Lacrosse Blogs

Tir Na Nog

Not only is it a nice Irish bar in Baltimore, but it roughly translates to the “Land of Youth”.

Cornell’s youth has been long discussed as they lost 16 seniors to graduation last year. Cornell only returned 9 seniors. Notre Dame only returned 11 seniors, yet there were two very important seniors in Scotty Rodgers and Neil Hicks.

Cornell’s youth is what hurt them in the game as they won most of the stats (Ground balls, Face-offs, Turnovers, Clears, Shots) but didn’t get the goals.

Granted, Rodgers is an amazing goalie, but Cornell shooters made him look bigger than his 6′4” frame.

Cornell’s attack took some ill advised shots, and as Rodgers started making saves, he got in Cornell’s heads. Cornell took many shots that Rodgers could have saved with a butter knife. He knew it too. Cornell tried to shoot high early, and when Rodgers saved those Cornell went low with no better results.

Notre Dame’s defense was collapsing and smothering. They slid early and collapsed in keeping Cornell from getting any shots in close. Rob Pannell even commented how the Notre Dame defense kept Cornell from getting the inside shots.

This game was not all about Rodgers, and Notre Dame’s defense. Many will look at his final stats of 16 saves and only 7 goals against, but Notre Dame attackman Neal Hicks deserves a ton of credit. All throughout the year teams have focussed on Notre Dame’s midfield, and rightfully so (67 goals from their first line mids). Neal Hicks broke out and proved that the Notre Dame attack, when left unchecked, can make a team pay. Hicks was able to weave his way through Cornell’s defense and find the back of the net 4 times.

After watching this game, Notre dame has made me a believer. Their post season run has little to do with the “luck of the irish”, and more to do with a team that is gelling and feeding off each other at just the right moment. Rodgers is big and plays big in big games. His teammates know his abilities and feed off his success. Right now, as teams focus on Notre Dame’s midfield, thier attack is getting the job done, as they scored five goals today.

If Notre Dame wants to win the championship, they need to control the ball better. They turned over the ball way too much and were lucky that Cornell didn’t convert on more opportunities. Notre Dame’s defense will need to step it up on Monday. While Cornell’s midfield was held ineffective, Cornell’s attack netted five goals. Notre Dame close Defense will need to improve by Monday.

Even though Cornell lost, congratulations are in order for coach Tramboni as he took Cornell further than many thought he could take such a young team. Watch out for them next year. Congratulations to Notre Dame for the win. They are peaking at just the right moment and proving to be more dangerous than many expected.