Fighting Irish

When Georgetown advanced last year past the opening round of the NCAA tournament for the first time, there was a giddy celebration.After the fifth-seeded Hoyas handled Notre Dame, 14-10, yesterday before 2,374 at Towson's Minnegan Stadium and moved on again, there were as many shrugs as handshakes."

NEW YORK -- Before he gave thanks on Thursday, Gary Williams talked about a few improvements he would like to see in his Maryland men's basketball team. One involved a tendency to start slow that he wanted to stop in November, and the other was the timid play of sophomore forward Danny Miller.Williams hit the daily double last night at Madison Square Garden, as the Terps rolled to a 13-2 lead on Notre Dame behind Miller, expanded it to 16 points early in the second half, then held off a Fighting Irish rally for a 72-67 win in the consolation game of the Preseason National Invitation Tournament.

NEW YORK -- Late Wednesday night, a few minutes after Juan Dixon had missed the biggest shot of his blossoming college basketball career, Maryland's sophomore guard was already thinking about the next chance."

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- He had been gone more than two years, a wisp of a man who spent 11 seasons here and, like many of the legendary coaches preceding him, became larger than life at Notre Dame. But when Lou Holtz returned to the campus one day last spring, it was as if he had never left.Holtz had come to give a motivational speech for 200 people at the business school. It turned into an impromptu pep rally for more than 500, including a horde of students that was barely out of grade school when Holtz led the Fighting Irish to their last national championship in 1988.

Attackman David Ulrich, a Boys' Latin graduate, set a freshman school record with five goals and two assists as No. 11 Notre Dame downed No. 14 Penn State, 14-9, yesterday at the Loftus Sports Center in Notre Dame, Ind.Playing in his first collegiate game, Ulrich broke the previous single-game scoring mark of Robbie Snyder, who had four goals in 1991.The Fighting Irish (1-0), which was just 2-for-11 on extra-man opportunities, won its ninth straight at home and have held their past six regular-season opponents to single digits.

Loyola coach Dave Cottle wearily walked out of the locker room and sighed.He was drained. It had been that sort of a game for the Greyhounds, but the type of game they hadn't won in quite a while.Behind Tim O'Shea's goal with 2: 45 left and Jimmy Brown's save in the final seconds, No. 11 Loyola escaped with a 12-11 victory over No. 15 Notre Dame yesterday before 2,283 at Curley Field.Despite turning the ball over three times in the last 2: 17, the Greyhounds (2-1) earned their first one-goal victory in two years.

Casey Powell had seven goals and six assists, including scoring the game-winner with 2: 34 left, as No. 3 Syracuse came back from a seven-goal deficit to defeat No. 2 Virginia, 22-21, last night before 10,960 at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y.The Orangemen (1-0), who lost to the Cavaliers by two goals in last year's season opener, ended the game on a 10-2 run, holding Virginia scoreless for the final 7: 20.After four ties and two lead changes, the Cavaliers (0-1) went on a 10-3 run over an 11-minute span.

The winner of Saturday's Army-Navy game in Philadelphia could receive an invitation to play Auburn in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., on New Year's Eve; it appears to depend, for the most part, on whether Notre Dame decides if it is interested in participating as the at-large team."

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Brian Bacso scored a career-high six goals and added two assists as Loyola defeated Notre Dame, 14-7, at Krause Stadium yesterday. The Greyhounds (1-0) ended Notre Dame's 10-game home winning streak.The Fighting Irish (0-1) outshot the Greyhounds, 46-26, including 19-5 in the second quarter, but Loyola's freshman goalkeeper, Jim Brown, stopped 15 shots in his collegiate debut.After Notre Dame tied the game at 2, Bacso scored three straight goals in the final three minutes of the first quarter to give the Greyhounds a 5-2 lead.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Merrill Turnbull scored with 33 seconds remaining yesterday, as No. 5 North Carolina escaped with an 11-10 triumph over No. 7 Notre Dame at Moose Krause Stadium.The Tar Heels (8-3) scored the game's final four goals to rally from a three-goal deficit and held the Fighting Irish scoreless for the last 13 minutes. Notre Dame (7-2) had won seven straight games.Notre Dame scored six of seven goals to take a 7-5 lead early in the third quarter. After the Tar Heels tied the game at 7, the Fighting Irish scored three straight as Brian Erickson's goal two minutes into the fourth quarter put Notre Dame ahead 10-7.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - - Considering how the Maryland men's lacrosse team struggled this spring, it seemed the Terps would need a fast start and a hot goalie to pull off an upset in their NCAA tournament opener. As it turned out, one of two was more than enough. Junior goalkeeper Brian Phipps made nine saves and Maryland scored when needed to produce a methodical 7-3 win over No. 7 seed and previously undefeated Notre Dame before an announced 1,016 at Alumni Field here Sunday. The victory improved the Terps, ranked No. 13 in The Baltimore Sun's poll, to 10-6 and earned a quarterfinal date with top-ranked Syracuse on Saturday at Hofstra in New York.

