The Week in Notre Dame Athletics: Winding Up & Winding Down

Without further ado, we bring you the results of the last week's Irish match-ups.

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Lacrosse: The no. 5 men's team (10-3, 4-2) lost to no. 3 Syracuse, 10-4, to end the regular season this past Saturday, switching their spots in the rankings (ND entered the match ranked no. 1 and the Orange, no. 7). Although the Irish were ahead, 3-1, at the half and kept the game tied up at 4-4 until the fourth quarter, Syracuse's 6-0 run in the last 15 minutes (with 3 consecutive goals coming from one player) netted them the win.

The Irish face no. 3 Syracuse again this Thursday on the road in the Big East semifinals (4:30 p.m. EST, ESPNU and ESPN3). If they win, they'll play in the final on Saturday at noon EST (ESPNU).

The no. 9/10 women's team (12-4) won their last regular season game, claiming a 14-5 victory over Marquette on senior day.

If named to the 26-team bracket this Sunday, the Irish will next compete in the NCAA tournament beginning May 10^th.

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Baseball: The Irish (27-16, 7-8) swept their 3-game series with Connecticut over the weekend, claiming 12-2 (with a season-high 17 hits), 4-3, and 12-5 wins. After a mid-season slump, the Irish have won 7 of their last 8 games. Tuesday afternoon, the Irish beat Central Michigan on the road, 7-3.

The Irish face Eastern Michigan at home tonight (Wednesday, 5:35 p.m. EST), then USF at home on Friday (5:35 p.m. EST), Saturday (2:05 p.m. EST), and Sunday (11:30 a.m. EST).

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Softball: The Irish (37-11, 17-2) went 2-1 over the weekend, taking their first two games over DePaul, 6-3 and 5-2, but dropping the series' third, 5-2 (with all 5 runs coming in the final two innings of that contest). They're now 1^st in the Big East. Tuesday, the Irish won out over Eastern Michigan at home, 5-3.

The Irish face Western Michigan on the road tonight (Wednesday), then Louisville at home on Saturday in a doubleheader (4:00 and 7:00 p.m. EST), and Sunday (1:00 p.m. EST). Depending on their record, they will compete in the Big East Championship tournament beginning next Thursday in Tampa.

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Track & Field: The Irish competed in both the Hillsdale College Gina Relays and the Drake Relays over the weekend, claiming a full 15 top-5 finishes, including 2 victories and 5 runner-up finishes. Event victories came for Notre Dame in the men's discus and the women's 4x800m relay (the relay team claimed the best time in the Big East). Second-place finishes came in men's hammer and 1500m, and in women's javelin, 400m, and 4x400m.

The Irish compete in the Big East Championships this weekend in NJ.

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Golf: The men's team competed in the Big East Championship in Orlando over the past few days. They led after the first day of competition, then slipped to fourth on the second day before finally finishing in 3rd place (864), 6 strokes behind title-winning USF. On days 1 and 3, the Irish carded the best team scores of all 12 teams (including the best round of the tournament on day 3), but that wasn't quite enough to make up for a 6th-place round on day 2. Cory Sciupider (-5) came in 3rd overall and Niall Platt (-2) came in 5th in individual scoring in the 50-man field after 3 rounds.

The Irish now look ahead to NCAA tournament competition beginning on May 10^th.

The no. 26 women's team was idle this week after winning the Big East Championship. NCAA tournament regional play begins on May 9.

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Rowing: The no. 12 Irish claimed a strong and impressive first place finish at the Dale England Cup this past weekend, beating out Iowa, Indiana, and Alabama. Let this console you: the Irish margin of victory over the Crimson Tide was 58 points (118-60). So we did beat the Tide this year at something. By a lot.

The Irish next compete in the Big East Championship on May 19^th.

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Tennis: Both the no. 21 women's team and the no. 28 men's team, fresh off of winning the Big East title, are currently preparing for NCAA tournament play, beginning May 10^th.

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Soccer: The women's team won their spring play match with the Haiti National team last Friday, 2-1. The men's team also won their latest spring play match last Friday against the Mexico Under-20 team, 3-2.

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We'll bring you updates again next week on all our Notre Dame Olympic sports. Go Irish.