Print Edition for The Observer for Monday, March 25, 2024

Back the Bend returns for 13th year

Students volunteer on community projects including mulch madness and gardening

By ANNELISE DEMERS Associate News Editor

The Stepan Center was filled with over 500 students at 8:00 a.m. this Saturday. The cause for this was the 13th annual Back the Bend, an event hosted by student government to connect students to the South Bend community.

Students had the chance to volunteer with over 25 organizations in South Bend, including Unity Gardens and the Robinson Center. This year’s organizations, such as St. Vincent De Paul and the South Bend Animal Resource Center, were new to the list.

“I agree since I am a freshman. I was kind of wondering this whole year to get involved with community service, but I wasn’t really sure

where to start,” Elizabeth Culcasi said. “I think it was a good gateway, like for projects and activities and the rest of our years here.”

Students were given complimentary shirts and Einstein Bagels when they arrived at the Stephen Center. For lunch, food trucks provided food for students after their volunteering shift concluded.

“This was the first year that we actively sought out corporate sponsors to help with funding so about half of the funding came from the Student Union and student government funding. And then we had our largest sponsor, KPMG. And then we also had sponsorship from EY PwC, Deloitte and campus ministry,” Kate Jackowski said.

Juniors to attend app competition SMC elects new student body president

By LIAM KELLY Notre Dame News Editor

While most Notre Dame students will likely spend the week before Easter studying for exams, juniors Luke Blazek and Brian George, both residents of Pangborn Hall and hailing from Dallas, TX, will be traveling to Florida State University to compete in the ACC InVenture Prize Competition.

The pair are representing Notre Dame at the competition after co-founding the app “Routora” in 2022 with Tom Vazhekatt, a junior at the University of Texas, Dallas. The app uses artificial intelligence to allow users to plan the optimal route with multiple stops and calculates the approximate price to be spent on gas for the journey.

The app works as an extension that can be paired with Apple or Google Maps and is free to download, although a paid premium version is available. Blazek and George said they hope the app is used to make the lives of small businesses and everyday people easier while also lowering their carbon footprint.

Despite only having eight

employees, the app now has 40,000 users in 90 different countries.

Blazek said Vazhekatt was always running errands and realized it was difficult to plan multiple stops using mainstream map apps such as Apple and Google.

“He kind of had a suspicion that mainstream mapping apps weren’t truly optimizable to stop routes.

In 2022, Vazhekatt first developed a basic version of the application as a Google Chrome extension named “Routify.” He then introduced the concept to George, who shared it with Blazek, as both of them reside in Pangborn.

George offered to help Vazhekatt create the app.

“I told him, ‘Look, I’m willing to use the Idea Center and the Notre Dame network, and I think we can kind of take this to a whole other level,’” George said.

Blazek said he had an interest in entrepreneurship at the time and agreed to work with George to bring the start-up to the IDEA Center at Notre Dame.

By AYNSLEE DELLACCA Saint Mary’s News Editor

The Saint Mary’s College student body elected their new 2024-2025 president and vice president last Thursday. The results were sent last Friday afternoon to students’ emails announcing juniors Ashley Chaveriat and Adare Carmody as student body president and vice president, respectively, for the Student Government Association (SGA).

Chaveriat, majoring in Communication Studies and minoring in Business Administration and Public Relations and Advertising, currently serves as the president for hall improvement for the Residence Hall Association (RHA), the secretary for Saint Mary’s Historians and the secretary for Notre Dame’s Humor Artists (HA). She is also involved in the theater program and volunteers for Beyond the Belle for Darden Elementary School.

Carmody, also majoring in Communication Studies and minoring in Public Relations and Advertising and Political

Science, is an resident assistant in Le Mans Hall and serves as the co-chair for events for RHA, the treasurer for the SMC Democrats Club and the senior ambassador for Office of Admissions. She is also a swim coach for Notre Dame’s club swim team.

Chaveriat stated she hadn’t considered running for office until this year when others encouraged her to campaign. After some time of reflection, she believed serving in SGA would allow her to “give back to a school that has given so much” to her.

“As a communication major, I’m not afraid to use my voice and make sure that the student body is able to tell the administration what they want and also the administration is able to tell the student body what they want as well,” Chaveriat said.

Carmody was considering running for office when Chaveriat reached out to her to be her running mate. She felt running together was “a perfect fit” and expressed her wishes to make a positive impact on the student body, just

as the student body president her freshman year had.

“I remember my first year here when the president made such an impact during our first week of orientation,” Carmody said. “I remember being like, ‘Oh, this is so inspiring,’ since she was from Georgia, and I’m from Georgia. You can come from so far away and make such a difference.”

Carmoday and Chaveriat both stated neither of them decided who would run as president or vice president in the beginning of the election process, citing their emphasis of “team effort” was put before titles.

