Vol.167No. 7
Notre Dame men's and women's lacrosse hoping to deliver signature springs
This year, the university will see its campus ablaze once again with the passions of its supporters, with the hope that that very passion won’t spread the coronavirus on campus and in the South Bend community.
What to expect from men's and women's soccer, and volleyball.
Notre Dame sports, by the numbers.
While the team’s ACC record may not resemble that of a top five team in the nation, the Irish have beaten No. 2 Duke and No. 8 Syracuse and their three losses have come by a combined four goals.
Link Jarrett was hired as the 21st head coach in team history — after seven seasons at the helm of UNC-Greensboro — the summer before the 2020 season. Since then, the Irish have experienced a total resurgence.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic cut the team’s 2020 season short, Notre Dame’s 2021 performance thus far has proven that the Irish coaching staff and players viewed the pandemic as an opportunity to improve.
At the start of the 2021 season, the Irish found themselves ranked in the same spot they ended the 2020 season: No. 2.
Palmer Jackson was a toddler when his dad bought him his first set of golf clubs — a plastic set, perfect for a young child yet to be entrusted with metal clubs.
Since returning to the court, the Notre Dame Volleyball team has been on a roll, winning five of their first seven matchups.
Midway through the season, the Notre Dame softball team (13-8, 6-6) is hitting its stride — literally, in a sense.
The sport has returned this spring, and both teams have found success thus far this season.
Meuth is a sophomore outside hitter on the Notre Dame volleyball team. As a freshman, she finished second on the team kills with 366, while starting in all 29 matches.
The Irish finished up 2020 at 11-2 and on a seven-game win streak, providing the momentum to propel the team forward into Jarrett’s first full year at the helm.
Under the guidance of new head coach Niele Ivey, who took on the role after the retirement of legendary head coach Muffet McGraw, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team has been hard at work.
4 — The number of third-period goals scored by the Irish on Feb. 20 in a game on the road against Wisconsin. The Irish entered the third-period trailing 3-1 and staged a major comeback that ended in a shootout victory for the Irish.
The Notre Dame men’s basketball team now sits at 9-11 overall, and 6-8 in the ACC, putting them at 11th in the conference standings. The biggest standout for the Irish thus far has been forward Nate Laszewski, who is averaging 14.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game (both team highs) while shooting a remarkable 64.8% from the field and 51.5% from beyond the arc, ranking him 23rd and seventh respectively among shooters in NCAA Division I basketball. Guard Prentiss Hubb has added 13.7 points per game while leading the team in assists with 6.2 per game, and Guard Dane Goodwin has seen his role on the team expand and is averaging 12.5 points per game.
The Notre Dame hockey team soared in its recent games against Ohio State. The series against the Buckeyes marked a bright spot on the schedule after the Irish dropped a series to Michigan and split a series with Penn State. The team won its second game against Penn State after a close loss the night before, despite 34 saves from goalie Dylan St. Cyr.
The Notre Dame men’s and women’s track teams traveled to Clemson Feb. 25 to 27 to participate in the ACC Indoor Championships. Both squads looked to build off strong performances in the 2020 championships, which saw the women finish third and the men finish fourth.
As the Notre Dame hockey season starts winding down, it is time to highlight one of the team’s best players: Alex Steeves. The Irish currently boast a record of 10-12-2, which has them tied for third place in the Big Ten standings, and Steeves is a major reason for that.
Steeves has played in all 24 games and has 26 points, which leads all Irish skaters. Steeves also leads the team in goals with 13, including two against Wisconsin on Feb. 20, which was a come-from-behind shootout win for the Irish.
After a well-deserved bye week, the No. 2 Irish (8-0) traveled down to Chapel Hill for a Friday afternoon game against the No. 19 North Carolina Tar Heels (6-2). Notre Dame came into the game off of two of their best wins of the year but also had given up 71 points in those two games, which was more than they had allowed in the first six games. This could’ve been a major problem, as the Tar Heels touted a strong offense led by their two star running backs: Javonte Williams and Michael Carter.
There were many factors to consider before Notre Dame’s game against Boston College: it was only Notre Dame’s third away game of the season, it was quarterback Phil Jurkovec’s opportunity for revenge against his former school, and it took place a week after Notre Dame’s thrilling double-overtime win against No. 1 Clemson. The setting felt eerily similar to the 1993 Boston College upset against the Fighting Irish only a week after Notre Dame’s win in the “Game of the Century” against No. 1 Florida State. Despite Notre Dame being projected as a 13-point favorite, these factors combined to make many Irish fans feel nervous before kickoff.
Notre Dame’s 42-14 loss to Alabama in the 2013 national championship game marked the nascence of murmurs that, maybe, the Irish weren’t cut out for the big games. Those murmurs began to crescendo over the years as Notre Dame lost top-10 matchups against Florida State (2014), Ohio State (2015), Miami (2017) and Clemson (2018). Add in two close losses to Georgia (2017, 2019), two last second losses to Stanford (2015) and Clemson (2015) along the way and by the time No. 4 Notre Dame and No. 1 Clemson met inside Notre Dame Stadium in 2020 the roars were loud and clear: “Notre Dame can’t win a big game,” “Notre Dame doesn’t belong with college football’s elite.”
Facing a mediocre 2-5 team with the Clemson matchup on the horizon, No. 4 Notre Dame’s game against Georgia Tech had the markings of a trap game. But in order to stay on track for a playoff berth, the Fighting Irish needed to handle business in Atlanta on Halloween.
A month and a half after their first game, with a season-threatening COVID-19 outbreak in between, the undefeated No. 3 Fighting Irish were finally forced to leave the friendly confines of Notre Dame Stadium and go on the road to face the Pittsburgh Panthers.
After cruising through the first three games, No. 4 Notre Dame hit its first major roadblock of the season versus Louisville. Against the backdrop of future foe Clemson’s 73-7 rout of Georgia Tech, the Irish (4-0, 3-0) survived against the Cardinals (1-4, 0-4) 12-7. The team extended the FBS-longest active winning streak to 10 games, but with a matchup against No. 1 Clemson looming on the horizon, the win was anything but far-reaching.
Notre Dame football has a long, proud history. The Fighting Irish are a national brand, attracting fans from all corners of both the United States and the globe. They regularly sell out Notre Dame Stadium, and often contend for major bowls and national championships. What’s also impressive about all this is that Notre Dame is the only significant football program to do this without joining a conference of other collegiate teams.
A usually raucous stadium atmosphere was muted this year, as 11,000 fans sought to simulate the energy of 80,000. The limited capacity was one of many restrictions brought about by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, restrictions that went far beyond the stands and permeated classrooms, dorms and locker rooms.
In a season like no other, Notre Dame proved that it is among the best programs in college football. But once again, the elites of college football distanced themselves from the rest of the pack and illustrated that Notre Dame remains strides behind, especially on the offensive side of the ball.
Kyren Williams’ journey to being named the ACC Rookie of the Year didn’t come easily. Redshirted as a freshman and facing a pandemic as a sophomore made his position within the running back room an uncertainty at the start of the season.