“Dave Earl would be immensely valuable to us if he just played defense. And he’d be immensely valuable to us if he just played
Notre Dame Men's Lacrosse Middie David Earl
wing on faceoffs and getting ground balls in the middle of the field. And he’d be immensely valuable to us if he was just playing offense. But it’s the fact that he can do all of those things at such a high level — the fact that he can play without the ball, the fact that he can invert or go from up top or on the wing , the fact that he is a tough kid that doesn’t want to leave the field…”
Zach Brenneman and David Earl give the Irish one of the best midfield combinations in the country. Big East coaches last week named Brenneman the conference’s preseason offensive player of the year. But Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan has said repeatedly that Earl is Notre Dame’s most valuable player, even when Rodgers was on board.
Said Corrigan: “Dave Earl would be immensely valuable to us if he just played defense. And he’d be immensely valuable to us if he just played wing on faceoffs and getting ground balls in the middle of the field. And he’d be immensely valuable to us if he was just playing offense. But it’s the fact that he can do all of those things at such a high level — the fact that he can play without the ball, the fact that he can invert or go from up top or on the wing , the fact that he is a tough kid that doesn’t want to leave the field.
“He wants to be on man-up. We struggled with last year, because we wanted him on man-up, but we had him on man-down. He’s an excellent, all-around kind of throwback middie in the sense that there’s not much he can’t do and there’s not much he doesn’t want to do. You have to drag him off the field.”
High praise for a guy who was a second-line midfielder, who scored just 16 goals before an explosive five-goal performance in the Irish’s NCAA tournament first-round win at Princeton. But as a full-time, first-line midfielder alongside Brenneman (29g, 13a) and Max Pfeiffer (10g, 8a), Earl should flourish even more than he did last year, when he led all short sticks in ground balls (49) and caused turnovers (13).
“A lot of kids on our team have high expectations,” said Earl, a senior who is also pursuing post-graduate opportunities to play Division I hockey. “We’ll be disappointed if we don’t make it back to that championship game.”
Still, even within Notre Dame’s own conference, the naysayers remain. The Irish are ranked seventh in Lacrosse Magazine’s preseason poll.
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