No. 7 Notre Dame started slowly in each of its three games thus far, but battled back from first half deficits in each to remain unbeaten. Now, the Irish are tasked with continuing that winning streak - and with putting together a consistent performance from start to finish - when they host Detroit this evening.
Notre Dame's latest come-from-behind win came against Duquesne on Saturday, as the Dukes (2-2) jumped out to a 4-0 lead just three minutes into the game. The Irish (3-0) rallied back, outscoring the competition 7-3 in the second half to secure a 10-8 win.
In that game, Irish coach Christine Halfpenny said her team got away from much of what it wanted to do on offense, and that would need to be improved upon to avoid another slow start against the Titans (1-3).
"We want to work on our dynamic ability on offense because I thought we lost a little bit of that on Saturday," she said. "So we want to get back to being a bit more dynamic on offense, moving the ball a little bit quicker, attacking a little bit harder and fine tuning some of our transition game as we match up against Detroit."
That matchup with the Titans will be a new one for Halfpenny and the Irish, who are entering their fifth year of varsity competition. The barnstorming Titans have yet to play a game at home, so they should be accustomed to playing in a hostile environment.
Halfpenny, meanwhile, said her staff has thoroughly scouted Detroit. Still, she said she is focused mainly on seeing her players continue to improve from game to game.
"They're an opponent that we've never played before, so it's going to be a new opponent coming in, another mid-week game during midterms," she said. "Our main goal is going to be to get out there and do better, to be better on Tuesday than we were during this past Saturday."
Improvement may be difficult though, as the Irish will have to deal with fatigue in addition to the Titans. Tonight's game will be Notre Dame's third in the course of a week.
But Halfpenny said the stretch is a positive for the Irish because her players are excited to play, and need to prepare for the crowded schedule they'll encounter in postseason play.
"I think we're excited about getting that opportunity right now to get comfortable with games that are back-to-back because with the Big East this year, we'll ultimately be having Friday-Saturday matchups and that's a tournament-like setting," Halfpenny said. "You play a game, you wrap it up and then you move forward to the next one."
That mentality will be tested when the Irish battle the Titans at 6 p.m. this evening. The game will be played at Arlotta Stadium.
Contact Jack Hefferon at wheffero@nd.edu
