Last year's team conceded very

infrequently and was good defensively. IMO they overachieved given the personnel but when you have no goal scoring at all you are prone to the PK defeat (NCAA) or the shocker loss to an inferior team that catches a break, gets a lucky strike.

It takes balance IMO. That said, the game requires some grit and guile--none of which is in overabundance on the ND squad. This is not your suburban country club game of 20 years past. We need some players that grew up playing in their bare feet under the streetlight with a rolled up newspaper ball. A criticism often used to explain the atrocious results of English international football I might add.