Sports
Sports Year in Review
Observer Sports Staff | Friday, May 18, 2018
Dominique DeMoe | The Observer Aug. 15: Men’s tennis junior Alex Lebedev wins the ITA National Summer Championship in Fort Worth, Texas.
Aug. 27: No. 10 men’s soccer remains undefeated with 4-3 win against Indiana in Berticelli tournament.
Sep. 1: Cross country starts season with a first place finish by the men and a second place finish from the women at the Crusader Open.
Sep. 2: Football defeats Temple 49-16 in season opener.
Sep. 8: Women’s basketball head coach Muffet McGraw is inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Sep. 9: Football loses to eventual national runner-up, Georgia, by one point, 20-19.
Sep. 12: Women’s golf sets school record in first tournament of the season, finishing with 854 (-10) over 54 holes at Minnesota Invitational.
Sep. 19: No. 1 men’s soccer defeats Bowling Green 2-1.
Oct. 21: Football defeats USC, 49-14.
Oct. 23: Senior guard Mychal Johnson suffers a season-ending ACL tear in practice days before the start of the season. She became the second player with a torn ACL, joining Brianna Turner, who tore her ACL in March.
Oct. 26: Men’s swimming earns No. 14 ranking and the women’s team earns No. 10, the highest-ever rankings for the teams.
Oct. 28: Football earns sixth-consecutive 20-point victory with 35-14 win over North Carolina State.
Nov. 1: Junior forward Jessica Shepard, a transfer from Nebraska, is granted immediate eligibility to play by the NCAA.
Nov. 10: Women’s cross country finishes 6th, and the men finish 9th in the Great Lakes NCAA regional to end the season.
Nov. 11: Notre Dame loses to Miami in 41-8 blowout, ending its hopes to earn a playoff berth.
Women’s basketball wins 23rd-straight season opener, 121-65, against Mount Saint Mary’s at home.
Nov. 17: Women’s soccer defeat’s No. 2-seed Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA tournament on penalty kicks.
Nov. 18: Football defeats Navy in a 24-17 victory on Senior Day.
Nov. 19: No. 12-seed men’s soccer loses to No. 20-seed Wisconsin in overtime, ending its season in the round of 32 of the NCAA tournament.
Women’s soccer loses its Sweet 16 matchup against unseeded Baylor and exits NCAA tournament.
Nov. 22: Men’s basketball wins the 2017 Maui Invitational with a 67-66 last-second win over Wichita State.
Nov. 25: Football loses to Stanford 32-20 after a final-quarter collapse.
Nov. 26: Volleyball selected to play in the 2017 NCAA championships for the first time since 2012.
Nov. 28: Freshman center Mikayla Vaughn tears her ACL in practice, ending her season.
Nov. 29: Men’s soccer head coach Bobby Clark announces retirement after 17 seasons, 216 wins and one national championship.
Dec. 1: Track and field kicks off indoor season with record-breaking 1,000-meter run by graduate student Jacob Dumford at the Blue & Gold Invitational.
Dec. 3: Women’s basketball gives up lead to UConn, ultimately losing 80-71.
Dec. 19: Offensive line earns Joe Moore Award, which goes to the best offensive line unit in the country each year.
Dec. 20: Brian Kelly suspends sophomore wide receiver Kevin Stepherson and freshman running back C.J. Holmes indefinitely following their arrests for shoplifting. Shortly afterward, Alize Mack and Deon McIntosh would also be suspended, precluding them from the Citrus Bowl.
Dec. 31: Graduate student guard Lili Thompson tears ACL in Irish victory over Wake Forest, missing the remainder of the season.
Jan. 1: No. 14 football defeats No. 17 LSU, 21-17, on New Year’s Day Citrus Bowl at Camping World Stadium.
Jan. 2: Senior forward Bonzie Colson fractures his foot, sidelining him for eight weeks.
Jan. 3: Mike Brey surpasses Digger Phelps as the program’s all-time winningest coach, recording with his 394th win against North Carolina State.
Jan. 4: Chad Riley is announced as head coach of the men’s soccer program, replacing Bobby Clark.
