Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 9, 2024 55 BY TYLER HORKA A t ACC Tipoff in Charlotte in mid- October, Notre Dame head coach Niele Ivey and three of her players spoke openly about the desire to win a national championship this season. A week later at local media day in South Bend, those two words floated around the Fighting Irish's practice facility. This is a serious matter. The Irish truly believe they can win it all for the first time since 2018 and the third time in program history. That's the kind of season Ivey is embarking on in her fifth campaign as her alma mater's head coach. Notre Dame is the No. 6 team in the country in the preseason Associated Press Top 25. There is a strong sentiment from fans that even that is an underrated value for a team that has one of five pre- season Associated Press All-Americans in sophomore point guard Hannah Hi- dalgo, one of five freshmen to ever be named an AP All-American at the end of a season, and another All-American in Pittsburgh transfer Liatu King who was a second-team selection last season. That doesn't even account for 2022- 23 ACC Player of the Year runner-up Olivia Miles, who is on the preseason All-ACC Team along with fellow senior guard Sonia Citron. Marquette transfer Liza Karlen, a 6-2 forward, and five- star freshman center Kate Koval, who stands 6-5, are on the Preseason ACC Newcomer Watch List. The list goes on and on. There are tal- ented players all up and down the ros- ter. It's no wonder they're all clamoring about a title. "We talk about a national champion- ship," Karlen said, bluntly. "I think that for a lot of us, it's the last opportunity to do that. That gives us a different drive." Citron and maybe even Miles, who has an extra year of eligibility if she wishes to use it, are in that class of play- ers whose time is running out to capture the sport's ultimate team goal. Neither of them have lost sight of that. "Obviously, the expectation is to go as far as we can — national championship," Citron said. Here's what we know about the Notre Dame team that's vying for a run at eter- nal glory ahead of an exhibition against Davenport Oct. 30 and the season opener against Mercyhurst Nov. 4. Both tipoffs are at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend. WESTBELD EYES RETURN Maddy Westbeld showed up for her local media day interview in tennis shoes. Two of them. No walking boot. That's progress for the graduate student forward, who on Sept. 16 announced she had surgery on her foot. She had been on crutches and in a boot for a long chunk of time since then. Every day is progress for Westbeld, who hopes to return to game action by the early part of ACC play. That begins Dec. 8 at Syracuse then resumes for the long haul Dec. 29 at home versus Vir- ginia. It's reasonable to think she might be back sometime in January. To capture how early it is in her recov- ery, though, Westbeld said something as simple as being confident enough to take a longer walking stride in the middle of October felt like a significant step forward. She's taking it slow in getting back. Rightfully so. "I had been playing in pain for a long time with my lower-leg, foot injury," Westbeld said. "A lot of people have been saying it's an injury. For me, it's really a healing. I'm really fortunate and feel very blessed to be able to take this time to properly heal." Westbeld has played in 120 of Notre Dame's 121 games the last four seasons. She's started all 120 of those, and the only one she missed was last season be- cause of a concussion. Sitting on the sideline for a long stretch of time will be something new to the forward who's av- eraged 12.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game over those 120 appearances, but she has learned to come to grips with how the beginning of her final collegiate season will transpire. Notre Dame Has Serious National Title Hopes WOMEN'S B A S K E T B A L L Head coach Niele Ivey has her best Irish team yet in her fifth season at the helm of her alma mater. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER