The Week in Notre Dame Athletics: Strong Start for Soccer

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

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Soccer: The no. 8 women's team (4-1-0) claimed another convincing win Sunday with a 4-0 victory over Detroit. Two Irish goals came from freshman Morgan Andrews. Notre Dame claimed a dominant 34-3 advantage in shots and were 16-0 in shots on goal.

They next face conference-foes North Carolina State in Raleigh on Thursday and North Carolina in Chapel Hill on Sunday.

The no. 4 men's team (1-0-2, 0-0-1) drew a tie with no. 1 North Carolina on Sunday in their ACC conference opener. The score came to 1-1 on a goal in the 79^th minute from Leon Brown and 2 overtime periods left the score at that. The Irish outshot North Carolina, 21-12, had 8 shots on goals to the Tar Heels' 4, and 6 corner kicks to their 3.

This Friday, the Irish head to New York to face no. 17 Syracuse. They will face Michigan at Notre Dame next Tuesday evening.

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Volleyball: The Irish (1-3) fell to no. 22 Purdue in 5 very tightly contested sets last Friday. Notre Dame went up 2-1 and led, 8-6, in the 5^th set, and both times, were unable to put together the closing win.

Sunday, they faced a veteran Polish club team, Dabrowa, who went 3-0 in their weekend matches and dropped only 1 set in all. The Irish fell to Dabrowa in 3 sets, but used the exhibition match to give young players valuable game experience.

The Irish face Loyola-Chicago at home this Friday, then Oakland and Auburn on Saturday.

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Irish cross country made a strong showing at their season-starting Crusader Open at Valparaiso last Friday. The women's team took first overall and the men, second, in a field with Valpo, Western Michigan, and IUPUI. Each also had a runner finish first in the field to claim individual titles.

Next up for the Irish is the Notre Dame-hosted, 34^th annual National Catholic Championships in 2 weeks.

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The men's golf team began their fall season with the Gopher Invitational in Minnesota this past Sunday and Monday. They finished 7^th out of 12 as a team, but Niall Platt and freshman Matt Rushton tied for a very impressive 6^th place in a field of 64.

The Irish return to competition in 2 weeks when they host the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic.

Five members of the women's golf team participated in the IU Fall Kickoff on Sunday as unattached players and four of them placed in the top 20 overall. Freshman Jordan Ferreira tied for eighth place in her very first college competition.

This weekend, the Irish compete in the Mary Fossum Invitational in East Lansing, MI.

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The men's tennis team begins their fall slate competing in the OFCC and Vredevelt Invitationals this weekend in Illinois and Michigan.

Softball starts their fall this Sunday with a double-header against Illinois State.

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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. For now, go Irish. Beat Purdue and everybody else.