This Week in Notre Dame Athletics: More Than Just Football and Men's Basketball
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 24, 2012 7:00 AM EST
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One Foot Down has focused on covering Fighting Irish football and men's basketball almost exclusively since moving over to SBNation. As these are the two most popular sports for the Notre Dame community it's been a no-brainer to devote so much attention towards the pigskin and men's hoops.
However, we felt it is doing Notre Dame and the rest of the university athletes a disservice by not covering the rest of the sports on campus, particularly since many of the teams and individuals are playing at an elite level.
So the time has come to cover the other 14 Irish sports from both the men's and women's side of the aisle.
Welcome to This Week in Notre Dame Athletics!
Due to the sheer number of sports being covered we will not be able to devote an incredible amount of attention and detail to each team, but it is our hope that this weekly post allows Fighting Irish fans everywhere a greater understanding of the hard work and success the rest of the athletes in South Bend achieve while mostly out of the spotlight.
This feature might not be very popular, but there are actually things called "championships" and "national titles" in some of the the 14 other sports, so it is kind of important.
Dive right in after the jump. I hope you enjoy this.
Women's Basketball: 20-1 overall, 7-0 Big East
Speaking of dominant teams, the women's basketball team is currently ranked second in the nation with their only defeat coming early in the season to No. 1 Baylor.
They had a very successful 2010-11 season last year, beating national powerhouse and rival Connecticut in the Final Four, but the Irish were upended in the national title game by Texas A&M.
Now, the Irish are rolling with a 17-game winning streak, recently defeated Connecticut again in overtime back in early January, and just handed Tennessee their second-worst lost in school history last night.
The team is led by four players all averaging double-digits in scoring with senior Natalie Novosel leading the way with 16.3 points per game. Junior superstar Skylar Diggins is not far behind with 15.9 points per game and a team-leading 5.9 assists a night. Sophomore Kayla McBride chips in 11.8 per game, and fifth-year senior Devereaux Peters a healthy 11.2 points.
Novosel is a determined leader for the Irish.
Last night the Irish got 27 from Diggins, 17 from McBride, and 16 from Peters in a 72-44 romp over the Volunteers. The team travels to St. John's this weekend to get back into conference play.
Men's Hockey: 14-9-3 overall, 9-6-3 CCHA
The Fighting Irish hockey team is coming off a highly successful 2010-11 season winning 25 games and finishing 4th in the country, after losing in the Frozen Four to eventual national champion Minnesota-Duluth.
Notre Dame came into this season ranked No. 1 in the USCHO.com preseason poll and opened up the beautiful new Compton Family Ice Center in October after playing three early season home games at the old Joyce Center facility.
Simply a gorgeous hockey venue.
Even with some struggles this season, the Irish are still ranked 7th in the country and poised for another run at a national championship.
Notre Dame is led by sensational sophomore T.J. Tynan who is coming off a 54-point freshmen campaign, and leads the Irish this season with 33 points in 25 games.
Head coach Jeff Jackson and his team split the 2-game series at home versus Michigan over the weekend. The Irish took the first game on Friday night 3-1 inside Compton, but dropped the back-end of the rivalry 2-1 despite out-shooting the Wolverines 39-24. Michigan scored two first period power play goals on Saturday while Notre Dame went 0 for 8 on the man advantage over the weekend.
The Irish---who fall into a tie for 6th in the CCHA, but just three points out of 2nd place---will travel far up north to play two games against Alaska this weekend.
Swimming: 6-3 (Men's) & 4-5 (Women's)
The men's swimming and diving team has been doing pretty well this year, coming into this week with a 6-3 record. The diving team competed in the Ohio State invite to close out the first half of the season, while the swimming team took 3rd place at the Iowa Invitational.
Both teams came back from winter training and 1st place in the Copa Coqui exhibition in Puerto Rico, sneaking past Northwestern 157-143, and taking care of business against Michigan State 174-121 this past Saturday.
Notre Dame hosts the Shamrock Invitational at Rolfs Aquatic Center this Friday and Saturday.
