As students around the tri-campus community head home for Winter Break in the coming weeks, several teams will press on with their seasons into the new year. Here’s a look at what’s coming up in Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross athletics.
Notre Dame
Men’s basketball
Coming off a defeat of Syracuse in its ACC opener, 5-5 Notre Dame will close out non-conference play by hosting Dartmouth on Wednesday and Le Moyne on Dec. 22. The Irish will then move fully into conference action, traveling to Georgia Tech, where they won in overtime last year, on New Year’s Eve.
Notre Dame will open 2025 at home against North Carolina, the No. 2 team in the ACC preseason poll, on Jan. 4. After traveling to 2024 Final Four qualifier NC State on the 8th and conference championship favorite Duke on the 11th, the Irish will close out the break by hosting the Holy War against Boston College on Jan. 13.
Women’s basketball
The 7-2 Irish have their schedule laid out similarly, wrapping up out-of-conference play on Dec. 22 against Loyola Maryland after battling UConn and Eastern Michigan at home this week. ACC-only play starts on Dec. 29 against Virginia, a matchup that will end Notre Dame’s four-game homestand.
A huge game at North Carolina, currently outperforming preseason expectations and ranked No. 14 nationally, will bring the Irish into 2025 on Jan. 5. After that, the schedule lightens up for the remainder of January, beginning with a Wake Forest trip to South Bend (Jan. 9) and a Notre Dame visit to Clemson (Jan. 12). Should the Irish get through their excursion to Chapel Hill, they’ll have a favorable chance to enter February at 9-0 in conference games.
Hockey
After heading to No. 15 Ohio State this weekend, the 6-10 Irish will exit the ice for the remainder of 2024. They’ll return with a marquee game on Jan. 3 at The Frozen Confines: Big Ten Hockey Series against Penn State. Wrigley Field, the home of Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs, will host the Irish, Nittany Lions and four other Big Ten men’s hockey teams during the first weekend of 2025.
Notre Dame will close the Penn State series with a rare Sunday game at Compton Family Ice Arena on Jan. 5 before hosting No. 8 Michigan Jan. 10-11. The Wolverines swept the Irish in Ann Arbor just over a month ago.
Swimming and diving
The Notre Dame swimmers will come out of a seven-week break and look to snap a four-game skid in dual meets on Jan. 10 in West Lafayette. There, the Irish will take on Purdue and a Kentucky team currently receiving votes in the CSCAA Coaches Poll.
Just over two weeks ago, Notre Dame claimed a fifth-place finish at the Ohio State Fall Invite.
Men’s tennis
Notre Dame will kick off the spring season with back-to-back matches at home on Jan. 12. The Irish will host Duquesne from the Atlantic 10 and Western Michigan out of the Mid-American Conference. That doubleheader will start a nine-match homestand for Notre Dame, which won’t hit the road until Feb. 15 at Illinois.
The Irish men went 13-14 in the spring of 2024 and ended the fall by sending junior Sebastian Dominko and freshman Peter Nad to the NCAA individual championships in Waco, Texas.
Saint Mary’s
Basketball
Currently 3-5 on the season and 0-1 in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association play after a loss against Calvin, the Saint Mary’s basketball team prepares to play four more games over break. The first game will take place on Dec. 21 as the team travels to Elmhurst. The team will then have a break before facing off against Trine at home starting at 1 p.m. on Jan. 4. Quickly following that game, the team will face off against Kalamazoo on Jan. 8, starting at 7 p.m. The final game will be at home on Jan. 11 against Alma at 1 p.m.
Holy Cross
Men’s basketball
After a big win against St. Ambrose, the Holy Cross men’s basketball team is now 4-5 on the season so far and 2-1 in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play and will continue their games over Christmas break.
The Saints will play four games over the break starting on Dec. 21 when they face off against Calumet starting at 3 p.m. at home. Then, the team will travel to Illinois on Jan. 4 to face St. Francis starting at 4 p.m. The Saints will then return back home to face off against Olivet Nazarene on Jan. 8 at 7:30 p.m., and the final game over the break will be on Jan. 11 against Judson, starting at 4 p.m.
Women’s basketball
Coming off of an 85-67 win over St. Ambrose, the Holy Cross women’s basketball team is now preparing for five games of its own over the break.
Calumet will be the first team the Saints will face off against on Dec. 21 at home, starting at 1 p.m. The second game will be against Grace College on Dec. 31 at 6 p.m. Holy Cross will then head on the road to face off against St. Francis on Jan. 4, starting at 4 p.m., before hosting Olivet Nazarene starting at 5:30 p.m. The final game will be against Judson, starting at 2 p.m. on Jan. 11.
