Vol.170No. 2
What are those sports bras every athlete is wearing over their clothes?
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.
Notre Dame sports, by the numbers.
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.
At the start of the 2021 season, the Irish found themselves ranked in the same spot they ended the 2020 season: No. 2.
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.
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.
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.
Midway through the season, the Notre Dame softball team (13-8, 6-6) is hitting its stride — literally, in a sense.
Since returning to the court, the Notre Dame Volleyball team has been on a roll, winning five of their first seven matchups.
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 sport has returned this spring, and both teams have found success thus far this season.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Notre Dame finished the season at 10-2, marking its fourth straight season with 10 wins and its second trip to the College Football Playoff in three years. To add to that, the Irish haven’t lost…
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.
This time last year, during my senior year at Notre Dame, I typed away on this same keyboard following Notre Dame’s 11-2 season. I made the argument that Notre Dame fans needed to recognize the elite position the program was in and that the team could win a national championship in the next two seasons.
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.
Given the circumstances: a new offensive coordinator, brand new offensive skill position starters across the board, and limited offseason practices, it was unrealistic to expect the Irish offense to come out firing on all cylinders in their first game. With that being said, as No. 7 Notre Dame prepared for another home contest against the University of South Florida, there were still plenty of questions to be answered.
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