Nov. 9, 2010
UND.com is debuting another of its new interactive features for the 2010-11 season, with its weekly Fighting Irish Fan Chats. Each Wednesday afternoon, UND.com will sit down for a live chat session with student-athletes, coaches and administrators making news in the world of Fighting Irish athletics. Fans are invited to join in and offer questions or comments for our guests, and if you can’t join us live, each chat will be archived so you can return to UND.com at your convenience and read what your favorite Notre Dame athletic personalities have to say on a variety of topics.
This week’s Fighting Irish Fan Chat will start at 1:00 p.m. (ET) Wednesday (Nov. 10), and feature women’s soccer head coach Randy Waldrum, football senior linebacker Brian Smith, men’s soccer head coach Bobby Clark and women’s basketball sophomore point guard Skylar Diggins.
Waldrum will open the chat at 1:00 p.m. ET, followed by Smith at 1:20, Clark at 1:40 and Diggins at 2:00.
Waldrum and the Notre Dame women’s soccer team (15-2-2) have earned a berth in the NCAA Championship. The BIG EAST Conference National Division champion Fighting Irish — ranked eighth in last week’s National Soccer Coaches of America (NSCAA) poll (the final regular season survey comes out Tuesday) and 10th in Monday’s final Soccer America poll of the season — earned an at-large bid to the tournament as the No. 4 seed in the North Carolina Region, with Notre Dame beginning its journey towards the program’s third NCAA title on Friday night, Nov. 12, at Alumni Stadium, when it plays host to Mountain West regular season champion New Mexico (12-2-5) at 7:30 p.m. (ET).
Smith and the Irish football team will play host to No. 15 Utah at 2:30 p.m. (ET) Saturday in the 2010 home finale at Notre Dame Stadium. Smith, who is one of 36 seniors that will be recognized prior to kickoff, has seen the majority of his playing time this season at outside linebacker, but filled in at inside linebacker for the injured Carlo Calabrese against Tulsa. He responded with a season-high seven tackles and forced fumble.
Clark and the Irish men’s soccer team (10-4-4), No. 2 seed from the BIG EAST Blue Division, will face top-ranked Louisville, who is the Red Division’s No. 1 seed, in the semifinals at 7:30 p.m. ET Friday at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. This is Notre Dame’s fourth straight trip to the BIG EAST semifinals.
Diggins and the Irish women’s basketball squad open the 2010-11 regular season at 4:00 p.m. (ET) Friday against New Hampshire at Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame will also celebrate the 10th anniversary of its 2001 NCAA national championship, with the members of that team set to return to campus for a variety of events, including a pre-game autograph session (2:45-3:45 p.m. ET in Heritage Hall at Purcell Pavilion) and a special halftime ceremony.