Vol.169No. 7
From national champion backup to high-pressure starter, Thomas Ricciardelli has experienced it all at Notre...
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.
Notre Dame sports, by the numbers.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
For the first time in over 27 years, Notre Dame football defeated the No. 1 ranked team in the nation with a thrilling double-overtime victory over the Clemson Tigers.
On Dec. 19, the undefeated Fighting Irish arrived at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., marking the beginning of the playoff season for the team. The ACC Championship set the stage for the highly anticipated Notre Dame-Clemson rematch, after the No. 4 Irish defeated the then-No. 1 Tigers during their regular season matchup in South Bend.
It was a matchup that was supposed to happen on Sept. 26 at Wake Forest, but because of COVID-19, the game was rescheduled to Dec. 12. Unfortunately, seven Notre Dame football players tested positive for the virus several days before the originally scheduled game, which resulted in the isolation of 13 players. Furthermore, the Notre Dame football program wanted to ensure the safety of the rest of its players, so it paused all football-related activities for several days. Head coach Brian Kelly stated that “with student-athlete health and safety our primary focus, we will continue to follow our prevention protocols and ongoing testing procedures.” In the meantime, it was time for the team to redirect its attention to the upcoming game against Florida State.
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.
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.
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.