Jan. 8, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – NCAA Tournament participants in six of the last seven years, the Notre Dame women’s lacrosse team will begin the 2014 campaign ranked No. 11 in the country in the Lacrosse Magazine preseason poll.
The road ahead of the Irish isn’t easy as Notre Dame will face six of the country’s top seven teams amongst its nine preseason ranked opponents, but head coach Christine Halfpenny wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s always nice to be recognized in the preseason polls,” the Irish coach said. “It’s always nice to be recognized and I give my team a lot of credit for earning that respect from what people have seen this fall to be included in the poll. However, right now we are focused on our training and preparation to start the season strong.
“Our schedule will test us week-in and week-out, and our goal is to prove that we can continue playing at a high level deep into May this year. The only way to do that will be to take it one game at a time and stay focused on Notre Dame lacrosse.”
Notre Dame’s 2014 season will see the Irish face off with preseason No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 Syracuse, No. 4 Northwestern, No. 6 Duke and No. 7 Virginia. The Irish will also showcase their abilities against No. 12 Stony Brook, No. 14 Stanford and No. 20 Boston College this spring.
Ranked teams represent 56-percent of Notre Dame’s 16-game schedule. The Irish will play 38-percent of their 2014 slate against teams ranked in the preseason top seven.
The 2014 season will commence for Notre Dame with a home scrimmage against Michigan on Feb. 8 at 7:00 p.m.
LACROSSE MAGAZINE PRESEASON TOP 20
1. North Carolina*
2. Maryland*
3. Syracuse*
4. Northwestern*
5. Florida
6. Duke*
7. Virginia*
8. Penn State
9. Georgetown
10. Loyola
11. NOTRE DAME
12. Stony Brook*
13. Penn
14. Stanford*
15. Towson
16. UMass
17. Denver
18. Navy
19. Princeton
20. Boston College*
* Denotes 2014 Notre Dame opponent