Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/82255
Top Of The Class Irish student-athletes excelling on the field and in the classroom Toni Alugbue • So., Volleyball Alugbue earned a spot on the Big East volleyball honor roll last week after winning the tournament MVP award at Notre Dame’s Shamrock Invitational on Sept. 2. She led her team to a 3-0 record while racking up 49 kills and only 11 errors during the first home weekend of the season for Notre Dame. She had at least 10 kills in each of her first six games this season. Michael Moore • Sr., Men’s Tennis Moore was one of two players to take down a member of Ireland’s Davis Cup team during the team’s recent visit to Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club. Moore defeated Cal Crawford (6-4, 3-6, 11-9) on Aug. 31. The only other Notre Dame player to win a singles match against the mixed group of Irish professionals was sophomore Michael Fredericka. Lindsay Brown • Sr., Women’s Soccer Brown left the Irish team last season to focus on her work with the “She’s The First” charity. She raised money to help girls in Nepal attend school, and spent her summer vacation in 2011 founding and coaching the country’s first girls’ youth soccer team. In September, she landed on the cover of Seventeen magazine after winning their annual “Pretty Amazing” scholarship contest. Meg Ryan • Jr., Cross Country The Fairfield, Conn., native got her third season on the Irish cross country team off to a strong start at the Crusader Invitational Aug. 31 in Valparaiso, Ind. Ryan, who missed all of her sophomore season after a promising debut (she won the National Catholics Championship in her first career race), led the Irish with a second-place finish in the five-school race, running the five-kilometer course in 17:48.3. Do You Hear An Echo? Sophomore Everett Golson’s evolution at quarterback during Purdue week started to press more into the mental side of the game. Head coach Brian Kelly said Golson is learning to read defensive fronts and be more active in making calls along the line of scrimmage. Receiving the signals from the sidelines and processing them — an issue during the spring game — came off without many hitches in the opener against Navy. Senior offensive tackle Zack Martin and fifth-year senior center Braxston Cave assist with the line calls, while everyone takes an active role to make sure the collective unit is on one page. “We’re always echoing the plays,” Golson said. “So if maybe somebody misses one of the hand signals, you have the other person right there just telling him the call. That really helps us out.” When asked what he needs to improve on the most, Golson responded 1) better decisiveness on his reads and 2) much more consistent footwork, an area Kelly consistently harps on. The Irish head coach pointed to poor footwork as the genesis of the one interception toss versus the Midshipmen. “I can remember many throws where I was falling off my throws and off-balance, so Coach Kelly has always been on my mechanics very hard,” Golson said. “I’m glad I got that first game out of the way. Now, for me it’s more of just really settling down and trying to lead this team, try to be the quarterback for Notre Dame. “One thing about me, I don’t really try to ride the highs or ride the lows … I really try to stay out of [the hype and attention]. I know it’s kind of hard to do … stay focused on the goal.”