Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1368856
www.BLUEANDGOLD.com JUNE/JULY 2021 9 UNDER THE DOME 1 Baseball team in the ACC that has not dropped a conference series yet this year: second-year head coach Link Jarrett's Fighting Irish. Notre Dame has won nine of its first 10 conference series this spring (the lone exception was a 1-1 split with Lou- isville), the most in a single season since joining the league. So far this year, the Irish are 5-0 in rubber matches and 7-0 when coming off a loss. 2 Years in a row that senior foilist Stefani De- schner was named the Women's Fencing ACC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The Versailles, Ky., native compiled an undefeated regular sea- son (17-0) prior to the NCAA Championships, where she won gold. Three other Irish fencers joined her on the ACC All-Academic Team: junior Miriam Grady, junior Stephen Ewart and senior Ariel Simmons. 8th Is where Notre Dame tied in 247Sports' cumulative preseason top 25 after spring ball. The outlet devised a point system based on the most recent top 25 listings released by 247Sports, CBS Sports, ESPN's Football Power Index (FPI), Sporting News and College Football News. The Fighting Irish tied for eighth with Florida and were given a 10 percent chance to make the College Football Playoff by ESPN's FPI, while Sporting News awarded them their highest list- ing, checking in at No. 6 overall. Irish opponents that made the cut included No. 10 North Carolina (Oct. 30 at home); No. 14 Wisconsin (Sept. 25 at Soldier Field in Chicago); and USC (Oct. 23 at home) and Cincinnati (Oct. 2 at home), which tied for No. 16. 16 Straight home games won by the Irish women's softball team, as of May 4. They have won all 12 at Melissa Cook Stadium this season. Notre Dame didn't have a home game last spring and won the last four contests in South Bend during the 2019 campaign. The squad has also won each of its last 11 contests overall, including a three-game sweep of No. 15 Virginia Tech on the road — the pro- gram's first over a nationally ranked team since March 28-29, 2015 — and dating back to an 8-1 win over Western Michigan April 7. 25 Nominees were named for the 2021 Tewaaraton Award, college lacrosse's top individual award, April 22, including senior goaltender Bridget Deehan. Five men's and five women's finalists will be announced in mid-May, prior to the start of the NCAA Championships, with the winner announced after the season concludes. Deehan is the 12th player in program history to be named a nominee. Through 12 contests, U.S. Lacrosse Magazine's Preseason Goaltender of the Year has recorded 126 saves and 24 ground balls while helping the team to a No. 5 national ranking in the coaches' poll as of May 3. She tied a single- game best with 14 saves this year against No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 Syracuse and No. 7 Virginia. 29th Is where incoming transfer Paul Atkinson was listed on ESPN's col- lege basketball transfer rankings for 2021-22. The former Yale power forward was the Ivy League's Co-Player of the Year in 2019-20, when he aver- aged 17.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. As of April 30, only two ACC-bound transfers — guard Caleb Mills (Florida State, No. 17) and forward Jayden Gardner (Virginia, No. 18) — were ranked higher. 55.63 Meters was the length of gradu- ate student Maura Kimmel's school-record toss in the discus when winning the event title at the Joe Walker Classic April 10 in Oxford, Miss. 311 Wins at Notre Dame for men's lacrosse head coach K E V I N C O R R I G A N, af- ter the No. 4 Irish knocked off No. 1 Duke 13-8 April 10. The historic win made Corrigan the win- ningest head coach at a single lacrosse program in NCAA Division I history. The victory also meant Corrigan's squad had won its last three matchups with the No. 1 team in the USILA poll, dating back to a 2015 triumph over Syracuse. 2013 Was the last year that Notre Dame baseball had a player make the Golden Spikes Award midseason watch list — un- til this spring. Senior infielder Niko Kavadas made the list that was released April 14, after proving himself as "one of the game's elite hitters," ac- cording to head coach Link Jarrett. As of April 25, Kavadas ranked second nationally in home runs per game (0.54), tied for second in home runs (15) and third in slugging percentage (.859). He was also recognized midseason on All- America teams put together by D1Baseball and Perfect Game. ✦ BY THE NUMBERS PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS