Maryland
Maryland has the nation’s best defense and has three first team All Americans on it in defenders Goran Murray and Michael Ehrhardt as well asgoalie Niko Amato. Notre Dame’s offense has really picked it up these last four games as they have scored 15, 18, 13 and 14 goals.
Expect Goran Murray to go up against Matt Kavanagh and Michael Ehrhardt to either take away Conor Doyle or Sergio Pekovic tomorrow as those guys are the No. 2 options behind Kavanagh. Kavanagh was dominant in the first matchup as he had six points while he had only one point in the second game, albeit the game winning goal.
Either way, Maryland’s defense is strong and Notre Dame’s offense has had very long dry spells and had trouble beating Albany’s Blaze Riorden for most of the game. Against a so-so defense in Albany, Notre Dame went almost a full quarter in between the third and fourth quarters without scoring.
Faceoffs
Edge: Maryland
This really depends on the health of Charlie Raffa. He will play tomorrow, there is no doubt about that but we have to see how he runs on that knee which is vital if he gets in a scrum with Notre Dame’s Liam O’Connor. Raffa has dominated O’Connor in their previous two matchups as well. Raffa went 20-of-24 in their first matchup in South Bend and 10-of-13 in the ACC Semifinal.
Conclusion
Both games have been close and Saturday shouldn’t be anything different. This will be a great defensive matchup as they know each other well and have had a week to prepare for the game. If Raffa is limited tomorrow, expect the game to tip in Notre Dame’s favor. Also make sure to watch Maryland on offense, specifically who Chanenchuk gets guarded by.
Maryland will be playing in front of a huge home crowd and they have success doing this, i.e. in 2011 when they beat Duke to reach the National Title Game. Notre Dame has played in too many one goal games for them to continue their late game magic. Expect this to catch up to them and Maryland to win by a goal or two at the most.
Prediction
Maryland 9, Notre Dame 8
