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Monday, April 13, 2026
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ND Softball: Big East winning streak goes on

By The Observer · Thursday, April 15, 2010

The No. 24 Irish swept a doubleheader over Big East rival Georgetown Wednesday 5-0, 3-2, at the Melissa Cook Stadium with help from senior first baseman Christine Lux's two home runs in game two.  

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Baseball: Clutch hitting, strong pitching lead squad

By The Observer · Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Notre Dame edged out a close 6-4 win against struggling Chicago State by riding quality pitching from freshman right-hander Adam Norton, sophomore right-hander Will Hudgins and senior left-hander David Mills on a night when the bats seemed to be a bit quiet.

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Men's Golf: Irish wrap up season at home

By The Observer · Wednesday, April 14, 2010

In preparation of the upcoming Big East Championships, Notre Dame welcomes Detroit Mercy in the Battle at the Warren. The tournament is the final tune-up before the playoffs begin.

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Football: Final Countdown

By The Observer · Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Chris Stewart is in the midst of his fifth spring with the Irish, and he's the oldest guy on the team. But with a new coaching staff, a new scheme and a new practice attitude, there's a learning curve for everyone — even the offensive guard who enrolled at Notre Dame in January 2006.

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Bookstore Basketball: Here's the Highlight defeats Team Trill 21-16

By The Observer · Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Team Trill came up against a significantly bigger and longer team in Here's the Highlight, and though they kept it close for most of the contest, fell 21-16 when they could not get shots to drop at the end of the game. Highlight, consisting of juniors Steven Bonomo, Kyle Tennant, Matt "Rodman" Kadich, Matt Stolze and Tony Rizzo, used their length to block and alter many of Trill's early shots, especially when Trill tried to attack inside early in the game.

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SMC Softball: Busy Belles win three, drop three

By The Observer · Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Saint Mary's  split six games in a marathon weekend, sweeping Albion 13-12 and 10-2 in six innings, splitting against Alma with a 4-3 win in nine innings and 13-5 loss in five innings and losing two contests to Franklin 6-3 and 18-7.

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Men's Tennis:Notre Dame falls 5-2 to Cardinals outside

By The Observer · Monday, April 12, 2010

The No. 36 Irish headed outside Saturday for their first outdoor home match since 2008, but were not able to earn a victory falling No. 16 Louisville 5-2. The Irish faced their second straight tough opponent in the Cardinals after falling 7-0 to No. 2 Ohio State earlier in the week, a team they knew would be tough to beat. The Cardinals did prove themselves a challenge, especially with the powerful international players Irish coach Bobby Bayliss knew would be difficult to face. "Each plays a different style," he said before the match. "Austin Childs has very solid groundstrokes and is difficult to force. Simon Childs [no relation] is more of an aggressive player who gets to the net. [Victor] Maksimcuk is a big hitter who bangs from the baseline, while [Alejandro] Calligari is a great athlete who can hurt you from both sides. They play great doubles and have had a wonderful season." The Louisville players proved Bayliss right, as they took the top two doubles matches and four of the six singles. The No. 1 doubles pair of junior Stephen Havens and Casey Watt fell to Simon Childs and Calligari 8-2, while the No. 2 team of sophomore Niall Fitzgerald and junior Tyler Davis lost 8-3 to Austin Childs and Maksimcuk. Losing the doubles point put the Irish behind early on, but they did manage to win at No. 3 doubles. The duo of juniors Daniel Stahl and David Anderson were able to defeat Louisville's Sumit-Prakash Gupta and Robert Hall 8-5. "David and Dan returned very well at crunch time," Bayliss said. Stahl dropped his match at No. 3 singles to give Louisville an early 2-0 lead over the Irish. Havens dropped his match (6-3, 7-6 (2)) at No. 2 singles to allow Louisville to clinch the overall match. Notre Dame did come out with two singles victories on the day. Sophomore Sam Keeton got the Irish on the board with a win at No. 5 singles over Hall in three sets, 6-1, 6-7 (4), 6-3. At No. 6 singles, freshman Blas Moros was able to pull out a win to wrap up the match, also winning in three sets. "Blas Moros played more aggressively," Bayliss said. "He is growing before our eyes and it is rewarding to see. He served well at key times and did not back down under pressure." Bayliss was honored before the match began for recently earning his 700th career victory. He is now one of only four NCAA Division I coaches to hold that honor. Bayliss has been the head coach at Notre Dame, MIT and Navy, and has coached a total of 41 years. The Irish will next host Ball State in their final home match of the year Wednesday, with the first serve set for 3:30 p.m.

