Notre Dame Athletics: A Review Of The 2017-18 Academic Year
The 2017-18 academic year was pretty successful for Notre Dame athletics.
It was a year which included multiple individual awards, thrilling finishes and two National Championships is coming to a close for Notre Dame.
The official NCAA calendar runs from July 1st until June 30th. There’s still a few games to be played, but Notre Dame’s seasons are done.
The most successful programs of the year both brought NCAA Championships to South Bend.
The first was the fencing team, who on March 25, finished with 185 points, beating second place Columbia by 15 points. Ohio State, Penn State and Harvard rounded out the top five.
Nick Itkin won the Men’s Foil championship.
Five men and five women made the All-American teams. This was the second consecutive National Championship for the program, lead by coach Gia Kvaratskhelia.
Just a week later, the Notre Dame women’s basketball team captured another championship.
After a buzzer beater by Arike Ogunbowale against UConn in the Final Four, the Irish hit another game winning shot in the championship game against Mississippi State with 0.1 seconds left, again by Ogunbowale.
This was the program’s first National Championship since 2001. Muffet McGraw lead that team to the title, also.
McGraw also won the AP Coach of the Year award.
The hockey team made it all the way to the National Championship game, but ultimately lost 2-1 to Minnesota-Duluth. They did, however, capture their first Big Ten championship.
The men’s lacrosse team won the ACC Torunament and also made the NCAA tournament, but lost in the first round. The women’s team lost in the second round.
Notre Dame men’s basketball missed the tournament, thanks in large part to an injury filled season.
The softball team made the NCAA Tournament, but suffered a first round exit. The baseball team didn’t make their tournament.
Next: Notre Dame Football Fact or Fiction: Part 2
And of course; the football team finished the season with 10 wins and a bowl win against LSU.