The women's side has struggled a little bit, but just demolished Michigan State 218-82 on Saturday. The Irish went 3-3 in first half of the season, finished 3rd in the Ohio State Invitational, and made their annual trip to Hawaii for 2 weeks of winter training.
This past weekends defeat of the Spartans came after two defeats at the hands of Michigan and Northwestern. The women will also take part in the the Shamrock Invitational this weekend.
Fencing: 12-5 (Men's) & 6-5 (Women's)
Fencing has been the most successful program at Notre Dame over the past several years, as the Irish are the current defending national champions after winning the school's eighth title in 2011.
The men's team began the season with a No. 4 ranking, while the women came in at No. 3 in the preseason balloting. The men had won 106 of their last 107 bouts going into this past weekend, while the women had not lost since 2009---stringing together 89 straight victories.
Notre Dame is good at this sport.
However, both sides had a tough weekend for Notre Dame's high standards.
At the St. John's Duals, the women lost to No. 6 Ohio State, No. 1 Penn State, and No. 5 St. John's, while defeating Harvard and Columbia. The men shared the same fate, except for trading a victory over St. John's with a loss to Columbia.
The next day at the NYU Invitational, both teams finished with identical 4-2 records.
The men defeated Yale, Columbia, North Carolina, and NYU while losing to St. John's and Ohio State. The women beat Yale, Northwestern, NYU, and Ohio State but dropped matches to Columbia and St. John's.
This weekend both teams host the Notre Dame Duels on campus.
Tennis: 3-1 (Men's) & 3-0 (Women's)
The men's tennis team opened their season with victories over Illinois State and Toledo, while they also dropped William & Mary this past Friday.
Their perfect season was ruined on Sunday with a loss to No. 18 Illinois. The men will travel to Ohio State this weekend to take on Indiana this Saturday and Cornell or Ohio State on Sunday.
The 20th ranked women's tennis team opened their season this weekend with a victory over Cincinnati on Saturday and a double-header victory over Missouri and IPFW.
The women will travel to Ann Arbor to face Yale this Saturday and either Michigan or Maryland on Sunday.
Track and Field
The Irish opened their season in track & field hosting the Blue & Gold Invitational where Notre Dame won 20 events and had 60 student-athletes qualifying for February's Big East Indoor Championships.
On Friday, December 16th seniors Maddie Buttinger and Kevin Schipper performed well at the Grand Valley State Holiday Open, with the former athlete finishing third in the 60-meter hurdles, second in the high jump, and first in the long jump. Schipper finished in the top three in all of his events, and was the top male finisher of the day.
At the GVSU Bob Eubanks Open after winter break, Notre Dame won four events: women's pentathlon, men's 400m, men's 600m, and men's 4x400 relay.
This past weekend the Irish T&F teams hosted the Notre Dame Invitational.
The Irish won six events and had freshman Chris Giesting break the school record in the 500m run. Giesting broke Steve Dziabis' mark of 1:02.92 from 1983 with a new time of 1:01.89 easily winning the meet over Louisville's Shaquan Brown who finished in second place.
From the official school release:
"Today's meet was a great one for track and field fans," said head coach Joe Piane. "Chris broke a 29-year old school record, a Michigan State women's high jumper leapt six feet and a DePaul shot putter had a NCAA qualifying toss of 20.01 meters. We had several strong performances today from Kelly Burke in the pole vault to the men's 4x400m relay team and many others in between."
The track & field team will travel to Bloomington this Friday and Saturday to compete in the Indiana Relays.
Student-Athlete of the Week: Brittany Mallory
Fifth-year senior and co-captain for the second straight season, Mallory was a member of the Big East All-Freshman team in 2008 and is playing in her last year of eligibility after tearing her ACL during the 2008-09 season.
She led the Irish in steals last year and led the Big East in three point shooting percentage in 2010-11 as well.
Currently second on the team in minutes played, second in steals, and averaging 5.8 points per game.
Mallory graduated with a degree in management-entrepreneurship from the top-ranked Mendoza business school and is currently pursing graduate studies.
She is known for her tough defense and leadership---a key part of the women's basketball teams dominance over the past few years.
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Bravo!
