Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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92 MARCH 2019 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED ND SPORTS BY LOU SOMOGYI T he end of the NCAA fall sports campaign in the 2018-19 Division I Learfield Directors' Cup competition came with Clemson defeating Ala- bama 44-16 in the College Football Playoff title game Jan. 7. Notre Dame finished ninth in the fall standings by scoring 280 points in the first phase of the competition, with 153 different schools — includ- ing Football Championship Subdivi- sion schools — tallying points. The second phase is the winter sports, and the third and final one is the spring competition. The 280 points tallied in the fall — with 100 the maximum a team can score from a national title — came from four sports: • 75 points for a No. 5 finish in football. Notre Dame was the lone school in the fall top 10 to also finish in the top 10 in football. • 73 points in men's soccer, which advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals (Elite Eight) under first-year head coach Chad Riley. The program also had two Academic All-Americans in Thomas Ueland (first team) and Jack Casey (second team). • 70.5 points for a No. 8 finish by women's cross country, with Anna Rohrer and Jessica Harris earning All- America notice at the national meet. • 61.5 points for a No. 14 place- ment in men's cross country — which also finished first at the ACC Championships — under head coach Matt Sparks. Notre Dame did not score in vol- leyball and women's soccer, and does not have other fall sports included such as field hockey or men's water polo, where USC earned 100 points for a national title while Stanford re- ceived 90 as the runner-up. Each school can count its 19 top- scoring sports toward the final point total, but four of the sports have to be baseball, men's and women's bas- ketball, and volleyball. The competi- tion began in 1994, and the Stanford Cardinal has captured the Cup every school year since 1995. Naturally, Stanford was easily at the top of the pack at the end of the fall with 541 points, while Michigan was a distant second at 380.5. The ACC had the most represen- tation in the top 10 with Wake For- est sixth, Duke seventh, Notre Dame ninth and North Carolina State 10th. This fall's results for Notre Dame easily exceeded last year 's when it placed 20th with 205 points. How- ever, thanks to national titles in fenc- ing and women's basketball, plus a trip to the championship game in hockey's Frozen Four, the Fighting Irish vaulted all the way up to No. 6 at the end of the winter competition. A ho-hum spring resulted in a tie for a final No. 22 ranking among the 291 Division I schools that scored points. Notre Dame had a school-record three consecutive top-10 placements in 2013 (No. 9), 2014 (No. 3, the school's best showing ever) and 2015 (No. 10). ✦ HOCKEY (14-10-3, 7-8-2 BIG TEN) After going 2-0-2 over the final two weekends in January, No. 14 Notre Dame hit a snag at No. 4 Ohio State Feb. 1-2. The Fighting Irish fell 4-2 in the opener and then 2-0 the following day. The Irish close out the regular season with a single home game against Michigan Feb. 12, plus two-game series against Wisconsin Feb. 15-16, at Min- nesota Feb. 22-23 and versus Penn State March 1-2. The Big Ten Tournament runs from March 8-23. WOMEN'S LACROSSE (2-0, 0-0 ACC) The Irish opened the season with a pair of home victories — 19-4 over Marquette Feb. 8 and 21-4 versus Canisius Feb. 10. Notre Dame finishes its opening month of play with contests at Liberty Feb. 17, at Ohio State Feb. 22 and home versus Kent State Feb. 24. SOFTBALL (2-2, 0-0 ACC) Notre Dame opened the 2019 season at the Puerto Vallarta College Chal- lenge Feb. 7-9, alternating losses and wins in four contests. The Irish opened with a 7-3 loss to Duke, but bounced back for a 4-1 win over Liberty on day two. On the final day, they suffered a 7-4 loss to No. 9 South Carolina before posting a 3-2 extra-inning win over No. 3 Washington. The Irish finish the month of February in the Sunshine State, first at the St. Pete Clearwater Elite Invitational Feb. 14-17 in Clearwater and then at the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic Feb. 23-24 in Kissimmee. MEN'S TENNIS (8-1, 2-0 ACC) The No. 24 Irish won five of their first six matches in February, including triumphs over No. 12 Virginia (4-3) Feb. 1 and No. 13 Texas A&M (5-2) Feb. 3. The lone loss came at home against No. 14 Illinois (4-3) Feb. 6. Notre Dame will have two weeks off before returning to action and closing the month at Michigan Feb. 23 and at Ohio State Feb. 24. WOMEN'S TENNIS (4-2, 1-0 ACC) After opening up the season with three consecutive victories, Notre Dame fell to Ohio State (6-1) Feb. 3 and Illinois (4-3) Feb. 8. The Irish righted the ship with a 4-3 win at Indiana Feb. 10. The Irish finish February with home matches versus Purdue Feb. 13, Michi- gan State and Wright State Feb. 16, Clemson Feb. 22 and Syracuse Feb. 24. — David McKinney Irish Roundup Notre Dame Finishes Ninth In Fall Sports Competition First-team Academic All-American Thomas Ueland and the men's soccer team reached the NCAA quarterfinals under first-year head coach Chad Riley. PHOTO COURTESY FIGHTING IRISH DIGITAL MEDIA