Syracuse pulled off an upset over then-No. 5 Virginia last season, winning 13-11 on the road with six different goal scorers. But immediately the next weekend, the Orange lost their momentum in a matchup against then-No. 4 Notre Dame, falling 22-8 in South Bend.

Notre Dame has the opportunity again this season to stop Syracuse’s momentum. The Orange are coming off an upset over then-No. 11 Duke, which marked the first time they’ve won two consecutive games so far this season. The Fighting Irish are coming off a 12-8 loss to Virginia, which dropped them five spots in the national rankings.

Here’s everything you need to know about No. 15 Notre Dame (2-4, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) before it plays No. 18 Syracuse (4-4, 1-1 ACC) on Saturday:

All-time series

Syracuse leads the all-time series, 10-7.

Last time they played

Pat Kavanagh led the charge for the Fighting Irish, setting a program record for points in a single game with five goals and five assists, in their 22-8 win over Syracuse. He exposed holes in the Orange’s defense that were plugged just a week before. Toward the beginning of the second period, both teams were tied at four goals apiece, but the Fighting Irish outshot the Orange and outscored SU 9-2 for the rest of the quarter with Kavanagh leading the push.

The Fighting Irish held the Orange to a scoreless third quarter, the second time last season where they didn’t score in a single period. And Notre Dame didn’t allow a goal again until the final three minutes of the game. SU’s 22 goals allowed were a season high, while the eight scored were a season low.

The Fighting Irish report

Similar to the Orange, the Fighting Irish have had a tough start to the season. Notre Dame is the only team sitting above Syracuse in terms of strength of schedule, according to Lacrosse Reference. It lost against Georgetown and Maryland — both top three teams in the country — and then Virginia just a week ago.

But before playing Georgetown and Maryland, the Fighting Irish showed their offensive strength against Detroit Mercy, winning 24-2, the most Notre Dame has scored in a single game against a Division I opponent in program history.

How Syracuse beats the Fighting Irish

Syracuse will need to figure out how to exploit Notre Dame’s defense, which has the 17th-best scoring defense nationally, only allowing 10.33 goals per game. Like its last win over Duke, the Orange will need to get other players scoring than just Tucker Dordevic in order to win. Brendan Curry, Owen Seebold and Mikey Berkman need to get open opportunities to keep SU in the game.

The Orange are heading into the game without Griffin Cook and Lucas Quinn, who have often taken the offensive load off the attack. But against the Blue Devils, the Orange showed that their second line in the midfield could finish shots off passes from Dordevic or Curry. All of that could be enough to pull off the upset and defeat the Fighting Irish for the first time since 2018.

Defensively, Syracuse will likely turn to Bobby Gavin again in goal after his performance against Duke. Gavin and the Orange’s defense will be tasked with stopping Kavanagh and Eric Dobson, and if they’re able to hold Notre Dame to fewer than its 12.50 goals per game average, they could seal the game on the offensive end.

Stat to know: 53.3% penalty-kill percentage

The Fighting Irish are last in the ACC with a penalty-kill percentage in the ACC of 53.3%, which along with its 2.67 penalties per game makes for a weak man-down defense. In 15 man-up attempts from its opponents this season, Notre Dame has given up seven goals.

This helps the Orange, who sit behind Notre Dame in the conference with a 41.7% man-up scoring percentage. Despite the Fighting Irish ranking fifth nationally by causing 10.83 turnovers per game, Syracuse should be able to run its man-up sets with Curry and Dordevic to get past some of Notre Dame’s best defenders.

Player to watch: Pat Kavanagh, No. 51, attack

The Orange can’t have a repeat of last season’s handling of Kavanagh if they want a chance against the Fighting Irish. He’s picked up right where he left off from 2021 as a Tewaaraton Award finalist, recording 11 goals and 13 assists so far this year. The next closest player in points is Dobson, who has 15.

Kavanagh has gone scoreless in a single game only once this season in Notre Dame’s win over Michigan. But he still had four assists and has notched an assist in every matchup this year. Still, his shot and shot-on-goal percentages are down from his last two seasons, sitting at 23.9% and 43.5%, respectively.

Published on March 30, 2022 at 10:27 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu