Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS the Year honors after a prep campaign that included multiple individual Foot Locker National titles (2013 and 2015). She also finished her outdoor track season ranked No. 1 nationally in the two-mile run. In addition, Rohrer is the U.S. Junior National record-holder in the indoor 5,000 meters (16:10) and the Indiana state record holder in the 3,200 me- ters (10:14.43), winning the event three times at the state championship level. "Anna Rohrer is a winner," associ- ate head coach Matt Sparks said when asked about adding the standout to the Irish roster. "She comes up big Hockey Schedule Unveiled A collection of challenging contests await the Notre Dame hockey team for the 2015‑16 season. A difficult non‑conference slate includes four NCAA Tournament teams from last season, and the Irish already play in one of the most difficult conferences in college hockey. "Hockey East is without question the deepest conference," Irish head coach Jeff Jackson said. "When you consider that New Hampshire finished 11th, gets to the Garden [for the semifinals of the league tournament] and knocks off Providence — who ended up winning the national championship — that tells you the quality of the league. Two Hockey East teams [Providence and Boston University] played in the national championship game. "The teams that we play in Hockey East are as good as any team we play all season long. Every weekend is a challenge. It's going to be another tough schedule." Twenty of those conference games create a pretty even home and away split, with 11 contests sched‑ uled in Compton Family Ice Arena and nine on the road. The toughest stretch could fall in late February. Defending national champion Providence will play host to the Irish Feb. 19‑20, then national runner‑up Boston University comes to South Bend Feb. 26‑27. A conference revenge series also looms Nov. 20‑21, when the Irish will head to the Tsongas Center to face UMass‑Lowell. The Riverhawks beat Notre Dame in a best‑of‑three series to end the Irish's 2014 season in the quarterfinals of the Hockey East Championship. NCAA quarterfinalist Minnesota‑Duluth, defending Big Ten champion Minnesota and defending ECAC champion Harvard highlight the non‑conference home games. The Irish will also travel to NCAA quarter‑ finalist Denver and Penn State. "It's great for our fans that we're bringing Minnesota back in and, with Minnesota‑Duluth, that's two high‑quality programs," Jackson said. "Anytime we bring in a Big Ten school, it's a big factor. "We've developed a pretty good rivalry with Minnesota‑Duluth as well since we've played them quite regularly over the last several years. They're a high‑quality program and won a national championship just a few years ago. They're one of the top schools in the West, and we want to play the top schools." In total, Notre Dame will face seven of the 16 teams that qualified for last year's NCAA Tournament. With five of those contests coming at home, Jackson knows the value of coming out of the starting gate hot. "The most important thing is getting off to a better start with our season," Jackson said. "That and talk‑ ing care of business at home has got to be a priority for us." Jackson's team opens the regular season Oct. 16 at Penn State. — Jordan Wells