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Baseball: Inches short loses game in extra innings

By The Observer · Monday, April 12, 2010

More than 1,000 fans were on hand to watch the series finale Sunday between Rutgers and Notre Dame and can attest to one of baseball's oldest adages — it's a game of inches. Tied at six, junior shortstop Mick Doyle belted a deep drive to left field that could have been the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth, but the ball fell just inches short of the fence, into the glove of an outstretched Rutgers' Pat Biserta, to send the game into extra innings. The Scarlet Knights scored in the top of the 11th to secure a 7-6 win and a series victory. "When you hit a line drive and it ends up being an inch from ending the game and give us some dramatics, that's just something that hasn't happened for us this year that could turn it [season] around," Irish coach Dave Schrage said. "We haven't had that." Although luck may have been on the Rutgers side of the ball, Notre Dame (11-19, 2-7 Big East) had several opportunities to come away with a victory. Senior pitcher Eric Maust (0-3) gave the Irish a chance from the mound with his best start of the season, allowing only five runs in eight innings, but picked up the no decision. He had two strikeouts and zero walks. "That was more of how Eric is capable of pitching," Schrage said. "He hasn't pitched like that all year. That's what he's capable of doing. He kept the ball down, his mechanics were good, and that's the Eric Maust we know." Notre Dame jumped on the board early following home runs from senior center fielder Brayden Ashdown and junior catcher Cameron McConnell in the second inning. Rutgers (17-13, 7-2) retook the lead in the fourth inning, but freshman third basemen Adam Norton doubled to left field to tie it in the bottom half of the frame. With Maust dealing on the mound, senior left fielder Ryan Connolly hit a three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning that looked to make the difference in the game. Yet Rutgers would not be denied, mounting a comeback in the eighth and ninth innings to tie the game for a second time. "I thought we were going to win the game," Schrage said. "I don't think the ball bounced our way. I don't think they exactly hit rockets in the ninth inning to get their hits, but the ball falls where it's going to fall." The Irish had a golden chance to put the game away in the bottom of the seventh inning when senior first basemen Casey Martin and Ashdown reached base with two outs. Senior right fielder Billy Boockford singled to center, but Martin was thrown out on a close play at the plate. "Your kids are only so resilient," Schrage said. "The guys are feeling snake bitten. I can understand that. We need something good to happen to build off of, and we're still waiting for it. As a coach you got to keep positive and got to keep them thinking they're going to win." The Irish return to the field Tuesday to take on Chicago State with a 6:05 p.m. start.

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ND Women's Golf: Irish place eighth in Florida Invitational

