Where: @ Notre Dame
When: Saturday May 10, 2:30
Harvard and Notre Dame match up in what is an interesting first round game in the NCAA Tournament. Both teams got to the tournament in completely different ways. Harvard looked like a good bet to get in as they were the favorites in the Ivy League Tournament. Meanwhile, Notre Dame backed into the ACC Tournament and were considered the least likely to win it. Well, Notre Dame won the automatic bid and the ACC Tournament while Harvard lost in the Ivy League Championship Game to Penn and got in off the bubble.
As these two teams match up on Saturday, what can we expect? Will Notre Dame continue their hot play of late or will Harvard prove that the NCAA Tournament Committee made the right choice in choosing them over Hofstra?
Harvard offense vs Notre Dame defense
Edge: Harvard
Harvard’s offense comes in ranked 21st in the nation scoring 11 goals a game while Notre Dame’s defense is ranked 31st in the nation as they give up 9.8 goals a game. Notre Dame is especially coming off games in which they have given up 31 goals in their last two games. An incredible statistic I heard on the telecast this past weekend was that Notre Dame has allowed 10 or more goals six times this season. They hadn’t allowed that many over the last five seasons!
Harvard boasts some great players such as midfielder Peter Schwartz and attackman Devin Dwyer. The two of them lead the team with 46 and 45 points respectively and give the team a go-to player from both up top and behind the net.
Notre Dame defenseman Stephen O’Hara will try and bottle up Dwyer as he leads the team with 18 caused turnovers. However, the rest of the defense is young and lacks a great takeaway guy. Also there has been trouble in the cage for Notre Dame has they have flip-flopped between Shane Doss and Conor Kelly. Kelly has played the last four games and had two good games against Maryland before playing poorly against Syracuse and Army.
Harvard defense vs Notre Dame offense
Edge:
The matchup on the other end pits the 13th-ranked Notre Dame offense vs the 25th-ranked Harvard defense. Notre Dame boasts stud attackman Matt Kavanagh who has played like his hair was on fire in the ACC Championship Game with six points and four points with their win over Army. Make no mistake about it, Harvard’s defense will have their hands full with him. I would assume either senior defenseman Brian O’Toole (19 caused turnovers) would draw Kavanagh but sophomore Robert Duvnjak (17 caused turnovers) may be a viable option as well.
Connor Doyle (38 points) and John Scioscia (24 points) are the other two main options for the Irish and are also attackmen which means the Harvard defense will be busy on Saturday.
Goalie Jake Gamitsky has played pretty well over his last five games in two games against Penn, two games against Yale and a game against Princeton. What would be concerning, however, is his play against ACC foes North Carolina and Duke. He posted sub .400 save percentages in both games and while Notre Dame’s offense isn’t up to those levels, they have played well as of late.
Faceoffs
Edge: Notre Dame
Liam O’Connor has won 58 percent of his faceoffs this season but has lost considerable steam since the beginning of the year. O’Connor looked dominant but over the last couple of games, has not had success and has actually been replaced by Nick Ossello if he isn’t winning early.
Meanwhile, Harvard counters with Gabriel Mendola who has won 52 percent of his faceoffs but freshman Austin Williams has taken 99 faceoffs this season and dominated Princeton going 13-of-19. So if Mendola is struggling, Williams could see some time.
Prediction
This will be one of the best games from this weekend. These two are spitting images of each other. They both pride themselves on slowing the ball down and playing great defense. Notre Dame’s issues in net cannot be ignored, especially as they have allowed 31 goals in the last two games. Harvard could’ve won the Ivy League if Penn goalie Brian Feeney didn’t stand on his head. Harvard has the weapons to make Notre Dame sweat.
Bottom line, this game could go either way and neither team will pull away by more than one or two goals at any point in this game.
Harvard 8, Notre Dame 10