Luke Harangody had done everything a bruising power forward is supposed to do. He scored 29 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and even threw in a banked 40-footer as the shot clock expired. But he had to wait to make sure his two missed free throws in the final seconds didn't cost No. 8 Notre Dame a win over No. 6 Texas. They didn't, barely. After Harangody's second miss with 3.5 seconds to play, Texas' A.J. Abrams let fly with a shot from just beyond half court that bounced off the front of the rim and the Fighting Irish had an 81-80 victory in the semifinals of the EA Sports Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii.

San Diego State coach Chuck Long was asked this question yesterday after giving Notre Dame a scare: Which team was better - the Fighting Irish or Cal Poly, which beat the Aztecs a week earlier? "That's a tough question," Long said, chuckling a bit. "It's hard to say who's better. They both beat us." That might say as much about Notre Dame's play in a 21-13 come-from-behind home victory as the Fighting Irish's four turnovers and struggles to establish a running game against a makeshift San Diego State defensive line.

Hillary Fratzke and Nikki Marcinik each scored three goals and visiting Towson overcame a two-goal half-time deficit to beat Old Dominion, 11-8, in the regular-season finale at Foreman Field yesterday. The No. 16 Tigers (11-5, 5-2 Colonial Athletic Association) held the Lady Monarchs (4-8, 0-6) to one goal in the second half. Towson hadn't beaten Old Dominion in three years. Monmouth 10, Mount St. Mary's 4 -- Katelyn Catanese and Ashley Johnson each scored twice in a losing effort for the visiting Mount (9-8, 5-3 Northeast Conference)

For years, there has been talk about a men's lacrosse Big East Conference, and it might finally come to fruition in a couple of months. League play could begin as early as 2010. According to several coaches, conference officials are expected to vote on forming the league in May. The seven teams are expected to be Notre Dame, Syracuse, Georgetown, Rutgers, St. John's, Villanova and Providence. "I think it's going to happen," Notre Dame coach Kevin Corrigan said. "As a matter of fact, it's not a matter of if it is going to happen, but when."

With the ball and 73 seconds left against Notre Dame, the Loyola men's lacrosse team had the scenario it was looking for. But the No. 14 Greyhounds, who trailed by as many as three goals on three occasions, could not net one more goal and dropped a 7-6 season-opening decision to the No. 8 Fighting Irish at Diane Geppi-Aikens Field yesterday. Loyola had several good chances to tie the score. Senior midfielder Joe Landry's shot from the slot was stopped by Notre Dame senior goalie Joey Kemp, and senior midfielder Paul Richards' offering was blocked by a mass of bodies in front of the cage.

Before his senior year at Gilman, Alex Wharton had whittled his list of prospective lacrosse programs to Cornell, Georgetown and Notre Dame. Four years later, the Baltimore native can chuckle about selecting the Fighting Irish - a decision that surprised his peers. "All of my friends stayed east. So it was kind of like, `Really? Why are you doing that?' " said Wharton, a senior attackman. "I did get some double takes." Heads continue to turn at the mention of Notre Dame, but this time, the attention is complimentary.

Michigan State's inexplicable come-from-ahead 40-37 home loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night leaves the Fighting Irish - and Bowl Championship Series administrators - breathing easier and the Spartans - once again - scratching their heads. A 2-2 start by Notre Dame would have ended the Irish's national-title hopes and would have made getting to a BCS bowl mighty difficult. Now, though, given the rest of their schedule, you have to figure the Irish will be 10-2 at worst. Before their regular-season finale Nov. 25 at Southern California, the Irish get all three service academies, an awful North Carolina team, an awful Stanford team, a mediocre UCLA team and a Purdue team that can move the ball but can't stop anybody.

1. THE UNAVOIDABLE, UNDERSTANDABLE AND YET, AT TIMES, UNBEARABLE, HYPING OF NOTRE DAME Wake up the echoes, then be prepared to swallow an extra dose of hyperbole. After a decade of mediocrity, Notre Dame is definitely back, led by Heisman Trophy favorite Brady Quinn and its gruff, self-assured coach Charlie Weis, an honors graduate of the Bill Parcells School of Arrogance and Condescension. Weis is, without question, a brilliant coach (just ask him!), and the Fighting Irish will contend this season.

These are heady days for Notre Dame football. The controversy and cries of racism that followed last season's firing of Tyrone Willingham - the school's first African-American coach in any sport - have been replaced by cheers, and more cheers, for old Charlie Weis. The Fighting Irish are back in the Bowl Championship Series for the first time in five years. They are also back in the picture for being recognized as one Fiesta Bowl official called them recently, "clearly a national program."