Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND Sports Senior Courtney Hurley won her second NCAA epee crown in three years. Freshman Lee Kiefer won 22 of her 23 bouts in the finals to claim her first championship in the foil. Senior Gerek Meinhardt also won all but one of his bouts, but the loss came in the semifinal round after an unbeaten round robin run. No one else from the men's team reached the semifinal round. Golf Notre Dame's women team became the latest Irish team to win a Big East title April 23. They bounced back after a slow first day to top Louisville by shooting six-under-par as a team. Freshmen Lindsey Weaver and Talia Campbell shared first-place honors, shooting a six-under 210 on the 54‑hole course. The men's team finished in 11th place at the Hawkeye Invitational in mid-April in its final tune-up before the Big East Tournament at the end of the month. Junior Niall Platt, who took 11th place individually in Iowa, heads into the postseason with the team's lowest per-round average (74.1). Lacrosse The No. 2 men's team moved to 10-2 with another fourth-quarter push past No. 19 Villanova in late April. The Irish, known for their defense, had scored 10 or more goals in each of their last five games. Senior attackman Sean Rogers and freshman Matt Kavanagh lead the goal-scoring charge with 20 and 23 scores, respectively. The seventh-ranked women's team dipped to 11-3 after back-to-back losses April 19 and 21. Notre Dame lost to No. 5 Syracuse and No. 19 Connecticut by slim margins while it prepared to face No. 2 Northwestern later in the week for its fifth straight game against a ranked opponent. Softball For the second straight season, the Irish (33-10, 13-1 Big East) are pushing toward the postseason with a full head of steam. Junior Laura Winter came within two outs of pitching a perfect game before allowing a hit in the last inning of a 7-0 win over Pittsburgh April 21 that pushed Notre Dame's win streak to seven straight. Winter also hit a home run and went 5 for 9 overall from the plate in the three-game sweep. The Irish sat in second place in the Big East standings behind defending champion Louisville (15-1) with three conference series remaining before the postseason tournament. Tennis Notre Dame swept the men's and women's Big East titles in its final go-round in the conference. The No. 28 men's team beat Louisville 4-0 in the final to win its ninth championship in head coach Bobby Bayliss' final season. The No. 21 women's team won its sixth consecutive title by beating South Florida 4-1 on its own turf. Junior Britney Sanders won the No. 1 singles matchup and was named the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament. — Dan Murphy