Lacrosse Blogs

Cornell vs NotreDame

 Notre Dame. Really?  I had them out in the first round.  The luck of the Irish continues as they have made it to their 2^nd time in the Final Four ever (and the 2^nd time in the past 3 years).  

Cornell has won when its important.  It may not have always been pretty, but they got it done and are in the Final Four for the 3^rd time in 4 years.

Key Stats:

Notre Dame is led in points by Zach Brenneman with 36pts (23G, 13A), Neal Hicks with 33 pts (19G, 14A), Grant Krebs with 27 pts (23G, 4A), and David Earl with 24 pts (21G, 3A).  All but Hicks are midfielders.

Cornell is led in points by Rob Pannell with 78pts (29G, 49A), Ryan Hurley with 57 points (45G, 12A), and Chris Ritchie with 25 points (17G, 8A).  While the stats might seem like this team is 2 dimensional, they really aren’t.   

Neither EMO unit is that impressive as Notre Dame converted only 29% of their chances, and Cornell has converted on 32% of theirs. 

The Face-off units are fairly even with NotreDame winning 55% and Cornell winning 52%.

The term “standing on his head” is overused when it comes to goalies.  However, not when talking about Notre Dame’s Scott Rodgers.  Over the season, he is averaging 59% saves.  The first game of the season when ND upset Duke, Rodgers posted 68% saves (15saves/7GoalsAgainst) against one of the most potent offenses in the NCAA.  In the tournament, Rodgers posted 74% (14saves/5GA) against Princeton, and 62% (8saves/5GA) against Maryland.  When he’s good he is REAL good.  He seems to be on a roll right now.

Not to take anything away from Cornell’s goalie.  AJ Fiore is having a solid freshman year with 55% save and 8.46 GAA. He has been like Ghitelman for UVA.  Reliable.

Intangibles:

Cornell is young.  Cornell lost a ton of talent heading into this season.  They graduated 16 seniors last year.  They are a young team that needs to learn and grow quickly.  They typically have no problems in the first half, but in the second its just bland.  If they can keep the enthusiasm up and not get frustrated by Rodgers they have a chance. 

Notre Dame wins and dies by their defense.  Aside from Rodgers playing lights-out this whole season (and especially in big games), their defense shut out Maryland’s potent attack unit last week.  They need to play a slow doen style, and not let Cornell win the transition game. 

Final thoughts:

 The battle at midfield will decide the game.  Can Cornell’s d-middies stop NotreDame’s midfield threats?  If Rodgers and the defense for Notre Dame can shut down Cornell’s one-two attack team of Hurley and Pannell, will anyone else step it up?

While I would love to see the Notre Dame Piper lead the team out on Memorial Day, I just don’t see it happening.  Coach Tramboni will somehow pull another win out of nowhere.

Cornell by 1