Dec. 13, 2007

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Nine University of Notre Dame varsity sports programs rank among the top 15 in the country within their respective sports in STACK magazine’s inaugural survey of the colleges and universities with the best combination of academic and athletic excellence.

The Irish women’s soccer program ranked number one overall in competition with the other women’s soccer programs around the country. Women’s tennis, men’s soccer and men’s cross country stood fourth; women’s cross country and men’s lacrosse finished sixth; hockey and men’s tennis stood eighth, and football ended up 12th.

Published in the magazine’s November/December issue, the survey is the first ranking of the country’s 50 leading college sports programs based on academics, athletic opportunity and overall performance. The survey is available online by clicking here.

The survey’s methodology included overall academic rankings based upon U.S. News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges” survey, athlete graduation rates, national sport-specific rankings over the last three seasons, championship history, professional successes, atmosphere, and coaching staff tenure.

In addition to the overall and sport-specific rankings, the magazine’s survey also enables athletes, parents and fans to evaluate schools in side-by-side comparisons.

Here are the various tables in which Notre Dame rates mention (individual sports charts included only the top 15 schools):

Top 15 universities overall (with total points listed) — 1. North Carolina 350, 2. Texas 345, 3. Stanford 341, 4. UCLA 311, 5. Duke 284, 6. Florida 261, 7. Michigan 245, 8. USC 204, 9. Ohio State 182, 10. Wisconsin 178, 11. Virginia 158, 12. Georgia 143, 13. Notre Dame 137, 14. California 135, 15. Tennessee 132.

Women’s Soccer – 1. Notre Dame (“Over the past three seasons, Notre Dame has managed to lose a total of four games. The women’s soccer program gets the same bragging rights as the men’s – a top 20 ranking and a legendary athletic tradition; but the women command even more respect for their perfect APR and consistent post-season success.”), 2. North Carolina, 3. UCLA, 4. Penn State, 5. Portland, 6. Texas A&M, 7. Virginia, 8. Florida State, 9. Texas, 10. Stanford, 11. California, 12. Santa Clara, 13. Duke, 14. Florida, 15. Boston College.

Men’s Soccer – 1. Duke, 2. Virginia, 3. Wake Forest, 4. Notre Dame, 5. SMU, 6. Maryland, 7. UCLA, 8. Indiana, 9. California, 10. UC-Santa Barbara, 11. North Carolina, 12. UNC-Greensboro, 13. New Mexico, 14. Northwestern, 15. Clemson.

Women’s Tennis – 1. Stanford, 2. Florida, 3. UCLA, 4. Notre Dame, 5. Northwestern, 6. North Carolina, 7. USC, 8. Duke, 9. Georgia Tech, 10. Texas, 11. California, 12. Vanderbilt, 13. Michigan, 14. Miami (FL), 15. Wake Forest.

Men’s Cross Country – 1. Stanford, 2. Wisconsin, 3. Texas, 4. Notre Dame, 5. Colorado, 6. BYU, 7. Iona, 8. Arkansas, 9. Georgetown, 10. William & Mary, 11. Virginia, 12. Florida, 13. UCLA, 14. Washington, 15. Ohio State.

Men’s Lacrosse – 1. Virginia, 2. Duke, 3. Cornell, 4. Johns Hopkins, 5. Georgetown, 6. Notre Dame, 7. Maryland, 8. Princeton, 9. Delaware, 10. Navy, 11. Massachusetts, 12. Colgate, 13. North Carolina, 14. Albany, 15. Denver.

Women’s Cross Country – 1. Stanford, 2. Michigan, 3. Duke, 4. Colorado, 5. Illinois, 6. Notre Dame, 7. Wisconsin, 8. Arizona State, 9. Princeton, 10. Minnesota, 11. BYU, 12. North Carolina, 13. Virginia, 14. Providence, 15. Michigan State.

Hockey – 1. Boston College, 2. Michigan, 3. Minnesota, 4. Michigan State, 5. Cornell, 6. Wisconsin, 7. Boston University, 8. Notre Dame, 9. Harvard, 10. New Hampshire, 11. Miami (OH), 12. North Dakota, 13. Denver, 14. Maine, 15. Ohio State.

Men’s Tennis – 1. UCLA, 2. Virginia, 3. Duke, 4. Georgia, 5. North Carolina, 6. Ohio State, 7. Florida, 8. Notre Dame, 9. Texas, 10. Wake Forest, 11. Illinois, 12. USC, 13. Stanford, 14. Pepperdine, 15. Florida State.

Football – 1. USC, 2. Texas, 3. Florida, 4. Ohio State, 5. Auburn, 6. Wisconsin, 7. Michigan, 8. California, 9. LSU, 10. Georgia, 11. Louisville, 12. Notre Dame, 13. Virginia Tech, 14. Boston College, 15. Oklahoma.

STACK provides information and entertainment to high school athletes through its 500,000 circulation magazine, a Web site and other media.

— ND —