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This weekend South Bend welcomed the first snowfall of the year and with it a host of victories on the playing field. While yes, some of the teams’ performances were not as immaculate as the freshly fallen snow (particularly the second half of the Notre Dame-Navy game), Irish nation should be in high spirits heading toward the holiday season.
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The women’s basketball team is off to a 2-0 start in the regular season and 3-0 including an exhibition match. Most recently the Irish defeated California 90-79 in the Citi Shamrock Classic. This team has come out of the gates firing on all cylinders. The offense is looking strong, and the defense is even better. The Irish held their first two opponents, Truman State (exhibition) and Northern Illinois, to less than 50 points. This bodes well for the team to gain more confidence before getting into ACC regular season play. The Irish’s next game will be this Wednesday, Nov 16th at 9:00 pm versus Northwestern on the Big Ten Network. The Irish will return home on Sunday, Nov 20th to face Ball State at 4:00 pm on the ACC Network. Do not miss out on the action!
The men’s basketball team has not started the season out as dominant as fans would prefer after a solid showing in last year’s March Madness tournament, but the team does sit at 2-0. The Irish opened the season with two home games against Radford and Youngstown St. The offense is looking to find an identity after losing standout freshman, Blake Wesley, to the NBA in the first round of last year’s draft. Thru the first two games, Nate Laszewski has stepped up to the role of enforcer on the court. Posting 42 points and 22 rebounds in the first matchups of the season. While both games were close heading into the final minutes, the Irish were able to show their defensive resolve and a spark on offense to hold out for the wins. Look for this team to continue to build its chemistry and cohesion as the season progresses. The Irish continue their home stand to start the season against Southern Indiana on Wednesday night, Nov 16th at 8:00 pm on the ACC Network and again on Nov 18th against Lipscomb at 7:00 pm.
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Fans of the Irish hockey team had a week of mixed results. The Irish played two games against bitter rival Michigan this past week. Splitting the series is not the worst result for the Irish but players and fans alike were looking for a sweep of the Wolverines since both games were at the Irish stronghold of Compton Family Ice Arena where they have posted a record of 5-1-1 this season. The first game of the two was a major disappointment with the Irish falling 5-1. The Irish would rebound with a stronger defensive showing and beat the loathed Wolverines 3-2 in OT. The team returns to action Friday, Nov 18th, and Saturday, Nov 19th traveling to the home of a formidable Big Ten foe, Ohio State.
Notre Dame's volleyball team has not quite had the luck of the Irish with them the past month as their losing streak slid to seven. However, this past match-up versus Florida State was promising, going down 3-2. The team will look to build on that against a beatable NC State this Saturday.
Turning toward one of the Fighting Irish's most dominant performances this past weekend, we look toward the women’s soccer team. While my prediction for the Irish was a 3-0 victory the team put such a solid performance together, they had reached that score line by the end of the first half. In the opening 45 minutes of play, the Irish dominated Omaha on both ends of the field. Notre Dame out-shot the Mavericks 16-1 in the first half and walked into the locker room with a well-deserved lead. The Irish took the gas off just a little in the second half but were still able to add two more goals late to cap off an impressive victory. Santa Clara comes into town Friday night for the second round of the tournament. After a 1-0 victory over California, Santa Clara will be looking to play an upset card against the number one-seeded Irish. Expect this game to be closer than last weekend. Since we'll be playing at home the same weekend as Senior Day for the football team expect Alumni Stadium to be loud and rowdy with Irish fans. My prediction is a 2-1 victory for the Irish! If you’ve made plans to see the football Irish play Saturday versus Boston College, consider heading on campus Friday night. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 pm and the game will be on ESPN+.
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The soccer team was not the only Irish team to put in a solid first half. But unlike the soccer team, ND’s football team could not maintain the same energy and performance into the second half against Navy. While the Irish were in the end, able to hold onto and claim a 35-32 victory this team once again left Irish fans puzzled. All props to the Navy Midshipmen for making a tremendous comeback but this Irish team is too talented and too physical to gain less than 10 yards the entirety of the second half. The Irish will need to force the ground game against the Eagles of Boston College this coming Saturday. Kickoff is this Saturday at 2:30 pm on NBC for the final home game of the season and for many of our favorite Notre Dame players. The past three years we've been treated to the tremendous Micheal Mayer, Isaiah Foskey, and several other standouts. While we still have a few more games to watch in awe and wonder, let us in this holiday season also be grateful for all they have done for Notre Dame. Make sure to check back this week for further analysis and breakdown of the games against Navy and Boston College.
Go Irish!
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