I appreciate this new feature that you started. Just wanted to note that in regards to the fencing team, they are without many of the top fencers from last year because those fencers have taken the year off to train for the 2012 Olympics either for America or their home countries. Also of note this week, the University will be holding a memorial mass for the two swimmers who perished 20 years ago today in that horrific bus crash on the way back from Chicago.
Thanks for the note on the fencers
I figured they had lost some great players, but chalked it up to graduation. That’s pretty cool that they are training for the Olympics though. So that obviously means they aren’t in school at all then, right?
Also, their rosters are HUGE. As someone who knows very little about fencing, I figured each team had 5 or 6 players and that’s it. I was way off!
Sky rockets in flight.
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 24, 2012 8:34 AM EST up reply actions
that’s correct, most are at fencing academies elsewhere but will return next year if they still have eligibility. And regarding the rosters, yeah, they tend to be bigger than you’d expect. Won’t go into a full explanation, but there are three weapon classes (Epee, Foil, and Saber) and most only compete in one of those during the season, with the team in any one match consisting of 3 competitors squaring off against a different team’s 3 fencers. And now you probably know way more about fencing than you ever dreamed you would want to know…
Question:
How does one start fencing? Is it a highly regionalized sport (like lacrosse)? Family? Just curious…
I don't tweet often--but when I do, you can be sure it isn't important.
@jemiesle
Or squash
Or water polo.
But that is a topic for another day.
Sky rockets in flight.
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 24, 2012 9:39 AM EST up reply actions
When that other day comes...
I’ll be more than glad to tell you about water polo. Currently on the team now. But again, for another day…
Well since you are on the team
I guess the day has arrived.
I would like to hear your story.
Sky rockets in flight.
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 24, 2012 11:37 AM EST up reply actions
Water Polo is another very regional sport
Most areas don’t have high school teams. You’ll see CA with a lot, but then across the country, it’s rather sporadic. We have guys on the team from Texas, St. Louis, Chicago, Cincy, Maryland, and Florida, but there isn’t really a true strong national junior system. For example, I grew up in the Tampa area of Florida. In an area littered with pools, we had zero water polo teams. About half the guys on the team (myself included) are swimmer converts.
We play in a conference that includes Loyola (Chicago), UIC, Grand Valley State, Ohio State, Ohio, Miami (Ohio), and Dayton. Most of those schools just have local guys playing for them (as a club, can’t really “recruit” outside of convincing good players to pay their way to school). We are lucky to have a bunch of CA guys that have played out there, and from a pure talent perspective, our top guys are the best in the conference. However, we lack the prototypical big dumb oaf of a player that is usually needed to dominate in a physical game. We’ve been coach-less for the last six years until now, and with our volunteer coach, we actually resemble a team (versus a bunch of drinking buddies who meet at the pool).
The one thing that sucks is our season: our conference championships (which is the only way to qualify for nationals) was the USC weekend in Athens, Ohio. They didn’t tell us til the fall semester started. We ended up only sending half the team since lots of parents were coming in for that game.
This concludes the abridged version of Tolstoy’s War and Peace…
I grew up in southern CA,
and water polo is extremely popular in the high schools, among boys and girls. Tons of guys played, and they bore a similar reputation/status as did the football players due to the aggression and physicality of the sport.
#figureitoutbobby
by fishoutofwater on Jan 24, 2012 10:48 PM EST up reply actions
Hmm interesting...
Sky rockets in flight.
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 24, 2012 10:51 PM EST up reply actions
I started fencing frosh year of HS.
It was being offered at a local rec center, had fun, but there was no infrastructure to support the interest. When the coach moved on, the program ended. It was fun but I never learned Bonetti’s Defense.
I have never lived in a place that had a HS fencing program, so I can’t say how scholarship athletes are identified and recruited. A guess, would be that, like lacrosse 15 or 20 years ago, it is a NE prep school type sport, i.e. a niche that mostly survives in well to do places with hard winters.
