Irish prepare to host No. 1 Duke in heavyweight clash

 

With the midway point of the regular season now in the rearview mirror, Notre Dame men’s lacrosse is starting to make a habit of facing off against extremely high-caliber opponents. In early March, the Irish took down No. 4 Maryland on the road in dramatic, triple-overtime fashion. And later in the month, they suffered their lone defeat to this point in the season against No. 3 Virginia.

On Saturday afternoon, the No. 2 Irish (7-1, 1-1 ACC) will have their toughest test yet when they host No. 1 Duke (10-1, 3-0 ACC) in a rare matchup between the nation’s two top-ranked teams.

The game holds significant implications on a national scale — the winner will earn the right to be next week’s No. 1 and will move one step closer to securing a top seed in the quickly-approaching NCAA Tournament. But it could also prove to be a decisive one in the ACC title race, especially for the Irish.

The ACC standings are tightly bunched. Duke sits in first at 3-0 in conference play, and Notre Dame is in a three-way tie for second with Virginia and North Carolina at 1-1. Syracuse is at the back of the pack with an 0-3 record. With the conference slate consisting of just six games, every result matters, and losing to Duke would put the Irish two games back of the Blue Devils without much time to make up that ground. Conversely, a Notre Dame win would give the Irish the head-to-head advantage over Duke and put them in the driver’s seat to make an ACC title run, with a crucial rematch against Virginia looming at the end of April.

Notre Dame comes into the game hot after closing out their previous outing in impressive fashion. On the road against Syracuse, the Irish were locked in a hard-fought duel with the Orange for three quarters before finishing the game on a 9-0 run that helped them coast to a 20-12 win.

That late-game run was spurred on by Notre Dame’s dominant faceoff performance, surprising for an Irish team that had not previously fared particularly well in that regard this season. Sophomore faceoff specialist Will Lynch put on a clinic against the Orange, particularly in the fourth quarter, when he won seven straight faceoffs to help spark the Irish offense. Lynch finished 23-33 on the day and earned ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors after his career-best performance.

Heading into Saturday, Duke (No. 7 nationally in faceoff winning percentage) would seem to have an advantage over Notre Dame (No. 49) at the dot, but Lynch will enter the game full of confidence after his effort last week. The Irish are already one of the most well-rounded teams in the country. If Lynch can consistently play at this elevated level for the remainder of the season, a team with very few weaknesses will become even more difficult to stop.

Faceoffs loom large in the matchup because the teams appear evenly matched on paper, meaning that any advantage in possession could be a difference-maker. Notre Dame ranks second nationally in scoring offense, while Duke sits in fourth, less than a goal per game behind. Defensively, the Irish are holding their opponents to the seventh-fewest goals per game in the NCAA. Once again, the Blue Devils are hot on their heels in 11th.

That strong play on both ends of the field from Duke has been the driving force behind the eight-game winning streak that has seen them catapult from No. 16 (after a surprising early-season loss to Jacksonville) all the way up to No. 1. During that stretch, they’ve defeated current-No. 14 Penn, No. 13 Loyola, No. 9 North Carolina and most impressively, Virginia last weekend. Like the Irish, Duke missed out on the NCAA Tournament in 2022, and the team is highly motivated to return to the postseason.

On the offensive end, there are few in the country playing better than Duke’s Brennan O’Neill. The junior attacker does a little bit of everything and has plagued opposing defenses all season to the tune of 35 goals and 26 assists. He was named USA Lacrosse Player of the Week on Tuesday after scoring nine points in Duke’s win over Virginia. Along with O’Neill, Andrew McAdorey (22 goals, 17 assists) and Dyson Williams (36 goals) have led the way for the Blue Devils and will be at the top of Notre Dame’s scouting report.

Notre Dame will need a big performance from senior attacker Pat Kavanagh after he claimed the program’s career assists record against Syracuse last week. Kavanagh has been known to step up in big games, and the Irish will lean on his playmaking ability as he looks to continue adding to his record-breaking assists total.

Senior attacker Jake Taylor has worked his way back into the Irish lineup after his midseason return from an ACL tear and scored a season-high four goals against Syracuse. As he continues to get more comfortable, his emergence should boost a Notre Dame offense that already features high-level scorers like sophomore attacker Chris Kavanagh, junior midfielder Eric Dobson and senior midfielder Reilly Gray, all of whom recorded hat tricks in their last time out.

The teams’ most recent meeting came in their 2022 season finale, when the Irish rallied from a 12-7 deficit to pull out a 16-14 win in front of their home crowd, completing a season sweep of the Blue Devils and clinching a share of the ACC title. That victory was Notre Dame’s sixth straight, extending a streak that would eventually stretch to 12 before the loss to Virginia two weeks ago.

The stakes will be much higher on Saturday, and the task much more difficult, but the Irish are ready for their chance to defeat Duke for the third straight time and return to No. 1 after a brief hiatus.

Notre Dame will host Duke on Saturday at Arlotta Stadium. The game is slated for 4 p.m. and will be available on ESPNU.