Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS through exuberance uncharacteristic of a ho-hum regular-season victory. "You can see there is a little bit of an extra attitude coming from the teams that we play," said junior midfielder Connor Klekota, who played in 16 of Notre Dame's first 17 games. "Even the games that we've lost, we've seen a couple celebrations afterward. You can tell these teams are really excited when they score a goal against us or when they beat us. "I wouldn't necessarily say I feel a target on our back, but you can tell each team is gearing up to play us because we are the defending champs." One foe does not need to gear up to face the Irish. It has had the upper hand Irish Roundup CROSS COUNTRY The Irish women placed fifth in the ACC Championships Oct. 31, while the men finished seventh. Junior Molly Seidel paced the women with a fifth-place finish. Junior Michael Clevenger led the men, finishing 21st to snag the final All-ACC honor. HOCKEY (5-2-1 OVERALL, 1-0-1 HOCKEY EAST) Notre Dame opened its conference season against Vermont with a 3-2 win Oct. 31 and a 2-2 tie Nov. 1. Junior center Thomas DiPauli scored twice in the opener, while junior left wing Mario Lucia notched a goal in each game. After the weekend, Lucia stood second in the country with eight goals, trailing only Bowling Green sophomore wing Kevin Dufour's nine. MEN'S SOCCER (10-4-3, 6-1-1 ACC) The No. 4 Irish sealed their second consecutive conference title with a 4-1 win at Pittsburgh Nov. 1. Only Boston College handed Notre Dame a conference loss this season (1-0 Oct. 3). WOMEN'S SOCCER (12-4-2, 7-2-1 ACC) The No. 9 Irish ended their regular season with a 1-1 tie at Boston College Nov. 1, finishing the cam- paign unbeaten on the road at 6-0-2. Junior defender Katie Naughton notched the goal against the Eagles before Boston College equalized it late. SWIMMING & DIVING The Irish women lost 170-128 to No. 24 Purdue Nov. 1. The men did not fare much better, falling to the Boilermakers 161-139. VOLLEYBALL (5-18, 2-10 ACC) Consecutive 3-2 losses to Georgia Tech and Boston College Oct. 31 and Nov. 2, respectively, extended Notre Dame's losing streak to four matches. The Irish have dropped eight of their last nine. — Douglas Farmer