By The Observer · Monday, April 12, 2010

The Irish took eighth out of 15 teams this weekend at the University of Florida's SunTrust Gator Women's Golf Invitational, finishing 63-over par at 903 strokes. "We unfortunately had a few too many missed opportunities where we should have capitalized, particularly around the greens," junior Katie Conway said. Senior Annie Brophy once again led the team, turning out her best finish of the season with a 74. Brophy tied for 11th overall, ending the tournament at 219 strokes, nine-over par. In the last round Sunday morning, she finished four-over par with four birdies, but was brought down by two double bogeys and a triple. Brophy has finished in the top-15 in four of her nine competitions this season with her 11th place showing her best finish of the 2010 spring campaign. Sophomore Becca Huffer and junior So-Hyun Park ended the final round with seven-over par 77s. Huffer concluded the weekend tied for 18th with 221 strokes, 11 over par. She ended Saturday in fifth place at the head of the Irish lineup, but eight bogeys in the final round hurt her position. However, she did have nine pars on the day and closed with a birdie on her final hole of play. Park's final round score ensured all three of her weekend rounds to be counted towards the Irish team score (she had back-to-back 79's in the first two). Park's final score included 12 pars, five bogeys and a double as she tied for 55th at 25-over par for a total of 235. Conway's final round of 80 rounded out the Notre Dame team scoring. She totaled 232 strokes for the weekend to tie her at 46th, at 22-over par. She began the weekend on a high note, ending the first round at par, marking her best round this season and matching her lowest stroke total in her career. Her Sunday round included two birdies, seven pars, six bogeys, a double and a triple. She had eight birdies on the weekend. Senior Kristin Wetzel rounded out the Irish play. Her final stroke count of 246 put her 36-over par and tied her for 73rd place. She began the tournament well with 81 and 78 strokes in the first and second round, but had difficulty toward the end, concluding with 87 strokes. This weekend's competition marked the last of the regular season for Notre Dame. The Irish are now preparing for the Big East championship, which will be held on April 18 in Palm Harbor, Fla. "We are definitely looking forward to a strong finish in Florida, and then regaining the Big East title down at Inisbrook Resort in a few weeks," Conway said.

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ND Women's Lacrosse: Team upsets rival Syracuse

By The Observer · Monday, April 12, 2010

After splitting a pair of close contests on the road at Georgetown and Loyola, the Irish returned home to turn in two of their most complete performances of the year, taking out Villanova Friday and upsetting No. 7 Syracuse Sunday. Sunday's match was a rematch of last year's Big East semifinals. The Irish (8-4, 4-1) dominated from over Villanova from the outset of Friday's match. They stormed to an 8-0 lead before the Wildcats could even muster a shot against freshman goalkeeper Ellie Hilling. From there, the rout was on as the Irish clamped down defensively en route to a 16-0 record-making victory. The win was the first shutout in Notre Dame women's lacrosse history and the first-ever shutout in Big East conference play. "The Villanova game was just an amazing performance," Irish coach Tracy Coyne said. "It was just a great defensive performance from everybody on our team." The Irish received balanced contributions on the offensive side of the ball as well, as 14 players got on the score sheet. Hilling continued her stellar play in the goal, recording eight saves and becoming the first ever Notre Dame goalie to record a shutout. "Ellie kept coming up with big saves to preserve the shutout," Coyne said. "We were extremely impressive on defense." Senior defensive captain Rachel Guerrera led the strong Irish defensive effort. "We really knew what we needed to do against Villanova," Guerrera said. "I think after winning at Loyola we went into Villanova knowing we were on the right track." Notre Dame was able to translate their dominating win at Villanova into a signature victory over No. 7 Syracuse. Just like against Villanova, the Irish defense was on top of its game with Notre Dame claiming a 6-0 lead at halftime. "Lacrosse is such a high scoring sport, and so the fact that we were able to keep teams scoreless for 90 minutes is truly impressive," Coyne said. "We went into Syracuse knowing we weren't going to be intimidated by them," Guerrera said. "They're the kind of team where if you jump on them early they'll get crushed mentally and that's what we did." Although the Orange answered back with five goals of their own in the second half, their comeback fell short as Notre Dame was able to hold on for a 6-5 victory. The stout Irish defense of Jackie Doherty, Lauren Fenlon, Emily Conner and Kate Newall were especially impressive in holding star Orange midfielder Christina Dove to zero goals. The Irish now turn their sights to Big East conference opponent Cincinnati. With only three more regular season games remaining, the Irish are confident they are playing their best at the right time. Their attempt to repeat as conference champions resumes next Saturday when they take on Cincinnati at 3 p.m.  

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