Maryland men's lacrosse advanced to 5-0 following their third straight win over a top-five opponent, taking down top-ranked Notre Dame, 11-10, at Bobby Dodd Stadium in Atlanta, GA.
The Terps entered the second half trailing 5-4, but thanks to a lights out third quarter where the Terps outscored the Irish 4-1, and Logan McNaney having 11 of his 16 saves in the second half, the Terps never looked back and were able to hold on the final possession to squeak out the one goal win.
The Irish defense was causing all kinds of trouble for the Terps in the first half. However the Terps offense was hurting themselves as well with sloppy turnovers. The Terps' defense was doing everything they could to keep the game close while the offense got things figured out.
During the Terps run in the third quarter, it was Bryce Ford that got things going for the offense with two goals to give them the lead back. After a beautiful empty net save by Will Schaller and a save by Logan McNaney on the next shot, AJ Larkin found Daniel Kelly on a fast break to extend their lead to two. After a Notre Dame goal, Jack Shultz got his second goal of the game to give the Terps an 8-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
In the second half, the thing that helped the Terps offense tremendously was being able to get into transition. The Terps offense was killing Notre Dame in transition during their second half run including a man down goal by Kelly off an assist on the fast break by Jack McDonald.
The Terps defense started to look a little gassed in the second half of the fourth quarter giving up a couple goals to Notre Dame. But on the final possession, it was Mcnaney that made a beautiful kick save and Will Schaller that gave the Terps the ball back by winning the run out to the sideline off of the shot.
Takeaways
The Great
The transition game was the biggest key to the Terps win today. While they wasted a couple of opportunities in the first half, in the second half it felt like every unsettled situation the Terps offense got into, they would capitalize on it and extend their lead. McNaney had several clean outlet passes that started fast breaks. Notre Dame had a few failed clears that led to Terps goals as well. When playing a team that characteristically rarely beats themselves, you need to take advantage of every opportunity they give you and the Terps did that in the second half to pull out the win.
The Good
The team defense by the Terps today was outstanding. Very rarely when a guy was beat off a dodge, was Notre Dame able to capitalize and find the back of the net. The defense communicated very well and played the pick and roll game beautifully for most of the game, not letting Notre Dame get matchups that they wanted.
Needs Improvement
Will Lynch is an All-American face-off man for Notre Dame and he showed exactly why in this game. Lynch went 16/22 along with 12 ground balls today. The Terps tandem of Shea Keethler and Sean Creter went a combined 6/24. Against a team like Notre Dame, every single possession matters and losing that many face-offs is something that will need to be fixed if these two teams are to ever meet again in the postseason.
Three Stars
Logan McNaney
McNaney finished the day collecting 16 saves, including 11 in the second half. Several times Notre Dame was able to get a shot right on McNaney’s doorstep but he would find a way to get the stops and find quick outlet passes to give the Terps offense fast break opportunities. McNaney played his best game of the year so far when the Terps needed it most.
Will Schaller
Schaller made several key plays in the Terps' win. First it was the empty net save he made to rob Notre Dame of a goal. Then it was his run out to the sideline off of a shot he made to close out the game and give the Terps the ball back to run the clock out. While Chris Kavanagh finished the day with four goals, Schaller did a beautiful job covering the Irish’s top scorer throughout most of the game, including causing two turnovers. Schaller also added a ground ball to his name in the win.
Eric Spanos
Spanos led the Terps today in scoring with three goals and an assist. Today, Spanos looked like he did in the NCAA tournament last season when he would attack matchups the defense would give him and find the open man if he would draw an early slide.
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