Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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Top Of The Class Blas Moros ✦ Sr., Men’s Tennis Moros started the year on a high note by beating Illinois’ Stephen Hoh in straight sets to earn a place on the OFCC Invitational All-Tournament Team. Moros has won 20 matches in each of his first three seasons with the Irish and comes into the year as the team’s No. 2 singles player. He pushed Irish professional James Cluskey (No. 213 on the ATP Tour) to a third-set superset during an exhibition in Dublin earlier this month. Rebecca Tracy ✦ Sr., Cross Country In her final run of the National Catholic Championships hosted at Notre Dame each year, Tracy cruised to a first-place finish in the five-kilometer race with a time of 17:11. She shaved 21 seconds off her time from last fall and jumped from sixth place to the winner’s circle to extend the Irish winning streak to 10 straight years. Her time also helped the Irish defend their overall team title, easily beating the rest of the 35-team field. Lindsey Weaver ✦ Fr., Women’s Golf In her first collegiate tournament, Weaver led the Irish to a third-place finish at the Mary Fossum Invitational in East Lansing, Mich. The Arizona native shot a four-over-par 220 over 54 holes to tie Purdue’s Laura Gonzalez for the tournament’s sixth-best score. She was a four-time Rolex Junior All-American golfer in high school and was the No. 3 recruit in the country this year, according to the Junior Golf Scoreboard. Luke Mishu ✦ Jr., Men’s Soccer Mishu stretched Notre Dame’s Big East player of the week streak to four on Sept. 18 when he was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Week. The junior defender played a key role in the team posting back-to-back shutouts against rivals Michigan and Michigan State last weekend, bringing its shutout streak to a total of 235 minutes and counting. He started six games as a sophomore and was named a Big East Academic All-Star. They Said It “They do have a statue of me up there at Notre Dame. I know they need a place for the pigeons to land. But when they build a statue for you, you sort of have to be a little bit partial. … I felt Notre Dame was good last year. The difference was they turned the ball over 10 times in their first two games. They’ve only turned it over twice this year.” Former Irish head coach and current ESPN analyst Lou Holtz “I also have got to say that I think Everett Golson, their young quarterback, kind of a dual-threat guy. The game is still moving very fast for him. He’s still not quite ready to break down coverages. But I’m gonna tell you, every rep he’s getting in games he’s getting better. The game will begin to slow down for him. He’s a got a great group of wide receivers.” — Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN “What you saw Saturday night [Sept. 15] tells you we are on our way back. The Michigan State win was a giant step. But every week is a different week, and you’ve got to concentrate on that week.” — Former Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian in the South Bend Tribune “Notre Dame finally has the X’s and the O’s, and the Jimmies and the Joes more importantly in the trenches, to be able to compete. I was shocked, quite frankly. I had seen some hints of athleticism in that front seven and offensively, but then they put it together last Saturday night. … I think if they can continue to develop on the same plane that we’ve seen in the first three weeks, they have an absolute chance to be in the BCS and I didn’t think that was possible going into this year.” — Former Notre Dame lineman Aaron Taylor on The Tim Brando Show “Finally, I don’t need an NBC promo to oversell me anything about Notre Dame football. Nor do I need ESPN Classic to watch Notre Dame win a meaningful football game. For the first time in years, the product on the field matches the hype — no small feat at a place with its own TV network — and Notre Dame football present elicits shades of its storied past. Put the blue-and-gold blinders back in the drawer next to the rosary and “Rudy” DVD. You don’t need them to see how this Notre Dame team looks more legitimate and letdown-proof than any since the Holtz Era because of a fierce defense and formidable offensive line.” — David Haugh, Chicago Tribune Tweet Of The Week @DOCnation_7: “Are there any local farms around South Bend Indiana[?] I would love to help participate in the everyday activities” — Notre Dame sophomore defensive end Stephon Tuitt (6-6, 306 pounds) looking for a little extra work.