Jan. 9: The football program announces Clark Lea as defensive coordinator and promotes Mike Elston to associate head coach.
Jan. 10: The football program announces offensive line coach Harry Hiestand will leave Notre Dame and return to NFL to coach the Chicago Bears.
Jan. 11: Women’s basketball suffers worst loss in program history with 100-67 loss to Louisville.
Jan. 16: Four players are dismissed from the Notre Dame football team, including sophomore wide receiver standout Kevin Stepherson.
Jan. 18: No. 5 women’s basketball comes back from 23-point deficit to defeat No. 6 Tennessee, the largest comeback in program history.
Jan. 22: Irish women’s soccer coach Theresa Romagnolo resigns after four years, four NCAA tournament appearances and one ACC regular-season title.
Jan. 23: Brian Kelly hires offensive line coach Jeff Quinn and safeties coach Terry Joseph.
Jan. 25: Senior guard Matt Farrell announced out indefinitely with a bone bruise.
Feb. 9: Hockey wins regular-season Big Ten title with 2-1 win over Ohio State.
Feb. 13: NCAA denies Notre Dame’s appeal of sanctions for football players’ academic misconduct, meaning the University will vacate all football victories from the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons.
Feb. 15: Women’s basketball players Arike Ogunbowale and Jessica Shepard both surpass 1,500 career points in win over the Virginia.
Feb. 20: The University announces Nate Norman as the fifth head coach in women’s soccer program history, replacing Theresa Romagnolo.
Feb. 25: Irish fencing, defending ACC champions, fails to defend team titles. Amanda Sirico wins individual epee title. Nick Itkin wins individual foil title.
Feb. 28: Bonzie Colson returns from injury Senior Night win over Pittsburgh.
March 7: Men’s basketball comes back from a 21-point deficit to beat Virginia Tech 71-65 and advance to the ACC quarterfinals.
March 11: Men’s basketball misses out on NCAA tournament and are relegated to the NIT tournament.
March 12: Women’s basketball earns No. 1 seed in NCAA tournament.
March 17: No. 2 hockey defeats No. 5 Ohio State to win the Big Ten championship.
Women’s swimming finishes 41st at the NCAA championships in Columbus, Ohio.
March 24: Hockey defeats No. 2-seed Providence to advance to the Frozen Four for the second-consecutive year.
No. 19 men’s swimming finishes 23rd at the NCAA championships in Minneapolis, a program best.
March 25: Fencing wins second-consecutive national championship.
March 26: Women’s basketball beats Oregon to advance to eighth Final Four in program history.
March 30: Women’s basketball defeats UConn in overtime to advance to the NCAA national championship game.
April 1: Women’s basketball wins national title against Mississippi State with last-second shot by Arike Ogunbowale.
April 7: Hockey lose to Minnesota Duluth 2-1 in championship game to fall just short of national title.
April 10: Men’s basketball head coach Mike Brey signs contract extension through 2025.
April 15: Irish women’s Basketball lands nation’s top recruit, Samantha Brunelle, in class of 2019.
April 22: Men’s golf finishes sixth at ACC championship.
April 23: Women’s golf struggles in early rounds and finishes 10th at ACC championship.
April 26: Former Irish offensive lineman Quenton Nelson is drafted 6th overall in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Indianapolis Colts.
Former Irish offensive lineman Mike McGlinchey is drafted by the San Francisco 49ers with the No. 9 overall pick in the NFL Draft.
April 29: Men’s Lacrosse team beats Virginia and claims ACC title.
May 3: Jay Louderback announces retirement as women’s tennis coach after leading the program for 29 seasons.
May 12: Women’s track and field squad finishes 9th, while the men take 12th at ACC championships. Nathan Richartz breaks school pole vault record to defend ACC title.
No. 7 men’s lacrosse ends season with 9-7 loss to Denver in first round of NCAA tournament.
No. 25 men’s tennis defeats Western Michigan 4-1 in first round of NCAA championship.
May 13: Softball earns bid to compete in 20th-straight NCAA championship tournament as No. 3 seed in Lexington regional.
Rowing finishes fourth at ACC championship in South Carolina.
