The Week in Notre Dame Athletics: Women’s Soccer? On a Roll

In a bit of intramural competition, the men's tennis team (surprise, surprise) conquered in Notre Dame's first ever Student-Athlete Advisory Council Table Tennis Tournament. Football lost to softball and hockey lost to women's tennis in the opening round. Both football and hockey teams already have a table tennis table in their players' lounge, so perhaps they should have had a better showing. The prize - a table tennis table for the winning athletes' player's lounge - went to men's tennis after Greg Andrews and Wyatt McCoy beat representatives from men's soccer.

All in all, not a bad week to be Irish.

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Soccer: The 10^th-ranked men's team (8-2-0, 0-2-0) split their week's two matches, snagging a 1-0 victory over then-no. 10 Indiana last week and falling 2-1 to no. 2 Connecticut Saturday.

The Irish outshot Indiana on goal 9-1, and their lone and winning goal came in the 71^st minute from senior defender Grant Van De Casteele on a corner kick. Despite solid, controlling play from the Irish, errors allowed Connecticut a 2-0 lead in the first half that the Irish struggled to beat in the second. The Irish face Pittsburgh tonight at home.

The women's team (9-3-1, 5-0-0 Big East) came up with two big victories this past weekend, bringing their winning streak to an impressive six games. Friday, the Irish earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory in steady rain showers over Providence. The Irish forced an own-goal on Providence with just 7:13 remaining in the match - an Irish cross bounced off a Providence defender and into the net.

Sunday, the Irish brought home a 4-0 conference win at Connecticut after an explosive, 3-goal second half. Sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Voigt, named Big East goalkeeper of the week, had 2 saves Friday and another 6 saves Sunday, tying her career high and giving her 3 solo shut-outs on the season.

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Volleyball: The Irish (10-6, 3-1 Big East) split their weekend matches, sweeping Syracuse, but falling to Marquette, 3-2. The loss to Marquette saw dominating play from the Irish in two winning sets (25-12, 25-13), losses in two tight sets (26-24, 27-25), then exceptional play by Marquette in the fifth for the win (15-7). The 3-0 win over Syracuse was marked by very strong play by the Irish through the first two sets and an impressive come-from-behind victory in the third.

Notre Dame faces Connecticut and St. John's at home this weekend.

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Golf: The men's team enjoyed victory this weekend when junior Niall Platt won the Macdonald Cup at The Course at Yale. The team finished fourth overall. They will host the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic at the Warren Golf Course on October 7-9.

The now 26^th-ranked women's team is in the midst of the Windy City Collegiate Classic at the Glen View Golf Club in Golf, Illinois (what a name!). The team stands in fourth place and freshman Lindsey Weaver is tied at first in a field that includes 9 ranked opponents.

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Softball: The Irish claimed a solid 5-4 victory over Ball State on a walk-off homerun by Katey Haus in the bottom of the seventh inning over the weekend. They drew a 3-3 tie with Loyola-Chicago in the first game of Sunday's double-header in Melissa Cook Stadium. On October 4^th, the Irish take the field again, hosting Western Michigan in their final fall game.

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Tennis: The women's team competed in the Adidas Hoosier Classic at the Indiana University Tennis Center over the weekend, and they racked up wins in five of seven singles matches. Junior Britney Sanders added four doubles wins to her three singles victories.

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Cross country: Over the weekend, the Irish hosted the 57^th annual Notre Dame Invitational. The women's team walked away with second place and the men, with third, in competitive races against no fewer than 12 ranked opponents. Impressive victories for the Irish. They hit the course again in two weeks at the Wisconsin Invitational in Madison.

Notre Dame's two cross country teams and two track and field teams were also recently awarded the NCAA Public Recognition Award for academic excellence, awarded to "teams that have an NCAA Division I Academic Progress Rating (APR) that is in the top 10 percent of all squads in their respective sports." Student athletes, all.

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We'll bring you updates again next week on the Notre Dame Olympic sports and help you to root for the Irish beyond those long-awaited and well-loved fall Saturdays. Go Irish. Beat Miami - and everybody else.