The Week in Notre Dame Athletics: Hockey Splits, Men's Soccer Falls

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

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No. 2 men's soccer (11-4-4, 7-1-3) fell to no. 14 Clemson, 5-4, in penalty kicks in the ACC tournament semifinals on Friday in Cary, NC. The teams fought to a 1-1 draw, then failed to break the tie in 2 overtime periods. Like last year, the Irish lost their chance at the conference tournament crown on a stopped PK. Notre Dame scored in the 26^th minute off of an Evan Panken cross to Leon Brown, and they held the 1-0 lead until the 89^th minutes, when Clemson scored on a header off of a corner kick. The shot took it to overtime, which was scoreless but featured several good tries and crucial saves by both sides. Notre Dame made 4 of 7 penalty kicks and Clemson made 5 of 7, allowing them to advance to the tournament final. Clemson indeed won the final vs. Louisville in overtime, 2-1.

The Irish have been chosen as the no. 1 seed going into the NCAA tournament, and so they will compete beginning in the second round of the tournament. That match will pit the Irish against the winner of Thursday's Ohio State-Akron match at Notre Dame on Sunday (7:00 p.m. ET, probably WatchND or ESPNU).

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No. 12/11 women's soccer (13-5-2, 7-3-1) bested Valparaiso, 1-0, in the 1^st round of NCAA tournament play at ND on Friday night. Forward Kaleigh Olmsted scored the game-winner off of a cross in the 90^th minute to advance the Irish. ND led the defensively stout Valparaiso squad in shots, 25-1, and shots on goal, 9-0.

This Friday, the Irish travel to College Station to play Texas (4:00 p.m. ET) in the second round of the NCAA tournament. The third round game will be on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET.

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Irish hockey (6-5-1, 2-1-1) split their weekend games on the road vs. Merrimack, first claiming a 3-2 overtime victory on Friday, then falling, 4-1 on Saturday. With Chad Katunar in goal on Friday, the Irish netted goals from Vince Hinostroza in the 1^st period and Andy Ryan in the 2^nd. Merrimack scored in the 2^nd and 3^rd to push the game to overtime, where Connor Hurley earned the game-winning goal for the Irish just 1:44 into the period. Notre Dame edged Merrimack in shots, 25-24, and both teams were blanked on power plays (just 2 for ND and 3 for their opponent).

Saturday, Cal Peterson was in-net for the Irish as they fell, 4-1, with their lone goal coming from Robbie Russo. Merrimack's offense was humming early, taking 10 shots against Peterson in the 1^st period, when ND took only 2. Merrimack scored late in the 1^st and early in the 2^nd period, then scored twice more in the final stanza before Russo put the puck in the back of the net. Notre Dame went 0-for-4 on power plays and Merrimack went 1-for-5.

The Irish next welcome UMass-Lowell this Friday (7:35 p.m. ET, NBCSports.com) and Saturday (7:35 p.m. ET, WatchND, NBC Sports Network).

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Volleyball (6-20) dropped their two road matches this past week, first falling in a thriller to Wake Forest in 5 sets (25-27, 25-19, 21-25, 28-26, 15-11), then to Duke in 4 (25-15, 23-25, 25-19, 25-20).

The Irish face North Carolina at home this Friday (8:00 p.m. ET, WatchND), then North Carolina State on Sunday (1:00 p.m. ET, WatchND).

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Men's swimming and diving travelled to East Lansing to duel Michigan State last Friday. The Irish beat the Spartans, 171-127, and claimed top finishes in the 1- and 3-meter diving events (as well as 2^nd through 5^th place in both), the 200 medley relay, 100 breaststroke, 200 fly, 50 free, 200 back, 400 IM, and the 400 free relay.

The Irish next compete in the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa City the 1^st weekend of December.

The women's squad hosted and out-swam Illinois over the weekend, earning a 157-143 win. The Irish earned top finishes in an impressive 10 of 16 events, including in the 200 medley relay, 100 breast, 200 fly, 50 free, 3- and 1-meter dives, 100 free, 200 breast, 100 fly, and 200 IM.

The Irish next head to Austin in the 1^st weekend of December for the Texas Invitational and, that same weekend, to Iowa City for the Hawkeye Invitational.

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Fencing enjoyed a strong opening weekend to the collegiate season. Friday, the Irish women out-fenced Northwestern to take a 60-45 team exhibition win. At the Ohio State Elite Cup on Sunday, the women's squad went 5-0 and the men went 4-1, with women's team victories over Princeton (16-11), Ohio State (20-7), Penn State (24-3), UNC (24-3), and Penn (22-5). The men bested Ohio State (15-12), Princeton (19-8), UNC (24-3), and Penn (18-9), but fell to Penn State (13-14).

This Saturday, the Irish travel to State College, PA, to compete in the Penn State Garret Open.

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Notre Dame cross country competed at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships in Madison, WI, this past weekend. Both men's and women's squads took 6^th-place finishes and the women earned an at-large bid to the NCAA championships. One member of the men's squad, Michael Clevenger, will compete in the championships as an at-large individual qualifier.

The Irish travel to Terre Haute, IN, for the NCAA championships this Saturday.

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Men's basketball downed Binghamton, 82-39, last Friday, then routed Navy, 92-53, on Sunday. You can read our analysis of the Binghamton victory here and of the Navy win right here.

The team welcomes Coppin State this Wednesday (7:00 p.m. ET, WatchND, ESPN3), then plays Massachusetts on the road on Saturday (12:00 p.m. ET, WatchND, ESPN3). Sunday, they face Providence on the road (2:30 p.m. ET, WatchND, ESPN2).

No. 3 women's basketball opened the season last Friday with a dominant win over UMass-Lowell, 105-51. Freshman forward Brianna Turner scored 29 points, setting an ND record for points in an opening game by a freshman.

This Wednesday evening, the Irish face no. 14/15 Michigan State on the road (7:00 p.m. ET, WatchND, Big Ten Network). They then play Chattanooga in South Bend on Friday (5:00 p.m. ET, WatchND) and Holy Cross on Sunday (5:00 p.m. ET, Tourney Central, WatchND). Monday, Harvard comes to town (6:00 p.m. ET, WatchND, Tourney Central). Quinnipiac faces the Irish at ND on Tuesday (6:00 p.m. ET, WatchND, Tourney Central).

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We'll bring you updates next week on Notre Dame's Olympic sports. For now, go Irish. Beat Louisville and everybody else.