Syracuse lacrosse: Notre Dame and California previews and game thread

‘Cuse has a pair of ACC games today that are four hours and 2,800 miles apart.

The first Saturday in April is an all-ACC affair for the Syracuse Orange lacrosse teams, albeit with very different tones to them.

The No. 7 men are back in the JMA Dome for a massive showdown with the No. 5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish as the two 1-0 ACC teams fight for early control of the conference standings. The game is at 2 PM on the ACC Network.

The No. 6 women, meanwhile, play their first-ever west coast conference game when they travel to the Bay Area to play the last-place California Golden Bears. Opening draw is set for 6 PM on ACC Network Extra.

The men have won five games in a row but are looking for their first win over the Irish since all the way back in 2018, having lost seven straight in the series.

The women had their four-game win streak snapped in a mid-week letdown versus Yale, but they’re looking to bounce back and keep pace in the crowded ACC standings.

Men vs. Notre Dame — 2 PM on ACC Network

• All-time series: 22nd meeting; Notre Dame leads, 11-10
• Last meeting: Notre Dame W, 14-12, on March 30, 2024
• Syracuse this season: 8-2 overall, 1-0 ACC
• Notre Dame this season: 5-2 overall, 1-0 ACC

The Irish have losses to Maryland and Ohio State and big wins over Michigan and Duke by 12 goals and seven goals, respectively, the last two weeks.

Scouting Notre Dame

On paper, this is quite a matchup:

• Scoring offense: Notre Dame, 3rd nationally (15.57); Syracuse, 6th nationally (15.00)
• Scoring defense: Syracuse, T-4th (8.20); Notre Dame, 9th (8.43)
• FO win percent: Syracuse, 6th (60.9); Notre Dame, T-7th (60.3)
• GBs per game: Syracuse, 9th (36.10); Notre Dame, 12th (34.43)

Per Lacrosse Reference, they’re also close in efficiency rankings (goals per official possessions represented as a percentage):

• Offensive efficiency: Notre Dame, 1st nationally (39.3%); Syracuse, 6th nationally (36.3%)
• Defensive efficiency: Syracuse, T-15th (25.3%); Notre Dame, 21st (26.2%)
• Possession +/-: Syracuse, 5th (+7.6); Notre Dame, 8th (+5.7)

The numbers are amazingly tight across the board for the most part, but the question really comes down to off-paper.

And it really comes down to the Notre Dame defense, a unit that has given ‘Cuse fits in recent years. Not once during the seven-game losing streak have the Orange eclipsed 12 goals in any single game, averaging exactly 10 per.

Notre Dame is a machine on defense. You can rotate out their All-American pieces all you want, but the end result has been the same for the better part of a decade.

Out goes Liam Entenmann and in comes Thomas Ricciardelli (8.34 GAA, 59.4 SV%), putting up numbers to rival his Tewaaraton-nominated predecessor. Ho-hum for a ND defense that makes you work like crazy just to get a halfway decent look at the cage.

If the Orange are going to put an end to this dominance, they’re going to have to figure out the puzzle box that is the Irish’s defensive schemes. We all know this offense can hum with the best of them when they’re working together and operating at peak efficiency, but they have yet to prove they can do that against a top-flight defense. Is today that day?

The Irish offense doesn’t have a ton of name star power on it with the exception of one very notable last name, but they go deep on who can beat you at any given moment on any given day. Chris Kavanagh (20G, 15A) and Jake Taylor (21G, 3A) are an electric duo as the leaders at attack, and they’ll easily provide the toughest test for the ‘Cuse close defense so far this season. Taylor finishes with absolute pinpoint precision at 54 percent shooting (21-of-39).

Will Lynch (63.8 percent) and Johnny Mullen (64.2 percent) should be one heck of a duel at the stripe.

Women vs. California — 6 PM on ACC Network Extra

• All-time series: 3rd meeting; Syracuse leads, 2-0
• Last meeting: Syracuse W, 18-2, on February 22, 2009
• Syracuse this season: 8-5 overall, 4-2 ACC
• California this season: 5-7 overall, 0-6 ACC

Cal is off to a rough start in their first year in the ACC. They’ve had a pair of one-goal losses to Louisville and Pitt, and other than that they’ve had a rude welcoming to the east coast.

Scouting Cal

To no surprise given their conference record, the Golden Bears have a bit of a statistical disaster going on this season.

They’re last in the conference in draw controls per game (10.67), so the Orange have the potential for a badly needed get-right game in that department.

They’re also third-to-last in turnovers per game (16.08), a combination that spells doom for their offensive production. They are second-to-last in goals per game at just under a double-digit average (9.83).

It’s not any better on the defensive end, where they rank last in the ACC in goals-against average (12.46). All in all, this looks like it would be a monumental upset should they give ‘Cuse any trouble in this one.

Attacker Emily Moes (31G, 6A) and midfielder Kennedy Mason (24G, 6A) are easily the team’s biggest scoring threats, and attackers Avery Hoeft (10G, 16A) and Courtney Wong (11G, 12A) lead the team in distribution.

Goalie Callan Fritsch (65SV) gets the bulk of the minutes and has a 13.27 GAA with a 39.2 save percentage, but backup Chloe Rand (37SV) also sees a lot of minutes and has a 10.68 GAA with a 45.1 save percentage.