Irish Insider: Baraka Bouts
President Rachel Salamone leads club in commitment and discipline
President Rachel Salamone leads club in commitment and discipline
Senior Rachel Salamone remembers when she was one of the last few people to finish workouts during her freshman year of Baraka Bouts.
Baraka Bouts began competition at Notre Dame 20 years ago, as a women’s version of Bengal Bouts. The women who have competed have shown that their boxing tournament is just as important as their counterparts’, and now the current leaders are looking to build on these strides even more.
With the 20th year of Baraka Bouts at the University of Notre Dame fast approaching, senior captains Sabrina Curran and Piper Shine are ready to carry out their last tournament in their time at the university. The pair have helped the largest women’s boxing club across any campus in the country weather the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic, develop its mentorship opportunities and raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity.
Ahead of the Baraka Bouts tournament next week, there is plenty of excitement among this year’s group of junior captains, who are eager to serve as leaders for their first time as a part of the club.
Monday night Notre Dame women’s basketball played their first full game open to the public this season, matching up with Division II Truman State in an exhibition. While the difference in overall team quality, and small sample size, limit the amount of takeaways one can have from the lopsided victory, here were five observations that stood out from the 92-47 Irish win:
This Thursday Notre Dame women’s soccer will take on Florida State in the ACC semifinals at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.
Air Force and Army square off for the 56th time in an early start with the Commander-In-Chief’s Trophy on the line. This trophy is given to the winner of a round robin between Army, Navy and Air Force. Since Air Force beat Navy 13-10 this year, they have a chance to win the trophy outright with a win Saturday. If the Falcons lose and Army beats Navy in their end of the season clash, Army would win the trophy. And, if Army beats Air Force but loses to Navy, the trophy will be shared. Both teams have a unique offensive style. Due to restrictions on the height and weight of those in the service academies, the offensive lines of each school are some of the smallest in college football. However, both schools are elite academically and prepare students to become future officers in the armed forces. This makes running the triple option (an offense based on discipline, quickness and deception) perfect for the service academies. Air Force carries a 5-3 record, led by workhorse running back Brad Roberts and dynamic quarterback Haaziq Daniels. Army is 3-4, but with 2 straight wins and a reputation for playing tough defense under head coach Jeff Monken.
I have the weirdest hobbies sometimes; one of them is looking at past events for sports teams. Particularly where simple plays become pivotal moments in a team’s future, years beyond the game’s end. A lot of them are reaches for sure, but it’s always interesting to think about what would have happened if things went another way for another team. The one that I always think about though, as a Notre Dame football fan, through all the numerous quarterbacks, heartbreaking losses and coaching changes, was that fateful night on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014. This is when No. 5 ranked Notre Dame traveled to Tallahassee to face defending national champions No. 2 ranked Florida State.
The Notre Dame volleyball team dropped its fourth match in a row Sunday afternoon at Purcell Pavillion. Despite holding a commanding 2-0 lead after the first two sets, the Irish dropped a tightly-contested, five set match to Duke.
Notre Dame men’s soccer opens ACC tournament play on Wednesday with a road game against the Clemson Tigers. The postseason opener is a rematch of last year’s College Cup matchup where the Tigers beat the Irish on penalty kicks to advance to the national title game where they eventually beat the Washington Huskies to win the national championship.
Saint Mary’s cross country began their postseason on Saturday morning as they made the trek to Shepherd, Michigan for the MIAA Conference Championship. The Belles came ready to compete, as each of Saint Mary’s top ten runners posted personal best times in what was easily the team’s best performance of the season to date. The effort was enough to earn sixth place among a field that featured several nationally-ranked teams at the Division III level.
The Holy Cross men's basketball team took the court Monday night against East-West University for their first game of the season. Even though the matchup was not a conference game, the team was aggressive in securing the win with a final score of 78-58.
As we approach the midway point of the season, the Minnesota Vikings have proven to be arguably the most surprising team in the NFL this season. With a 6-1 record, the Vikings have consistently found ways to win in close games, and they have thrust themselves into the Super Bowl conversation.
Dogs have been man’s best friend for centuries. We dress them up in jerseys on game days and make them our mascots, dogs fetch bats during baseball games, pick up tees on football fields and are sometimes even our halftime show entertainers. Despite all of this, man has not given dog athletes the support that they need.
Notre Dame scored 44 points last weekend, and they followed it up with 41 points at No. 16 Syracuse. That’s certainly an improvement on the last time they scored 40+ points. That came against North Carolina, at which point the Irish followed with a combined 42 points against BYU and Stanford, two struggling teams with a combined 7-10 record.
Let me start off this edition of Observer on the Ground with a quick disclaimer. I love traveling to cover Notre Dame football. It’s a privilege, and the experience is always worth it.
After beating MSU 5-0, Notre Dame faced the Spartans again on Saturday, with the puck drop at 6:05 p.m. Early on, it felt like Michigan State was the more aggressive of the two teams, forcing turnovers with a forecheck that the Irish did not seem ready for.
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish hockey team opened Big 10 conference play with a 5-0 win over the visiting Michigan State Spartans Friday night. The Irish were speedy and opportunistic all night, getting goals from five different scorers in the win.
Notre Dame women’s soccer advanced to the ACC semifinals Saturday, downing Pittsburgh on penalty kicks.