Well hello there hangover. Fancy meeting you here this bright Thursday morning.
by Cranked_Irish on Jan 24, 2012 1:38 PM EST up reply actions
I was wondering about recruiting as well...
it sounds like the way football was recruited for a long, long time. Apparently, hockey is the lone exception (due to the junior hockey circuit, which I know just a very small amount about).
I don't tweet often--but when I do, you can be sure it isn't important.
@jemiesle
What's that, you want to talk hockey recruiting!?!?
Sky rockets in flight.
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 24, 2012 8:42 PM EST up reply actions
I have friends in Detroit
that have 2 extra rooms. These rooms are routinely filled with exchange players for the local jr leagues. Pretty interesting bunch, more foreign players than I would have imagined.
Well hello there hangover. Fancy meeting you here this bright Thursday morning.
by Cranked_Irish on Jan 24, 2012 9:11 PM EST up reply actions
Hate to burst your bubble, E...
but not really. Or, just not really in the way you probably would like to discuss.
The point I was trying to make is that I just didn’t realize that most kids play the equivalent of semi-pro hockey just to get offers for scholarships. It is really an interesting paradigm when you think of it.
It makes me curious about how the NCAA views this in comparison to other sports.
I don't tweet often--but when I do, you can be sure it isn't important.
@jemiesle
They-all RATGAS
Well hello there hangover. Fancy meeting you here this bright Thursday morning.
by Cranked_Irish on Jan 24, 2012 9:34 PM EST up reply actions
Fine, whatever
But yes, ND specifically recruits primarily from the American junior hockey leagues. As a result, many of their players are old as hell. One senior will be turning 25 in a couple days.
I think we talked about back in our FanTake days if college football would ever develop a major junior alternative to playing NCAA football. It would be pretty crazy to see someone like DGB opt to play “junior football” and get paid, lose his eligibility, and spurn NCAA——clashes we see all the time in hockey.
Then again, places like Alabama basically are “major junior” programs. So it’s likely never to happen.
Sky rockets in flight.
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 24, 2012 10:09 PM EST up reply actions
Sorry E about not really wanting to discuss...
but feel free to enlighten others on the process. To me, it is very interesting how it all works. Additionally, the junior hockey circuit seems to have helped the US with regards to the international game. Specifically, most of the US-born hockey players in the NHL have come up through the system.
I don't tweet often--but when I do, you can be sure it isn't important.
@jemiesle
Yes, the hockey world is very interesting
Because it is incredibly complex.
I’m sure there are others who have more to add, but from my experience the system is full of the usual politics and BS, but oddly it works because there’s so much balance and many options for players.
I think it’s precisely the lack of options that is a main ingredient for making college football so messy and corrupt.
As far as junior hockey helping the US, I think it has a little bit. I also think a big part of it is hockey growing as a sport and being a lot more structured, especially outside of New England and the mid-Atlantic.
If you take your average 15-year old elite hockey player, he has a lot of choices to make. If they’re really set on playing in the NHL, they’ll be tempted to play in the Canadian major junior leagues (OHL, QJMHL, WHL) if they are drafted and wooed strongly enough.
Already the difference between football and hockey is immense. As crazy as we are about football recruiting, 99.9999% of kids aren’t even close to being on our radar at that age. Meanwhile, a hockey player at 15 has already been playing travel hockey for 8 to 10 years, has competed against the best players in North America (sometimes the world), and faces being paid decent money (for a kid) and playing in front of 10,000 fans a night in what is still considered the NHL’s breeding ground.
If you don’t want to go the major junior route (as I didn’t) and forfeit your college eligibility, you can still play high school hockey (always big in Minnesota—-decent and growing in other areas of the country), stick with your travel hockey team for a couple more years (the competition drops off around 19-20), or attend a prep school (my route).
Even after all that, and even during, more choices can be made. Kids will leave prep school for the OHL. Some will leave their local high school or travel team for Junior B. Throw in colleges and it’s just another ingredient to the mix. I had a friend play travel hockey as a kid, a few years at a local Catholic school where the hockey was strong, left for Shattuck St. Mary’s prep school, drafted in the NHL 1st round, attend Bowling Green for a year, become a CCHA All-Freshman, then skip out and play in the Quebec Major Junior League where he could get paid.
