Trevor Brosco against Syracuse in the 2014 ACC title game, a 15-14 win for ND

#1/#2 Irish Lacrosse Plays Second Straight Road Contest at #7 Syracuse

March 31, 2016

Full Game Notes Get Acrobat Reader

— #2/#2/#1 NOTRE DAME (6-1, 1-0 ACC) at #7/#7/#9 SYRACUSE (5-2, 1-1 ACC)
— Saturday, April 2, 2016 – 5 p.m. EDT
— Carrier Dome – Syracuse, New York
Rankings are Inside Lacrosse (media)/USILA (coaches)/Lacrosse magazine

TV
Live on ESPNU (Eamon McAnaney, Quint Kessenich, Paul Carcaterra)

LIVE STATS
UND.com (Gametracker)

2016 NOTRE DAME SCHEDULE AND SCORES (6-1, 1-0 ACC)

2016 RANKINGS
Notre Dame began the 2016 season rated first in both the Nike/Lacrosse magazine and Cascade/Maverik/Inside Lacrosse media preseason polls, while the Irish were second (behind 2015 NCAA champion Denver) in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association preseason poll of coaches. Notre Dame moved to the top spot in the Feb. 15 USILA poll, then went back to second in the Feb. 22 and 29 and March 7 USILA listings. The Irish moved back to the top spot in Lacrosse magazine in its March 28 rankings.

NOTRE DAME AND THE NUMBER-ONE SPOT
Notre Dame ranked first in all three polls in the Feb. 15, 2016, versions of those ratings.
— The Irish spent four weeks holding down the number-one spot in 2015, losing that ranking by virtue of a 13-8 loss to Duke in an ACC Championship semifinal match.
— After beating #1 Syracuse on March 28, 2015, Notre Dame moved to the top of the USILA (coaches) and Inside Lacrosse Cascade/Maverik (media) polls.
— Since the program’s inception in 1981, Notre Dame has been ranked #1 in both polls for nine weeks. Here are Notre Dame’s appearances at #1:
* April 18/May 2, 2011 (USILA and media polls — 2 weeks)
* March 25/April 1, 2013 (USILA and media polls — 1 week)
* April 22/April 29, 2013 (USILA and media polls — 1 week)
* March 30/April 20, 2015 (USILA and media polls — 4 weeks)
* February 15, 2016 (USILA and media polls — 1 week)

THE SYRACUSE SERIES
Syracuse leads it 8-3 (Notre Dame is 2-1 at Arlotta Stadium, 0-3 at the Carrier Dome and 1-4 at neutral sites)

IRISH PROGRAM ADDRESSES ISSUE OF RELATIONSHIP VIOLENCE
The Notre Dame men’s program last Saturday joined with the Irish women’s team (both the Notre Dame men and women played host to Virginia) to raise awareness for the issue of relationship violence. The Notre Dame men’s players wore white “FOV” stickers on their helmets in support of Friends of Victoria, the organization created in memory of Victoria McManus. Victoria – sister of Notre Dame senior lacrosse player Katherine McManus – was murdered by her former boyfriend in May 2014. The Irish men’s coaching staff wore green Under Armour gear in conjunction with the Notre Dame Gender Relations Center’s Green Dot initiative to prevent power-based personal violence – as the Notre Dame men’s and women’s lacrosse programs combined in a show of solidarity in support of violence prevention strategy.

CHECK OUT THAT IRISH DEFENSE
Can Notre Dame keep up the defensive prowess it has shown through the first seven games of the season?
— Even with the overtime loss to top-rated Denver, the second-rated Irish have the best adjusted defensive efficiency rating in the country (according to Lacrosse Film Room and published by Inside Lacrosse).
— Notre Dame held Denver to a season low in goals, despite the Pioneers having their second most offensive possessions of the season.
— The Irish held Denver off the scoreboard for a 28:54 period, including the entire third quarter – and then held Virginia without a goal for the first 22:20 of the game.
— Notre Dame shut out Ohio State in the third period (while scoring four goals), holding the Buckeyes off the scoreboard for 20:32 overall.
— Meanwhile, junior goalie Shane Doss has continued his glossy play – he ranks second in the country in goals-against average (6.29) and third in save percentage (.598). The Irish as a team lead the nation in defense at 6.57 goals allowed per contest.

THE LAST TIME THIS HAPPENED
An unbeaten 2016 Notre Dame team lost a March 13 overtime game to Denver and then defeated Virginia and Ohio State the next two weekends. A year ago, it was a 3-0 Notre Dame team that lost an overtime game to Denver. From there the Irish played at seventh-rated Virginia the next weekend, defeated the Cavaliers 11-9 and went on a six-game winning streak. That six-game streak also included victories over 15th-rated Ohio State, #1 Syracuse, #7 Duke, #15 Marquette and #2 North Carolina.

IRISH BOAST ACTIVE NCAA CAREER LEADERS
Notre Dame senior attack Matt Kavanagh heads into weekend play with 193 career points to rank third nationally among active players (Duke’s Myles Jones has 201, Syracuse’s Dylan Donahue has 199). Kavanagh also is tied for fifth in career assists among active players with 85 (Harvard’s Devin Dwyer leads with 111) and 10th in career goals with 108 (Stony Brook’s Brody Eastwood is tops at 164). Sophomore attack Mikey Wynne is 10th in goals per game at 2.86 – with Jake Froccaro of Villanova on top at 4.29.

IRISH IN 2016 NCAA STATS
Here’s where Notre Dame appears in the current NCAA statistics (through games of March 27):
Team
— 1st in scoring defense (6.57), 3rd in caused turnovers per game (9.29), 11th in clearing percentage (.897), 11th in man-up offense (.471), 13th in scoring margin (+3.57), 17th in ground balls per game (30.14)
Individual
Shane Doss 3rd in save percentage (.598) and 2nd in goals-against average (6.29), Mikey Wynne 10th in goals per game (2.86), Wynne 4th in shot percentage (.556) and 14th in individual man-up goals (4)
— Here’s where Notre Dame as a team and Irish individuals finished in the final NCAA stats for 2015 (top 20 rankings):
Team
— 4th in man-up offense (.524, 4th in winning percentage (.800), 6th in scoring margin (+3.93), 7th in shot percentage (.333), 8th in scoring offense (13.27), 9th in points per game (19.8), 9th in ground balls per game (33.07), 12th in caused turnovers (7.8), 19th in scoring defense (9.33)
Individual
Conor Doyle 8th in shot percentage (.456), Mikey Wynne 11th in shot percentage (.452), Shane Doss 19th in save percentage (.546), Shane Doss 20th in goals-against average (9.06)
Doss led the Atlantic Coast Conference in both save percentage and goals-against average, and Doyle led the ACC in shot percentage.

For more information, please consult the Full Game Notes Get Acrobat Reader.