Film Room Matchup: Matt Kavanagh vs. Goran Murray

Notre Dame attackman Matt Kavanagh #50 dodges against Maryland defender Goran Murray #44 in a matchup of 2014 All-Americans.
Kavanagh finished the game with 2 goals and 4 assists. 2 of the assists came on man-up and one of the goals came when Kavanagh dodged against a defender other than Murray.

[@Subaruuu12]

If Kavanagh had a right hand, he'd be so good.

[@gwinig11]

Notre Dame needs to rock those uni's more often

[@chriskon5]

on the first goal does kavanagh get an assist for that?

[@jakecordes5138]

Goran played sick D. i dont know if kavanagh was off, Goran was on, or if Goran is kavanagh's Achilles heel

[@lacrossefilmroom]

Kavanagh beat him a couple times. Were you expecting more? 2 goals and 4 assists is a pretty good effort against anyone, much less a 1st team All-American.

[@jakecordes5138]

it would be but the video only shows one goal and one assist. unless if i missed some stuff

[@lacrossefilmroom]

Jake Cordes The scorer was generous and gave him an assist on the first goal by Doyle, so the video shows a goal and 2 assists. Whether or not he deserved the assist, Kavanagh makes Doyle's defender come off of him to be ready for a COMA slide which is what allows Doyle to score, so he definitely deserves credit from a strategy perspective. As I wrote in the description for the video: "2 of the assists came on man-up and one of the goals came when Kavanagh dodged against a defender other than Murray." A goal and 2 assists coming in settled 6v6 situations while dodging against an All-American defender is quite good. Most goals are scored on fast breaks, on the extra man, or when someone initiates against a short stick midfielder. To be able to generate that many scoring plays in a game while initiating from a settled situation against a long pole is pretty impressive even if that defender wasn't an All-American. Most D1 teams average somewhere around 10 goals a game, so if 3 of those are being generated through 1 attackman in settled 6v6 situations, that's really good. I believe Kavanagh's other goal came when he dodged against Dunn or Ikeda, so really he created 4 goals dodging against Maryland's long poles.

[@jakecordes5138]

you seem stubborn so im not going to go too much into it but i dont think the assist to doyle was goran's fault. just because the defender on doyle had his eyes fully on kavanagh was not goran's fault. So just letting up one goal and an assist really is pretty considering its kavanagh who's sick. lets not forget the rematch a week later, where all kavanagh had was one goal

[@lacrossefilmroom]

Jake Cordes Defense is a team activity, so in almost every case I don't think it's fair to assign blame to just one player for a goal. Giving up a goal and 2 assists on dodges in settled situations isn't terrible, but it's below expectations for most close defenders. Plenty of other teams and defenders have held Kavanagh to less and Murray has held other All-American attackmen to less in other games.

[@emmetomalley4174]

really hoping Murray shuts Kavanagh up. Don't like Kavanagh's cocky attitude. Expect a great matchup tomorrow nonetheless.

[@Naucturnal]

"Out of Brother City in Michigan". Haha their talking about Perkovic and they mean Brother Rice, that just sounded funny to me. Kavanagh is a clutch though.

[@seandonahue2187]

Tyler Caporaso brother rice is hot trash lmao

[@sourfacekid]

Too tough on D? Call for a screen... -__-

[@nickrobertson9804]

nice m8

[@markcampanile7572]

He got laid out then tripped the defender while trying to act tough haha