Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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ND SPORTS has rallied in recent years, but the reac- tions have been pretty consistent since Meehan's debut against Loyola inside the Loftus Sports Center in March 1996. "I don't think they were expecting to see that," Meehan said. "Loyola just kind of stopped what they were doing and stared at us as we walked up to midfield." Power said most teams know what Roundup ence play amid a five-game winning streak, followed that up with a five-game losing streak and most recently beat Georgetown three times in a row on the road. Notre Dame ended April in fifth place in the 12-team Big East. to expect when Notre Dame arrives for away games now, and they have found ways to try to keep the Irish from showing them up on their own turf. Some teams will turn up the volume on their warm-up music. Others start to boo when they take the field. The most hostile crowd he remembers was last year, when the undefeated and No. 1 Irish played Syracuse in front of 15,000 fans at the Carrier Dome. "That was crazy," he said. "It was kind of cool in a way, knowing they cared enough to boo." DeBolt remembers plenty of boo birds as well. Notre Dame played Johns Hopkins in the lacrosse haven of Baltimore in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals his junior year. The Hop- kins fans started throwing things at him from the packed bleachers before he and the team left the tunnel. They upset the Blue Jays that day, and De- Bolt's reward was figuring out how to play his pipes in the pouring rain at the program's first Final Four appearance the following weekend. When DeBolt graduated, the team bought its own set of bagpipes and stuck them in the yellow toolbox. The tradition continues to grow stronger each time the torch is passed. In recent years recruits have started taking bag- pipe lessons before they made the team and asked Corrigan if they would be able to be the team's designated musi- cian during visits to campus. Power will graduate this spring and Dame is led by senior attackman Sean Rogers, who has 16 goals and five assists so far this season. The Irish clinched the top seed in this year's Big East Tournament with a win over Villanova on April 22. MEN'S LACROSSE (10-1) The No. 4 Irish have reeled off nine straight wins after losing to Penn State early in the season. Notre in the Big East Tournament. Irish junior Ellie Hilling has twice been named the conference's Defensive Player of the Week for her work in goal. Hilling led the league with 9.38 saves per game as of April 23. WOMEN'S LACROSSE (12-2) It took two overtime periods, but No. 6 Notre Dame squeaked past Georgetown 7-6 to lock up a spot DePaul on April 21. Winter (18-8 record, 2.07 ERA) was one walk away from a perfect game. Notre Dame swept the Blue Demons to improve to 8-3 in the Big East with eight games left on the schedule. tion round where they locked up third place in a win over St. John's. Notre Dame's top two players, senior Casey Watt and sophomore Greg Andrews picked up wins in the third-place match to help buoy the team to victory. SOFTBALL (25-13) Irish sophomore Laura Winter threw the first no-hitter at Notre Dame's Melissa Cook Stadium, against MEN'S TENNIS (20-8) South Florida knocked off Notre Dame in the Big East Tournament, sending the Irish to the consola- lar season with a perfect 5-0 record against conference opponents. Senior Kristy Frilling, who went undefeated in her three matches during the conference tournament, was named the Big East's Most Outstanding Player. The Irish knocked off South Florida on a rainy Sunday afternoon to punch its ticket to the NCAA Tournament, which begins May 11. Notre Dame is now 12-5 all time in Big East Championship matches and 3-0 against the Bulls. WOMEN'S TENNIS (20-7) Notre Dame captured its fifth consecutive Big East championship this season and ended the regu- BASEBALL (22-16) Mik Aoki's club has been hot-and-cold during his second year at Notre Dame. The Irish started confer- plans to hand the toolbox over to soph- omore Ryan Mix, an attackman and a fellow guitarist. The criteria to play has become a little tougher since DeBolt volunteered himself in the late '90s, but a commitment to the tradition is still at the top of that list. "It does take a lot of dedication and I don't want to give it to someone who doesn't want to do it," Power said. "He's one of those guys that tradition means a whole lot to him. I can tell that he will take it to heart." ✦ www.BLUEANDGOLD.com Senior Kristy Frilling was named the Big East's Most Outstanding Player after going undefeated in her three matches in the conference tournament. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME MEDIA RELATIONS MAY 2012 55