Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/350567
YEAR IN REVIEW Welsh departed at the conclusion of the 2013‑14 school year, and women's soccer coach Randy Waldrum ac‑ cepted a position with the Houston Dash of the National Women's Soccer League. That trio and former men's tennis coach Bobby Bayliss, who re‑ tired in 2013, combined for 108 years of head coaching experience. Piane was the longest tenured coach at Notre Dame, with 39 seasons at the helm, the second most of any coach in university history. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL AND MEN'S LACROSSE COME CLOSE While the men's soccer program was the lone Irish squad to win a national championship last year, the women's basketball team and the men's lacrosse squad fell just short with national championship game appearances. The women made their third trip to the title game in four seasons, but hardly contested Connecticut in a 79‑58 blowout loss in Nashville. The Irish entered the game 37‑0 in a his‑ toric season for the program, but the Huskies proved to once again be the program's top nemesis and the queens of college basketball. Working against the Irish was starting senior forward Natalie Achonwa suffered a season‑ ending ACL tear in the regional final win against Baylor. On May 26, Duke became back‑to‑ back lacrosse champions with an 11‑9 win over Notre Dame, marking the program's third championship in five years. (Duke also topped Notre Dame in the final in 2010.) The Irish trailed throughout, but trimmed the deficit to one with less than one minute to play before the Blue Devils clinched the trophy. IRISH PURSUE RECRUITING ADVANTAGES On June 20, Notre Dame held the first Irish Invasion, a recruiting camp designed to give high school prospects a taste of campus and what the pro‑ gram offers. During the two‑hour Friday eve‑ ning camp open to the media, a com‑ bination of commitments, targets and unoffered prospects filled the LaBar practice fields. Roughly 60 prospects attended, and the event is only ex‑ pected to grow in future years. In late May, 247Sports broke the news that Notre Dame intends to set up satellite football camps, beginning in 2015. NCAA rules prohibit programs from holding camps more than 50 miles away from campus, but a loop‑ hole has been found by programs such as Penn State and the Irish. The camp in Atlanta will be hosted by Georgia State head coach Trent Miles, a former Irish assistant. This allows local prospects to check out the Irish program that otherwise would not have traveled to South Bend due to a lack of money or interest. Likewise, area athletes attending will be more likely to get noticed by Notre Dame's staff. Kelly has made it clear in recent months that Georgia is an important region for Notre Dame's recruiting ef‑ forts. ✦