Sept. 30, 2014
A handful of current and former University of Notre Dame athletics teams and individuals will be honored Saturday in conjunction with the Notre Dame-Stanford football game at Notre Dame Stadium:
Introductions will include:
— 2013 Notre Dame NCAA champion men’s soccer team–This past December Notre Dame celebrated its first NCAA championship in men’s soccer, to cap a season that produced a spectacular 17-1-6 record. Bobby Clark’s Irish squad shared the 2013 Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title in its first season in that league. After its only loss of the season to Virginia, Notre Dame went 9-0-1 and outscored the opposition by a combined 25-8 total. Clark earned both ACC and national coach-of-the-year honors, while ACC offensive player of the year Harrison Shipp and Grant Van De Casteele both earned All-America recognition. As the #3 overall seed, Notre Dame won all five of its NCAA contests by a combined 14-4 count, including victories over Wisconsin, Wake Forest, Michigan State, New Mexico and fifth-ranked Maryland in the title game.
— 2014 Notre Dame NCAA runner-up men’s lacrosse team–Last May the University of Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team advanced to the NCAA Final Four for the third time in five years, in the fourth overall Final Four appearance for the Irish program. It also marked the second time in those five years Notre Dame played in the NCAA championship game. The Irish went on an impressive late-season run, winning the ACC post-season tournament in their first season in the league with blue-chip victories against Maryland and Syracuse. Along that stretch Notre Dame won six straight games against ranked opponents. Leading the way for the Irish were senior first-team All-America defenseman and co-captain Steve O’Hara, fellow All-Americans Matt Kavanagh and Jack Near, along with senior co-captain Jim Marlatt.
— 1964 Notre Dame football squad 50th anniversary reunion–Approximately 25 members of the 1964 Notre Dame team that achieved one of the most remarkable turnarounds in Irish football history return to campus this weekend. Fifty years ago this season, in Ara Parseghian’s first year as head coach, the Irish rebounded from a 2-7 season the previous fall to finish 9-1 and come within minutes of winning the national championship. Led by Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte at quarterback and All-Americans Jack Snow, Jim Carroll, Tony Carey and Kevin Hardy, Notre Dame ranked second nationally in total offense and set an all-time Irish record by allowing only 68 rushing yards per game. That Irish defense held seven of its 10 opponents to a touchdown or less. That season proved to be a springboard for Parseghian’s 11 seasons in South Bend that produced a pair of consensus national titles, 95 overall victories and bowl wins over unbeaten teams from Texas and Alabama.
— 2004 Notre Dame NCAA champion women’s soccer team reunion–Ten years ago this fall, Notre Dame enjoyed a memorable run in women’s soccer, culminating in the second Irish NCAA title in that sport. Randy Waldrum’s Irish squad finished a remarkable 25-1-1 and spent six weeks as the number-one-rated team in the country. The Irish shut out 16 of their opponents and were led by All-Americans Katie Thorlakson, Melissa Tancredi and Jen Buczkowski. The Notre Dame postseason run featured NCAA victories over Eastern Illinois, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Portland and Santa Clara–finishing in an overtime NCAA title-game victory over UCLA in a contest decided by penalty kicks.
— Former Notre Dame track coach Joe Piane–At the conclusion of the 2013-14 season, Joe Piane retired from his position as men’s and women’s track and field and cross country head coach at the University of Notre Dame after 39 seasons in that role. A two-time national cross country coach of the year and tutor of 193 All-Americans, Piane stepped down having concluded the second longest tenure of any coach in any sport at Notre Dame. Over 18 seasons in the BIG EAST Conference, Piane’s teams won 26 championships between indoor and outdoor track and field and cross country. On 11 occasions his men’s cross country squads finished in the top 10 at the NCAA Championship.
In addition, the current Notre Dame football team will take the field just prior to kickoff through a tunnel of former Monogram-winning Irish football players.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg will be honored by Notre Dame president Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., for service to his country. Buttigieg last week returned from a seven-month tour of duty in Afghanistan as a U.S. Navy Reserve intelligence officer.
The Presidential Team Irish Award will be presented to the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts.
The Notre Dame faculty recognition goes to Tom Corke, Professor of Aerospace & Mechanical Engineering.
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