Last year, the Terps were faced with an Irish team that ran its offense mostly through its attack, but this year is a different story. Notre Dame likes to initiate things with its midfield and the Irish’s top three goal scorers are all midfielders. Zach Brenneman leads the way with 35 points on 23 goals and 12 assists, but the other two middies, Grant Krebs and David Earl, each have 20 or more goals. That’s a stark contrast with the Terps’, who’s top three scorers are attackmen and don’t have even one middie with 20 or more goals. The depth of the teams’ scoring is also a contrast. Maryland has had 22 different players score goals this season, while Notre Dame has had only 12.
Both teams are good defensively, especially in the cage. Notre Dame boasts preseason All-American Scott Rodgers, who has a goals-against average of 7.99 and has a save percentage of 58.4. Maryland also starts a senior in Brian Phipps, who has a season goals-against average of 8.27 and a save percentage of 54.9. But if you look at the Terps’ last seven games, Phipps has been phenomenal with a 7.45 GAA and a save percentage of 57.1.
• This game could come down to special teams and it will be strength vs. strength. Maryland has the No. 2 man-up unit in the country, converting on 54.3% of its extra-man opportunities. Of the eight teams left in the tournament, Notre Dame has the best man-down unit, allowing teams to score on the EMO just 25.8% of the time. One thing that helps Notre Dame’s man-down defense is that the Irish do not commit a lot of penalties. Notre Dame has only had 31 penalties called on it in 14 games (2.2 penalties per game). blog from Patrick Fischer
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