Notre Dame

The showdown between No. 1 Notre Dame and No. 2 Syracuse Saturday night has the ingredients to be the game of the year. It's the RPI No. 1 (Syracuse) against No. 2 (Notre Dame). The winner is likely to be the No. 1 seed when the NCAA brackets are revealed on May 8 (ESPNU). The Fighting Irish (10-0) march into the Carrier Dome behind bagpipes. Syracuse (12-1) will storm out of its locker room aware of the magnitude of the moment. Both programs have a winning formula. Both are senior laden, supremely confident in their game plan.

The One Love Foundation announced Thursday that North Carolina's Zoe Skinner (Towson High) and Loyola's Jason Crane (Chesapeake-Anne Arundel) have been selected as the 2013 Yeardley Reynolds Love Unsung Hero Award winners.  Now in its third year, the award celebrates selfless acts of initiative and commitment performed by Division I lacrosse players; it is named after the former Notre Dame Prep and Virginia player.  Skinner and Crane are being rewarded...

Notre Dame associate head coach Corwin Brown has criticized Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo for his comments after the Midshipmen upset the Irish on Saturday and for what he termed a "malicious" cut block by a Navy receiver. Brown said it was improper for Niumatalolo to say after the game that Navy knew Notre Dame would use the same defensive scheme as the season before. He said classy coaches don't make such comments. He also said Navy lacks imagination in its blocking, saying its players use illegal cut blocks.

Salisbury transfer Eric Law picked up a rebound on the edge of the crease and scored with 13.4 seconds left to cap a historic comeback and give No. 4 seed Denver a 12-11 win over fifth-seeded North Carolina in the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament quarterfinals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon. The game, played before an announced 7,749, was the first men's lacrosse quarterfinal held at a venue not on the East Coast. Denver, the first team in men's quarterfinal history to win after trailing by five goals or more, will face No. 1 seed Syracuse in the semifinals Saturday afternoon at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Might not have choice Matt Murschel Orlando Sentinel Notre Dame takes a lot of pride in its independence from any conference affiliation in football, despite the changing college landscape. However, the barbarians at the gate might force the school to finally make a choice it has been avoiding for years. The recent instability in the Big East — Notre Dame's conference in other sports — has school officials considering all of their options. For conferences such as the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC, Notre Dame is the Holy Grail of additions.

NAVY (4-2) VS. NOTRE DAME (4-3) Time: 1 p.m. Site: New Meadowlands Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J. TV: Chs. 13, 9 Radio: 1090 AM, 1430 AM Last meeting: Navy def. Notre Dame, 23-21, on Nov. 7 in South Bend, Ind. Red-zone revival: Navy is 8-for-8, all touchdowns, in its past two games inside the 20-yard line. That's a sharp turnaround. Before a 28-27 victory over Wake Forest two weeks ago, the Midshipmen were 7-for-19 in scoring touchdowns in that area.

Scott Rodgers' day in the Notre Dame cage started with a fusillade of Cornell shots, a disconcerting number of Irish turnovers and a 1-0 deficit. But after the massive, 6-foot-4, 254-pound goalkeeper let in a quick goal, he slammed the door shut and turned the game's momentum in a major way. By the time the NCAA Division I lacrosse semifinal was over, Rodgers had ushered the Irish to their first national championship game on 16 saves and...

With Notre Dame up 63-62 with 42 seconds remaining against Xavier in the second round of the NCAA tournament, Eric Atkins had the ball in his hands with designs on increasing the Irish's tenuous lead. The Mount St. Joseph grad took the inbounds pass and faced pressure from Musketeers defenders. Atkins eyed teammate Pat Connaughton , but lofted his pass into the stands for a devastating late turnover. On the next possession, Xavier's Tu Holloway connected on a fade-away jumper that gave the Musketeers a 64-63 edge.

An Irish blessing Brian Hamilton Chicago Tribune Some day Notre Dame may call upon the ACC for a service. It will want a football conference to call home, and the ACC will oblige, right after it's done making snow angels in the $100 bills layering its floor. Until then? This partnership is an Irish blessing. Nothing is more important to anyone in this deal than football independence is to Notre Dame. That remains viable. And now the program can infiltrate the ACC's postseason bowl structure, a critical security measure.

A new year brings renewed public discussion of climate change to Baltimore. Notre Dame of Maryland University is launching a " Green Baltimore " series of four forums in early 2013 on environmental topics, featuring experts from government, business, academia and nonprofit groups. The first session Jan. 2 will tackle the science and policy debate on global warming, focusing on the impacts in Maryland and this area. Baltimore city's Climate Action Plan will be reviewed, as will the state's draft plan for reducing greenhouse gases across Maryland.  Scheduled speakers include Danielle Schwarzmann, an economist with the state Department of the Environment, John Cookson, instructor and director of the environmental sustainability major at Notre Dame and Afred D'Agostino, a chemistry professor there.

