Opponent Preview: What to know about Notre Dame

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After a close 12-11 win over No. 4 Stony Brook, Syracuse improved to 3-0 and beat its second ranked opponent of the season. 

After Meaghan Tyrrell earned USA Lacrosse Magazine’s National Player of the Week honors for her role in Syracuse’s wins over Stanford and Binghamton, Megan Carney earned Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association Offensive Player of the Week honors after scoring seven points against the Seawolves.

Although the Orange have been tested by two ranked opponents this season, Syracuse will be challenged once again on Saturday, as it will play its first road and conference game against No. 17 Notre Dame.

Here’s what you need to know about the Fighting Irish, Syracuse’s first Atlantic Coast Conference opponent this season:

All time series:

Syracuse leads 20-8.

Last time they played:

The two sides last met in the middle of March in a two-game series at the Carrier Dome. Syracuse swept the series, winning the first game 18-14 and then the second game 15-12.

In the first match, Syracuse jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two goals from Emma Ward and a goal each from Sierra Cockerille and Carney. The Orange increased that lead to 15-6 lead but Notre Dame then scored five straight to pull within four goals in the second half. But SU held on as Ward, Sam Swart and Emma Tyrrell each scored to cap off a late 3-0 run.

But in the second matchup, the Fighting Irish were on the front foot, leading 7-2 early on. But Syracuse went on a 8-0 scoring run that saw four different players score including a hat trick from Emma Tyrrell. Then a four-goal run from the Orange midway through the second half extended the lead allowing them to complete the sweep.

The Fighting Irish report:

Notre Dame enters Saturday’s matchup on a three-game losing streak after losing to then-No. 11 Michigan at home 11-7, Vanderbilt 14-12 on the road and No. 6 Northwestern 17-16. The Fighting Irish’s only win came in a dominant 24-5 fashion against a winless Central Michigan.

In its losses, Notre Dame held two opponents under 15 goals and scored a combined 35 goals. Most of the Fighting Irish’s scoring has come from Madison Ahern and Madison Mote who have scored 18 of Notre Dame’s 59 goals thus far. The Irish also have relied on goalie Bridget Deehan, who has saved 22 shots and allowed 42 goals.

How Syracuse beats Notre Dame:

For Syracuse to secure a win against Notre Dame, it needs to surpass 15 goals. While the Fighting Irish haven’t been high powered this season, scoring just seven goals against its only ranked opponent, Syracuse has allowed 9 and 11 goals against Stanford and Stony Brook, respectively, which made each game tighter than it could have been.

Still, this will be a test to see if Syracuse can play a complete game against an ACC opponent. Even if the Orange score a lot, they should expect to hold Notre Dame to fewer than 10 goals based on Notre Dame’s low scoring rate against other ranked opponents.

As long as either Carney or Meaghan are playing well for Syracuse, it will be hard for Notre Dame to stop the Orange’s attack.

Player to Watch: Madison Ahern, attack, No. 10

The junior can do a bit of everything for the Fighting Irish. She’s mainly a threat for scoring as she leads the team with 11 goals on the season, and she also had two against Michigan, one of which ended a 4-0 run from the Wolverines in the second half.

Ahern also has an assist and six ground balls on the season, so the Syracuse defense has to be careful not to lose the ball around her.

Stat to know: 45 caused turnovers

The Notre Dame defense averages just under 12 caused turnovers per game. Although Syracuse has played relatively clean so far this season and averaged a little under 15 turnovers per game, only 14 turnovers out of Syracuse’s 42 have been caused by opponents.