Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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94 MARCH 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED ND SPORTS BY DAVID MCKINNEY A n 11-game regular season for the preseason No. 4 Notre Dame men's lacrosse team will kick off Feb. 18. For the third straight year, the Irish will open the season against George- town, with the first contest taking place at the Dallas Cowboys' prac- tice facility, known as The Star, in Frisco, Texas. The home opener will take place Feb. 26 against Michigan, a squad the Irish beat 17-8 last season. After that, the Irish will step into a grueling stretch of competition, with back-to-back games against top-five teams. It starts with a home matchup against No. 2 Maryland March 4, af- ter which the team travels to Colo- rado to play at No. 3 Denver. The 2017 schedule presents some difficult challenges, but head coach Kevin Corrigan said thanks to a unique preseason training period the Irish will be up to the challenge. From Jan. 11-15, the Irish were in Bradenton, Fla., holding training camp at the IMG Academy. It cul- minated with an exhibition matchup with Team USA. "It's a unique way to start your pre- season, being on the road with the urgency of playing a game against the best team in the world in the U.S. National Team five days in to the start of training," Corrigan said. "We look at it as part of the continuum of our preseason to prepare our team for the season and to prepare our team to become as good as they can be." Notre Dame led the game by a score of 7-6 at halftime before even- tually falling 16-11. For the Irish, though, it was a learning experience more than any- thing else. "There are lessons to be learned all over the field, individually and collec- tively, unit-wise in terms of face-offs, man up, man down. Everything those guys do is so good, so clever — and, yes, they are the best athletes, too," Corrigan said. "So it's a terrific oppor- tunity for us to learn about ourselves, learn what kinds of things we can do at a high level and maybe some things we decide not to do because we can't do them at a high level." With that experience under their belt, Corrigan said the regular-season challenges will give his team the op- portunity to realize just how good it can be. "Once again we have as challeng- ing of a schedule as anyone in the country," the coach said. "We will play all over the country geographi- cally and match up against top-10 teams on a weekly basis. The sched- ule will be a great challenge and op- portunity, as well as a great experi- ence for our guys. "This schedule will give us a chance to become the best team we can be." ✦ Irish Roundup FENCING The Irish hosted the DeCicco Duals Jan. 28-29 and dominated the visiting competition. Notre Dame was joined by Wisconsin, Virginia, Michigan State, Michigan, Chicago and McKendree. Both the men's and women's teams put together 6-0 records on the final day of competition. The No. 4 men went 10-0 overall during the weekend, while the No. 3 women went 11-0. Notre Dame closed out the regular season Northwestern Duals Feb. 4-5. While the event took place at the Irish facilities, Northwestern was techni- cally the host team. The Irish men posted a 7-4 mark over the two days, while the women were 10-1. After taking part in the USA Fencing Junior Olympics Feb. 17-20 at Kansas City, Mo., Notre Dame will participate in the ACC Championships Feb. 25-26 in Durham, N.C., the NCAA Midwest Regional March 11 in Detroit and the NCAA Championships March 23-26 in Indianapolis. HOCKEY (15-9-4, 8-5-3 HOCKEY EAST) The homestanding No. 14 Irish posted an important three-point series against No. 12 Vermont Feb. 3-4. After skating to a 4-4 overtime tie in the opener, the Irish erased a one-goal deficit en route to a 4-1 victory that elevated them into a tie for third place in the Hockey East standings while dropping the Catamounts into a tie for fourth. Notre Dame will close out the season with two games at Maine Feb. 10-11, home versus Providence Feb. 17-18 and at Boston University Feb. 24-25, before participating in the Hockey East Tournament starting with a first-round series March 3-5. WOMEN'S LACROSSE (0-1) No. 8 Notre Dame was picked to place third in the ACC, the same position it finished in following a 4-3 conference mark last season. The Irish also had two players named to the preseason All-ACC team in senior midfielders Courtney Fortunato and Casey Pearsall. Notre Dame was one of three schools to have two players named to the team, along with North Carolina and Syracuse. The Irish opened the season with a 14-13 loss to No. 9 Northwestern Feb. 5, and will look to bounce back with home contests versus Liberty (Feb. 10), Detroit (Feb. 11) and Marquette (Feb. 14) before closing out the moth with three road contests. Head coach Kevin Corrigan and his team spent Jan. 11-15 training at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and even scrimmaged against the U.S. National Team. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS Men's Lacrosse Ready For The Season Ahead