Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ary, a month after Notre Dame felt it had squandered its best chance yet at breaking through as one of the sport's elite. The Irish held the No. 1 seed in the postseason last fall before Indiana — the eventual national champion — tripped them up in the round of 16. The year before the Irish had missed the tournament altogether for the first time in nearly a decade. "We had big expectations coming in and we kind of flopped to be honest," Shipp said of the 2011 season. "Last year we had that check on the list of, 'OK, we're going to have a good regular season.' We did that last year. We had the most wins in the program in a long time. This year we wanted to add that next step." Shipp and his teammates lost only one game in the 2013 season on their way to a regular-season crown during their first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). They fell short in the conference tournament, but redeemed themselves by beating ACC foes Wake Forest and Maryland on their way to a national championship. Shipp played a crucial role in getting them there. He had assists in the semifinal and final game and was named the College Cup Most Valuable Player. He's a first-team All-America pick and is up for the MAC Hermann Trophy, given to the country's top player, on Jan. 10. In the final, Shipp went head-tohead with fellow Hermann finalist Patrick Mullins from Maryland. Mullins struck first, gathering a rebound and turning on it quickly to send the ball into the Irish net and give his team a 1-0 lead late in the first half. Bobby Clark was named the Division I National Coach of the Year after guiding the Irish to their first-ever national title. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS