It's back to reality for the Buckeye lacrosse team as they come back home for a three-game stand against really stiff competition. First up is Notre Dame, who is just 1-2 this season, though both losses occurred to top 5 teams in South Bend.

It's a very interesting matchup for the Buckeyes, who are on a two-game winning streak against the Fighting Irish. The teams will go strength on strength (Irish D vs OSU O) and weakness on weakness (Irish O vs Buckeye D) tomorrow. Should be a lot of fun lacrosse.

Offense

It's the Kavanaugh show in South Bend, as junior Pat (#51) and freshman Chris (#50) Kavanaugh are pretty much the entirety of Notre Dame's offense right now. The two are the responsible for 35% of Notre Dame's goals, and 32% of Notre Dame's shots.

The entire Notre Dame attack unit is smaller, no one being listed above 5'10" tall. This generally bodes well for an Ohio State defense that is bigger across the board. Ohio State's biggest issue is going to be keeping the Kavanaugh brothers in check. If Pat Kavanaugh gets loose, this will be a bad, bad day for Ohio State.

Notre Dame will cycle through midfielders on offense, but 5th-year Wheaton Jackaboice (#55) and sophomore Eric Dobson (#8) are going to be the main threats. Dobson is a monster at 6'5", 225. He is shades of Kelleher from Cornell. The midfielders have underperformed this year for Notre Dame to this point, and the Buckeyes will want to keep that trend going.

Notre Dame has strangely sputtered on offense after exploding for 24 goals against Detroit Mercy. Against Georgetown, Notre Dame took 52 shots, 14 more than Georgetown, but only scored 11 times. Against Maryland, the Irish looked out of sorts from the jump, making poor passes, poorer decisions, and generally being out of synch.

Ohio State was much the same against Cornell. So many seniors were out of position on D, made terrible passes, bad decisions, and the defense looked incredibly poor. That needs to tighten up this week, or Notre Dame gets back to .500 easily.

Defense

Under Gerry Byrne, Notre Dame's defense was exceptional. When Ryan Wellner took over, nothing changed in terms of performance. Things look a little different, but Notre Dame is ruthless when sliding, punishes mistakes, and generally sucks to play against. Ohio State is in for another banger this week.

Notre Dame will likely trot out Jason Reynolds (#6), Arden Cohen (#36), and Carson Cochran (#49) down low. The trio are really solid, if unexceptional, and will be a very tough challenge for the Buckeye attackmen to overcome. Especially given last week's struggles, this group needs to have a much better day. If not, Notre Dame's going to have a very easy time.

The Irish have been particularly middle of the road with their short sticks. Even with new blood in the ranks, they're not quite as rugged as past years. Still formidable, just not what they have been. The emergence of Ed Shean is a nice surprise, and if Griffin Hughes comes back this week, that could be a big area of opportunity.

Goalie

Liam Entenmann (#44) was highly ranked coming into Notre Dame, and hasn't disappointed. Entenmann is going to the U21 World Championships this summer, and will anchor a US team hoping to repeat as champions. This season, Entenmann has been pretty solid, considering the competition.

Sporting a .500 save percentage exactly this season, Entenmann will be a challenge for Buckeye shooters that got stopped cold by Chayse Ierlan last Saturday. Entenmann, by most measures, is a better keeper than Ierlan, and will certainly have probably a tougher defense in front of him. The play of Entenmann will go a long way to determining the outcome of tomorrow's game.

Special Teams

Notre Dame is one of the few teams performing at a higher capacity than Ohio State on special teams this season. The Irish are scoring 66% of the time on Man Up, and only allowing opponents to score 22% of the time. That is out of this world.

For Ohio State to win, they're probably going to need to play clean, and convert any opportunity Notre Dame gives them. That was the key to victory last time out, and should be again tomorrow.

Faceoffs

This is the weakest area for Notre Dame, and hopefully should lead to extended possession for Ohio State. After a down game against Cornell, Justin Inacio is going to have to rebound significantly for the Buckeyes tomorrow. Anything less than 60% is going to cost the Buckeyes dearly. No pressure.

Fortunately, neither Will Lynch (#22) nor Colin Hagstrom (#4) was very good against Maryland. Both options for Ohio State should be significantly better than Notre Dame's options. So 60 to 65% is attainable.

I am torn on this game. There was a lot of sloppy play against Cornell that we hadn't seen before. I don't know if it was the cold, or just too much entitlement. But there was a lot that went wrong. Notre Dame is very battle-tested, going against two top 5 teams in a row. And they thrive on turnovers. Then again, will Ohio State really be that bad again at home? That's the issue.

So, for me, this will be a nailbiter all game long. I think that Ohio State is capable of winning by 5 goals, or losing by 7, but Saturday plays out very close as both teams try to right the ship.

Final prediction: Ohio State 11, Notre Dame 10 (OT).

Go Bucks!