WHERE: @ Notre Dame
WHEN: Sunday March 16 @ 5:00
Both teams enter Sunday’s game coming off losses to Top 25 teams. Virginia dropped its first game of the season against Cornell while Notre Dame lost a tight game to Denver in a special game played in California. Both teams also match up against each other in each others second ACC game. Virginia stands at 1-0 in the conference while Notre Dame looks for its first win since joining the conference this season.
Virginia Offense vs. Notre Dame Defense
Edge: Virginia
This may be by the slightest of margins but Virginia’s offense seems poised to be able to score at least 10 goals regardless of the opponent. Last week’s loss to Cornell was the firs time that they were held under 10 goals this season and have put up 14 against Loyola and 17 against Syracuse.
Meanwhile, Notre Dame’s defense is as stout as ever. Even in their loss to Denver, where it seemed as if Denver dominated possession, they only lost 10-7 to a really talented Pioneers offense. They also held an explosive North Carolina offense to only 10 goals and held Penn State to eight goals prior to that.
Notre Dame will have a little more balance to worry about as Virginia boasts goal scoring machine Mark Cockerton and James Pannell. Owen Van Arsdale rounds out a talented attack line and Ryan Tucker and Rob Emery can bring it from the outside. Goalie Shan Doss will have to rebound from a so-so performance against Denver if they have any hope of winning.
Virginia Defense vs. Notre Dame Offense
Edge: Push
Virginia’s defense has given up 10 or more goals in every game this season except against Mount Saint Marys. While that would be enough to push the edge in seeing Notre Dame’s offense have a field day, outside of attackman Matt Kavanagh, the offense has been average. Take away their 19 goal performance against Jacksonville in their season opener and they have scored 25 goals in the last three games. What is also disconcerting is that Notre Dame reallt has no threats outside of Kavanagh. No other player on the team has more than seven points and all of their players points are goals which indicates that a lot of their offense is coming off unassisted plays.
Virginia, despite having one of the better defensemen in the country in Scott McWilliams, still hasn’t found success on the defensive end. It seems as if no matter who they play, teams, both good and bad, are able to put up serious numbers against them. Also to freshman netminder has seen a lot of rubber and hasn’t played well this season. He has a 45 percent save percentage, including a dreadful performance against Syracuse and a slightly below average against Cornell.
Faceoffs
Edge: Notre Dame
Notre Dame’s Liam O’Connor is one of the best faceoff men in the country. He is currently winning 67.5 percent of his faceoffs and it would be scary to think what Notre Dame would be without him. He prevents the defense from getting tired since the offense doesn’t score much and conversely gives Notre Dame more scoring chances to help the offense out.
Virginia’s Mick Parks did well for the first quarter of the season but against Cornell he won exactly half the faceoffs he took and is only winnning 53 percent of his draws on the season. Notre Dame has the clear advantage here.
Prediction
This will be a slug it out affair in Notre Dame. I expect this game to be similar to Notre Dame’s game against North Carolina a couple of weeks ago. Virginia will get out to a nice cushion early on thanks to their offense but Notre Dame will claw its way back thanks to its always gritty defense. In the end, give me the Cavaliers in a tight one because, all Virginia has done this season is win one goal contests.
Virginia 11, Notre Dame 10
