Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/311901
ND SPORTS trio on attack a nightmare to defend. Kavanagh, an All-ACC pick who was one of the final 10 players on the Tewaaraton Award watch list, receives the bulk of attention from opposing teams and onlookers. He's one of the country's most prolific scorers with 62 points in 15 games. Doyle, a junior, is the team's most consistent scoring threat, rarely adding less than his av- erage 2.67 points per game. When op- posing defenses spend too much time peeking at either of them, Scioscia can wiggle his way through the defense into empty space. Recently, he's been making them pay. "When people have to pay as much attention as they do to Matt and Conor Doyle, and our middies are doing a great job, we've got a lot of different people who can hurt you," head coach Kevin Corrigan said. "Teams have to pick their poison defensively with what they want to give us." Corrigan said experience from past years helped Notre Dame develop its confidence despite a rocky regular sea- son by its high standards. The Irish (10-5, 2-3 ACC) have been invited to nine consecutive NCAA Tournaments. Maryland is the only other team in the country that can say that. The win win at the No. 3 singles spot in a 4-2 triumph over Ole Miss. The Irish beat Green Bay 4-0 in the opening round. After a 4-0 win over DePaul, the women's team squeaked past favored Northwestern on the Wildcats' home court to advance. Sophomore Julie Vrabel clinched the upset in dramatic fashion, beating her op- ponent in a tiebreaker set to give the Irish a 4-3 win. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL After four straight Final Four appearances, the Notre Dame women's basketball program continues to excel on the recruiting trail. The 2015 class received a verbal commitment May 6 from 5-9 guard Marina Mabrey of Manasquen (N.J.) High. She is the younger sister of Fighting Irish guard Michaela Mabrey, who as a sophomore this past season was the fourth-leading scorer (8.6 points per game) and one of the nation's top three-point shooters (connecting 72 times at a 42.1 percent clip). ESPNHoopGurlz ranks the younger Mabrey as the No. 19 player nationally. She averaged 20.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game as a junior, and she will sign her National Letter of Intent in November with fellow 5-9 guard Ali Patberg of Columbus (Ind.) North, the No. 25-ranked player who committed in 2013. The Fighting Irish are battling nine-time national champ Connecticut for the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the country. At No. 1 is California's 6-3 forward Katie Lou Samuelson from famed Mater Dei High, where she averaged 26.3 points and 9.8 rebounds this past season. No. 2 is 5-10 point guard Asia Durr from Georgia's Saint Pius X High. Connecticut already has commitments from two five-star players in 6-1 Napheesa Collier and 6-2 De'Janae Boykin. Notre Dame's incoming class was ranked No. 5 by ESPNHoopsGurlz and is headlined by 6-3 Gatorade National Player of the Year Brianna Turner plus 6-2 McDonald's All-American Kathryn Westbeld. — Dan Murphy and Lou Somogyi