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.

Loyola attackmen Eric Lusby and Mike Sawyer have seen a lot of different zones and man-to-man defensive combinations this season. Fairfield tried to match up with them by using two short-stick midfielders. And last Saturday, Denver played a zone that shut off Sawyer, but Lubsy blew up the Pioneers for five goals in Loyola's 10-9 NCAA quarterfinal win at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Next up for the No. 1-seeded Greyhounds is No. 4 seed Notre Dame on Saturday in the semi-finals at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.

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.

With 25 goals in two NCAA tournament games, No. 4 seed Notre Dame seems to have found its shooting prowess. It's a timely discovery for the No. 4 seed Fighting Irish (13-2), who will meet No. 1 seed Loyola (16-1) in Saturday's national semifinal at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Notre Dame had wrapped up the regular season scoring on just 25.3 percent of its shots (108-of-427). Since then, however, the offense has converted 43.1 percent of its attempts (25-of-58). In Sunday's 12-10 victory over No. 5 seed Virginia, the Fighting Irish scored on three of its first possessions of the contest and then scored on three consecutive shots in the second quarter.

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...

Notre Dame and Navy will play in Dublin, Ireland, in 2012. Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk says Aviva Stadium will be the site for the 86th meeting between the Fighting Irish and Midshipmen. The $410 million stadium opened in May and has a seating capacity of 50,000. "Obviously as an Irish-Catholic from Boston, Mass., I'm going to have a lot of requests for tickets — not airline tickets," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said after Tuesday's practice in South Bend, Ind. "No, I just think it's a great venue and I'm excited about it. That's one of the unique things about being an independent, that you can have a game like that on the schedule.

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.

The newly renamed Notre Dame of Maryland University has received a grant of $450,000 to award annual scholarships to undergraduates in its Women's College, who are pursuing degrees in physics, mathematics, engineering and computer information systems. Scholarships of $10,000 each will be awarded to academically talented undergrads through the university's Pathways to Excellence program, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. The program is designed to help train women for careers in high-demand jobs in so-called STEM fields, in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

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.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Maryland women's team buried itself with another big deficit Tuesday night against Notre Dame in the NCAA tournament regional final here at PNC Arena. Unlike defending national champion Texas A&M, the fourth-ranked, second-seeded Irish did not allow the Terps to get a second wind. In fact, Maryland could barely breathe at all. The result was a demoralizing 80-49 defeat for the second-seeded, fifth-ranked Terps that ended their season and their dream of going to Denver for this year's Final Four.

Loyola will enjoy its first berth in the Final Four since 1998, but an unenviable task awaits the top-seeded Greyhounds (16-1) when they meet No. 4 seed Notre Dame in an NCAA tournament semifinal on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The offense will try to become only the third opponent this season to decipher the Fighting Irish's bewildering defense, a unit so fundamentally sound that it has allowed only one team to reach double digits in goals this spring.

As part of ESPN's coverage of the NCAA tournament's quarterfinal round this past weekend, Paul Carcaterra was the sideline reporter for all four contests. The former Syracuse All-American midfielder, who can be followed on Twitter via @paulcarcaterra, provided his thoughts on the most stunning result in the quarterfinals, the hottest team in the Final Four and the race for the Tewaaraton Award. Which was more exciting: the first round or the quarterfinal round? I thought both rounds wre entertaining and provided fans with different styles in lacrosse.

The quarterfinal round of the Division I men's lacrosse NCAA tournament is over, and the semifinals for Saturday are set. Here is the schedule: Saturday, May 26 (at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.) No. 4 seed Notre Dame (13-2) vs. No. 1 seed Loyola (16-1), 2:30 p.m. Maryland (11-5) vs. No. 3 seed Duke (15-4), 5 p.m. Monday, May 28 (at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.) Maryland or No. 3 seed Duke vs. No. 4 seed Notre Dame or No. 1 seed Loyola, 1 p.m. A little history: Loyola is 12-5 all-time against Notre Dame, but the Fighting Irish have won the past four meetings.

Top-seeded Loyola is the most balanced team, but unseeded Maryland will be the toughest to push out of the Division I men's lacrosse final four. The four remaining teams were determined Sunday after No. 4 Notre Dame beat No 5. Virginia, 12-10, in one quarterfinal, and No. 3 Duke routed unseeded Colgate, 17-6, in the other. Loyola (16-1) will meet Notre Dame (13-2) in one semifinal Saturday in Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., and the Terps (11-5) will play Atlantic Coast Conference-rival Duke (15-4)

Jasmine DePompeo had four goals and one assist, but Navy fell to North Carolina, 14-7, in the NCAA first round Saturday. The host Tar Heels (15-3) used a 5-0 run to take a 7-3 lead with 6:31 remaining in the first half, and the Midshipmen (18-3) were unable to recover. No. 1 Florida 6, Albany 4: The host Gators (18-2) outlasted the Great Danes' offensive stall to push past Albany (12-6). No. 2 Northwestern 12, Notre Dame 7: Paced by a 15-5 advantage on draw controls, the host Wildcats (18-2)

College Lacrosse St. John's stuns No. 2 Notre Dame, 8-7, in Big East men's semifinal St. John's recorded one of its biggest wins in program history as it upset No. 2 Notre Dame, 8-7, in the Big East semifinals Thursday. The Red Storm (8-6) was led by three goals and four assists from Kieran McArdel . Jeff Lowman made 13 saves in the winning effort. For the Fighting Irish (11-2), Westy Hopkins had three goals and Conor Doyle (Gilman) added two. In the other semifinal, Syracuse defeated Villanova, 15-6.

The College of Notre Dame will be known as Notre Dame of Maryland University starting next fall, school officials announced Tuesday at an on-campus pep rally. President Mary Pat Seurkamp said the new name, chosen by a unanimous vote of the board of trustees Oct. 30, is a nod to a long tradition of all-women's undergraduate education and to Notre Dame's evolution into a more complex institution that offers doctoral degrees in education and pharmacy. "We needed a name that pointed to the best of both worlds," she said.

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.

Loyola's 10-9 overtime loss to Johns Hopkins Saturday opened the door for Notre Dame to move into the top spot in RPI (ratings percentage index). In the third version of the list released by the NCAA Monday evening, the Fighting Irish (11-1) jumped from third to first in RPI, which uses a formula of compiling a team's winning percentage, that squad's opponents' winning percentage and the team's opponents' opponents' winning percentage. Notre Dame is ranked second in the latest Sun rankings.

Host No. 3 Notre Dame stayed perfect in Big East play when the Fighting Irish held No. 17 Syracuse scoreless in the first half and won, 8-6, Saturday. Ryan Foley paced Notre Dame (11-1, 6-0) with two goals and an assist. JoJo Marasco and Tim Desko each scored twice for the Orange (7-7, 3-3). No. 14 Princeton 14, No. 7 Cornell 9: Alex Capretta scored a career-high five goals and the host Tigers (10-3, 6-0) beat the Big Red (9-3, 4-2) to claim the Ivy League title and earn the right to host the league tournament Friday.