Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM PRESEASON 2025 75 Cup finish last season, Fighting Irish athletics provided plenty of memora- ble moments and solid performances, mainly during a national runner-up fin- ish for the football program. With that as a backdrop, following are 10 highlights from the 2024-25 Notre Dame sports year. HISTORIC SEASON Rock bottom for the Notre Dame football program last season arrived on the afternoon of Sept. 7, when Northern Illinois handed the Irish a 16-14 home loss as a four-touchdown underdog that seemingly derailed any Irish playoff hopes only two games into the schedule. Instead, Notre Dame went to work, won their final 10 regular-season games, then added three playoff victo- ries to make the national championship game where the Irish were beaten 34-23 by Ohio State Jan. 20 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. The College Football Playoff wins over Indiana in a first-round game, Georgia in the Sugar Bowl quarterfi- nal and Penn State in the Orange Bowl semifinal proved that Notre Dame can stand toe-to-toe with any program in the country. Additionally, the dominating 23-10 win over Georgia Jan. 2 ended a 31-year, 10-game winless streak in elite bowl games, a bowl drought that dated back to Jan. 1, 1994. WOMEN'S SOCCER SHINES A run to "only" the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament fell short of post- season expectations for the Irish wom- en's soccer team. But the 2024 season was still a terrific one. Notre Dame finished the season 14-4-4 overall (5-1-4 ACC), and ranked No. 6 in the final NCAA rankings. Led by stingy goaltending from fresh- man netkeeper Sonoma Kasica, Notre Dame won six straight games — all by shutout — from Aug. 18 to Sept. 8. The Irish also went more than two months and 14 games without losing a match. A sign of good things to come, 44 of Notre Dame's 55 goals last season were scored by freshmen, 19 of those came from midfielder Izzy Engle, the second most in the country. At 2.5 goals per game in 2024, the Irish ranked eighth nationally in scor- ing, and finished with the team's best scoring mark since 2008. BACK ON TOP After falling one place short of a na- tional championship in 2024, the Notre Dame fencing team reclaimed its spot as the nation's best program last season, with a dominating performance and a 14th team title at the 2025 NCAA Cham- pionships on the campus of Penn State. The Irish tallied 183 points to beat run- ner-up Columbia/Barnard by 11. Har- vard and Princeton tied for third with 141 points. This marked the fourth team title in the last five years and the sixth in the last eight seasons for the Irish. Notre Dame collected three individual titles along the way — Eszter Muhari in women's epee; Magda Skarbonkiewicz in women's sabre; and Chase Emmer in men's foil — to bring the program's all- time individual title total to 48. HARDWARE HAUL A national runner-up finish and a single-season program record 14 vic- tories opened a floodgate of postsea- son honors for Irish head football coach Marcus Freeman. Under Freeman's guidance, Notre Dame led the nation with seven wins against Associated Press top-25 teams last season. And in turn, the popular Irish skipper was recognized nationally with the 2024 Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year Award; the 2024 Dodd Trophy; the 2024 George Munger College Coach of the Year Award; and the National Coalition 2024-25 Male Athletes of the Year 1. Xavier Watts (football) — The star graduate student safety and Irish team captain finished his terrific career with consensus first-team All-America honors, one year removed from unanimous All- America honors as a senior in 2023. The Omaha, Neb., native finished tied for second nationally with 6 interceptions last season, giving him 13 for his career. Watts was also second on the Irish with 82 tackles and led the team with 10 passes broken up en route to being a third-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons. 2. Carson Tinney (baseball) — The sophomore catcher led the Irish with a .348 batting average, 17 home runs, 52 runs scored and 53 RBI. Tinney's work landed him first-team All-America honors from Baseball Amer- ica, first-team All-ACC recognition and a place on the Buster Posey Award finalist list as the top college catcher. Unfortunately for Irish fans, the Castle Pines, Colo., native announced in June that he was transferring to Texas. 3. Matthew Roou (soccer) — The senior forward earned ACC Offensive Player of the Year honors after easily leading the Irish with 14 goals — no other Notre Dame player scored more than 4 — and added 4 assists for 32 total points, which led the ACC. The Germantown, Wis., native also tied for the league lead with 4 game-winning goals and became the first Irish player since 1979 to record two hat tricks in one season. 4. Chris Kavanagh (lacrosse) — The Irish senior attacker earned ACC Offensive Player of the Year honors after leading Notre Dame in goals (39), assists (27) and points (66). The Rockville Centre, N.Y., native scored multiple goals in 13 of his team's 14 games and finished the season with eight hat tricks. Kavanagh was named a first-team All-American by USA Lacrosse Magazine, and he finished his career ranked second at Notre Dame in career goals (151) and third in career points (242). 5. Sebastian Dominko (tennis) — The talented junior rewrote Notre Dame history and its record books last season when he became the first Irish player to ever be named ACC Player of the Year. Ranked as the No. 20 player in the nation, the Maribor, Slovenia, native went 10-2 against solid ACC competition last season — all ranked opponents — and was rewarded with ITA All-America honors. — Todd D. Burlage Xavier Watts was tabbed as a consensus All-American in his final season at Notre Dame after posting 82 tackles and 6 interceptions for the Irish. PHOTO BY CHAD WEAVER