Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/705594
Entering the NCAA Tournament, the 31-1 Irish suffered their lone defeat at UConn (91-81) before racking up 26 straight wins against the nation's top competition and running the ACC table during the regular season and in the ACC Tournament. All this despite the unexpected departure of junior All-American Jewell Loyd last spring to the WNBA as the No. 1 overall pick, junior/captain Taya Re- imer leaving the team in December and sophomore All-America post Brianna Turner missing most of December with shoulder problems that have lingered (and necessitated surgery after the season). This defines the meaning of having a "program," instead of just a team. 2. FENCING Similar to women's basketball, the bar is so immense for this program that anything less than being among the Final Four at the end is viewed as a letdown. Columbia won its second straight national title (15th overall) in the combined men's and women's event with 174 points. Ohio State was the runner-up with 167, while St. John's and Princeton finished with 161, one point ahead of the Fighting Irish. 3. MEN'S BASKETBALL (24‑12) The winning percentage wasn't anywhere close to last year's 32-6 ledger, but a 2-0 record against Duke (against who the Irish are 4-1 in their last five meetings), February wins at home versus national runner-up North Carolina and Louisville, and a second straight berth to the Elite Eight — despite the graduation of mainstays Jerian Grant and Pat Connaughton — merits this nod. "Two years in a row, we feel we really got the most out of our group," head coach Mike Brey said. 4. MEN'S LACROSSE (11‑4) Ranked No. 1 in the preseason, the third-seeded Irish were upset by eventual national champion North Carolina 13-9 in the quarterfinals May 22. Nearing his third decade at the helm, head coach Kevin Corrigan was rumored to be the next coach at the University of Virginia, where he graduated in 1982, but he opted to remain at the program he built from scratch into a consistent top-five power. 5. FOOTBALL (10‑3) It was highly unfulfilling to finish with losses at what would be No. 3 Stanford (38-36 on a field goal as time expired) and to a mini-NFL franchise Ohio State (44-28) in the Fiesta Bowl en route to a No. 11 placement in the final Associated Press poll. Nevertheless, the Irish overcame a plethora of injuries, especially in the first month of the year, to put themselves in a position to be in the four-team College Football Playoff on its final day of the regular season. That occurred 12 times in the 30 years from 1964-93. It has happened only twice in the last 22 (2012 and 2015). HONORABLE MENTION Women's cross country was more of an individual-dominated sport we have covered elsewhere. Women's lacrosse (14-7), like the men, lost by four goals in the quarterfinals to national champ North Carolina.