Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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50 NOV. 27, 2017 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED ND SPORTS BY DAVID MCKINNEY F ollowing successful regular sea- sons, both the men's and women's soccer teams are trying to continue that success in their respective NCAA Tournaments. The women's team (10-6-4 overall, 5-3-2 ACC) got off to a hot start in that department Nov. 11, recording a 5-0 home win over IUPUI in the opening round. The five goals were the most in a postseason game for Notre Dame since 2015, when it put up five against Oakland. The Irish outshot IUPUI 30- 4, and senior goalkeeper Lexi Nicho- las pitched her third shutout of the season. Head coach Theresa Romagnolo said she was thrilled with the way the Irish limited their opponent's op- portunities. "I thought we played really well," she noted. "Defensively, we attacked the game. We did really well not giv- ing them any opportunities, and we played some great soccer." Romagnolo credited Notre Dame's success to the strong practices the team had leading up to the game, which she thought translated well into the contest. "I thought our whole team played well," she said. "We had many play- ers contribute and bring great energy and quality to the field. We had great preparation, and I think you saw that on the field." Next up for the women's team was a challenging second-round matchup with No. 6 Texas A&M Nov. 17 in Col- lege Station, Texas. The Aggies cap- tured the SEC Tournament, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 11-3 over three games. Texas A&M finished the regular sea- son with an overall record of 18-2-1 and won its first-round NCAA Tour- nament matchup with Lamar 1-0. The No. 12 Irish men (11-6-2 overall, 3-3-2 ACC) received a top-16 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight year and were among the nine ACC squads that earned a bid, along with No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 3 North Carolina, No. 4 Louisville, No. 6 Duke, No. 8 Clemson, No. 11 Virginia, Vir- ginia Tech and North Carolina State. Notre Dame was one of 16 teams in the 48-team field to receive a first- round bye and automatically move to the round of 32. The Irish were slated to face Wisconsin — which defeated Illinois-Chicago 4-1 Nov. 16 in a first- round matchup — at Alumni Stadium Nov. 19. The Irish posted a 7-1-2 re- cord at home this season, while going just 4-5 on the road. ✦ CROSS COUNTRY The men's and women's teams recorded ninth- and sixth-place finishes, respectively, at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Nov. 10 in Terre Haute, Ind. The top finisher for the women's team was junior Annie Heffernan, who placed 16th overall with a time of 20:58 in the six-kilometer race. Leading the way for the men was freshman Yared Nuguse, who registered a time of 31:24 in the eight-kilometer race to finish 19th. The Irish did not qualify any runners for the NCAA Championships. MEN'S GOLF The Irish inked two recruits — Taichi Kho and Andrew O'Leary — Nov. 14 at the beginning of the NCAA's early signing period. Kho hails from Hong Kong and attends Discovery College in his home coun- try, where he was recently named the MVP Golfer and Sportsman of the Year. O'Leary, a native of Norfolk, Mass., is a five-time conference all-star (2013- 17) and was the 2016 Boston Globe Boys' Golf Player of the Year, while he has led Catholic Memorial High School to two state titles (2016 and 2017). HOCKEY (8-3-1 OVERALL, 4-0-0 BIG TEN) No. 4 Notre Dame posted its second consecutive two-game sweep in Big Ten play, defeating Penn State 5-3 Nov. 10 and 1-0 Nov. 11. Sophomore goalkeeper Cale Morris stopped all 33 shots that came his way in game two. Next up for the Irish was a two-game road series against Rensselaer Poly- technic Institute Nov. 17-18 in Troy, N.Y. VOLLEYBALL (19-8, 9-7 ACC) The Irish posted a pair of 3-0 wins at home versus Virginia Tech Nov. 10 and Virginia Nov. 12. Notre Dame closed out its home schedule against North Carolina Nov. 17 and North Carolina State Nov. 19. — David McKinney Senior defender and co-captain Monica Flores helped lead Notre Dame to a 5-0 win over IUPUI in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Nov. 11. PHOTO COURTESY FIGHTING IRISH MEDIA Soccer Teams Hope To Make NCAA Tournament Runs Irish Roundup