Friday's editions included a Q&A with Notre Dame Junior midfielder Jim Marlatt. Due to space constraints, here are some more answers from the Clarksville native and River Hill graduate that did not make the cut. How does a guy from Clarksville and River Hill end up in South Bend, Indiana? There was definitely some interest in staying closer to home. I have four younger siblings, including a little brother I'd love to see a little bit more often. But I think the balance between academics and athletics, just how well they take care of their athletes and making sure they do well in school are what really attracted me there.

Each week, The Baltimore Sun publishes a Q&A with a college lacrosse player or coach to get you more acquainted with the player and his/her team. Today's guest is Notre Dame junior midfielder Jim Marlatt , a Clarksville native and River Hill graduate who leads the team's midfielders in goals with 18 and assists with 10. The Fighting Irish (11-4), who are the second seed in the NCAA tournament, will meet seventh-seeded Duke (13-5) in a quarterfinal Sunday at 2:30 p.m. at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

ESPN analyst Paul Carcaterra provided color commentary for fifth-seeded North Carolina's 16-7 rout of Lehigh and Cornell's 16-8 upset of sixth-seeded Maryland in a pair of NCAA tournament first-round contests this past weekend. The former Syracuse All-American midfielder, who can be followed on Twitter via @paulcarcaterra, will be part of the crew covering Saturday's quarterfinals in College Park and Sunday's quarterfinals in Indianapolis. Carcaterra offered his perspective on results that impressed and surprised him, concerns for the top two seeded teams and the most interesting quarterfinal.

ESPN analyst Mark Dixon, who provided color commentary for No. 7 Loyola's 8-4 victory over No. 13 Johns Hopkins on Saturday, will handle play-by-play duties for the championship final of the America East tournament at Stony Brook this Saturday and then add analysis for the title game of the Ivy League tournament the next day. The former Blue Jays midfielder, who can be followed on Twitter @Dixonlacrosse, discussed No. 3 Notre Dame's candidacy for...

No. 11 Syracuse scored six unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to down No. 3 Notre Dame, 10-4, in the Konica Minolta Big City Classic on Saturday at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. After leading 3-1 at halftime, the Fighting Irish (10-3, 4-2 Big East Conference) were held to three shots on goal in the second half as the Orange (11-3, 5-1) put the game out of reach. No. 5 Cornell 17, No. 12 Princeton 11: The Big Red (12-2, 6-0 Ivy League) took a 9-3 first-half lead and held off the Tigers (8-5, 3-3)

No. 19 Connecticut took a 6-4 lead into halftime and never relinquished it, upsetting No. 7 Notre Dame at home, 10-7, in women's lacrosse Sunday. The Huskies (13-1, 5-1 Big East) won all their home games in a season for the first time in program history. The Fighting Irish (11-3, 5-3) scored just three goals in the second half, two by Lauren Sullivan. Morgan O'Reilly had four goals on senior day to lead UConn, Carly Palmucci added a pair of first-half goals and Lauren Kahn scored her team-leading 32nd goal of the season.

Irish, with the right coach Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times This one is, to mix my metaphors, a slam dunk. Notre Dame will return to glory as soon as it hires the right coach. People wondered if Southern California could ever win big again after going through the Ted Tollner, Larry Smith, John Robinson II and Paul Hackett years. USC had lost its mojo. Really? The Trojans shot back to the top after hiring Pete Carroll. Programs with tradition have the advantage in having that tradition.

The matchup between Notre Dame and Alabama for the college football championship pits two football programs that for decades have yielded legendary figures -- and rich material for books. The Four Horsemen, the Bear, the Gipper, Broadway Joe, Rudy -- each nickname conjures up lasting images for even the most casual football fan. If you need some inspirationbefore Monday night's big game, here are some books to consider: -- "Rudy: My Story," a memoir by  Rudy Ruettiger, whose inspirational story was chronicled in the movie "Rudy.

The Charles J. Busta III lecture series at Notre Dame presents " Cindy Wolf : Mixing Business with Culinary Pleasure" on April 23. Wolf, two-time finalist for the James Beard Foundation award for Best Chef in the mid-Atlantic region, is a partner in Foreman Wolf, which owns and operates Charleston , Petit Louis , Pazo , Cinghiale and Johnny's . The Cindy Wolf lecture is 7 p.m. on April 23 at Notre Dame of Maryland University's...