To get back to your post though, I really think the USHL and US National Program are really helping players in our country. Both took off in the late 1990’s and just add yet another training ground for Americans. If you look at Notre Dame’s roster, it’s overwhelmingly kids who played travel/prep/high school, went to a junior league (usually USHL) and then show up in South Bend as 20 or 21 year-old freshmen.
Sky rockets in flight.
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 25, 2012 9:45 AM EST up reply actions
Fencing at ND
Fencing is indeed fairly regional, at least in terms of quality. While many cities have some sort of private club to join, only a few areas have high quality compettion.
The ND fencing team is indeed quite large – though about 50% of the team is typically made up of walk-on’s from the P.E. classes. (some of these kids have even gone on to represent ND in the NCAA’s).
Thanks for giving our other sports a few lines of publicity! Especially fencing – since the administration largely ignores the program. (says the former team captain and fencing homer)
Great insight, thaks for sharing.
And seriously, don’t hesitate to swing by here and write more detailed FanPosts any time. That would be a great addition to the conversation.
whiskey
www.onefootdown.com
All the publicity?
All the publicity!
Thanks for adding to the discussion, you should hang around.
I actually look forward to seeing how these teams and athletes perform, including the fencers.
Sky rockets in flight.
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 24, 2012 2:33 PM EST up reply actions
The Compton Family Ice Arena opened in October
The 1st game was October 21 vs RPI, not the November 18th game against BC.
ND played 2 home games in the Joyce Center, October 14 and 15 (unless you count the exhibition game against Western Ontario, which I dont.)
Changed to October
Yes, I did count the Western Ontario game as part of the three.
Sky rockets in flight.
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 24, 2012 8:56 AM EST up reply actions
Also, ND Hockey is ranked #4 in both major polls.
http://www.uscho.com/rankings/d-i-mens-poll/2011-2012/poll,0123/january-23,-2012/
http://www.uscho.com/rankings/usa-today-mens/2011-2012/poll,0123/january-23,-2012/
Ahhh, I see that poll was released yesterday
Thanks.
Sky rockets in flight.
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 24, 2012 9:34 AM EST up reply actions
It's not varisty, but the Men's Volleyball team starts conference play Feb 4
2010 was the most successful year in the history of the program, which ended as National Runners-Up, falling to rival UW-Oshkosh in the national championship game. Bringing back many of the key contributors, the Irish rolled through their preseason tournament at Michigan St, taking down Northern Illinois, Ohio State twice, Purdue, beating Wisconsin for the tournament championship with a 15-2 win in the 3rd (and deciding) set. They kick off conference play with a tournament at Marquette on Feb 4, and will likely have a chance to avenge the championship game loss.
Cool keep us updates if you want
Sky rockets in flight.
by Eric Murtaugh on Jan 24, 2012 11:36 AM EST up reply actions
Thumbs up for the Student Athlete of the Week!
Britney and I are actually friends (we were both Management Consulting majors) and she’s actually a really wonderful person, though we have frequent twitter fights about how useful/useless Scott Martin has been this year
not enough for her to try to set me up skylar
but i did get to meet sky through britney my senior year
by 4pointshooter on Jan 24, 2012 11:50 AM EST up reply actions
Did you and Britney ever play any 1 v 1 hoops?
If so did you get schooled?
whiskey
www.onefootdown.com
i once played 1 on 1 vs. ashley barlow
and yes, i did get schooled- it was like 7-2 or something like that- never against britney
the summer of ‘08 i played a good amount of ball against the women’s team at rolfs so i got to know a few of them
i’ll tell you who was really good though- charel allen… she was as good a bball player male or female as i’ve every played with
by 4pointshooter on Jan 24, 2012 3:29 PM EST up reply actions
I'm all for it!
Thanks for writing this up.
by Chris Schumerth on Jan 24, 2012 1:05 PM EST reply actions
Great post E. I'm really excited about adding the other sports into the conversation here.
You regulars that follow some of these sports closely feel free to write more detailed FanPosts too. Those are always welcome.
whiskey
www.onefootdown.com
This is an awesome idea. Keep up the great work!
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