“We were coming into this being a team effort, being like, ‘We are in this together.’ This is not like one person is doing more than the other,” Carmody said. “In everything we’ve done so far, it’s been well-discussed that we have not made any decisions without the other. We’re communication majors, so we’re really great at communicating.”

Chaveriat and Carmody

ANNELISE DEMERS I The Observer

Students assemble in the Stepan Center awaiting departure for their respective volunteer sites. After an Einstein bagel breakfast and T-shirt distribution the volunteers set out for that day’s service projects.

Today’s Staff

News

Peter McKenna

Marcelle Couto

Grace Tadajweski

Graphics Marissa Panethiere

Photo Richard Taylor Sports Tyler Reidy Scene Cecelia Swartz Viewpoint Liam Price

Corrections

The Observer regards itself as a professional publication and strives for the highest standards of journalism at all times. We do, however, recognize that we will make mistakes. If we have made a mistake, please contact us at editor@ndsmcobserver.com so we can correct our error.

Monday

Soulful Sisters Supper

Noble Family Dining Hall

6 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Eat a meal with peers.

Health Center Can

Drive Student Center

Noon - 1 p.m.

Donate items for a clinic’s food pantry.

Tuesday How Do You Make a Bee Hive?

204 DeBartolo Hall

6 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Hear from Professor Morgan Carr-Markell.

Demystifying Disability

121 Mendoza College of Business

6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Learn about disability.

Wednesday

ND Stand Up Performance Legends of Notre Dame 8 p.m. - 9 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Notre Dame’s Got Talent

102 DeBartolo Hall 8 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Enjoy a talent show hosted by Pangborn.

Thursday NSSLHA Professional Panel Spes

App

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

From there, they incorporated the company and changed the name of the company to “Routora,” after coming up with the idea during a game of Scrabble.

Blazek explained the IDEA Center originally granted them a $300 ad credit in spring 2022 and then put them through a six week mentorship program.

“I’d say a lot of the IDEA Center relationship with us is mentorship, opportunities to win funding, and networking,” he said.

Blazek said the IDEA Center also helped facilitate their entry into the ACC InVenture Prize competition.

The competition is an “entrepreneurship week” with questions and answers with judges over Zoom, presentations in-person on Tuesday, and a televised competition on Wednesday. The winner will receive a grant of $15,000, and the second-place finisher will receive $10,000.

There will also be a “people’s choice” award where the team that receives the most support from the public will win an award of $5,000. Votes for Blazek and George’s company are placed by texting “ND” to 415-965-7445.

Blazek emphasized the pair’s excitement for this week’s competition.

“We’re really excited about representing the school because I think it will put us in the spotlight and hopefully allow us to share more about our mission and story from a good position,” he said.

Contact Liam at lkelly8@nd.edu

Service

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Jackowski is the director of outreach for student government. Back the Bend event proves costly as the student government foots the bill for food, shirts, and transportation for over 500 students.

“I think it’s just a desire to supply a one-off opportunity for students that are interested in serving but maybe don’t have transportation or time, and they can not schedule to do something more consistent,” Jackowski said.

“I think this is very notable, just given the fact that it’s pretty university-wide. I think we have around 600 sign up, and we probably give or take out 550 to serve, which is obviously one of the largest university-wide volunteer projects on campus.”

Jackowski’s enthusiastic belief in and passion for this event resonated strongly with the volunteers.

“I’ve seen how South Bend has opened its arms to welcome me. And so I felt like this was just part of my way to give back to them and thank our community who has done so much for me. And just like in any little way that I can help, I’m happy to help,” Bernice

Election

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

promoted themselves on a platform corresponding to both of their initials, AC. They campaigned on three major topics they’d like to either change or continue at SMC: Achieve Community, Actively Collaborate and Advance College.

For their first point, Achieve Community, Chaveriat said she and Carmody want to “lean into” the sisterhood found at Saint Mary’s and bring back a lot of the now-forgotten traditions alumnae celebrated before the COVID-19 pandemic.

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

Antoine said.

This was Antoine’s second year volunteering with Back the Bend.

Dawson Kiser, who will transition into the role of student body president on April 1, was also in attendance.

“This is definitely something that’s really important to us for next year. I think they’ve done a great job with it this year. I think having it in Stepan was a good move. But yeah, we’re really excited to continue this tradition for next year and, you know, make it as big as it can be,” Kiser said.

The university has over 60 service-oriented clubs on campus for students to be involved in. The Center of Social Concerns, on top of that, maintains working relationships with around 50 local organizations.

“I chose to do Back to the Bend because it’s always fun when you’re making a difference, and I’m just happy to be able to do it with some of my fellow classmates and to come together for something so meaningful and impactful. So I’m very excited to have this opportunity,” Mason McCart said.

Contact Annelise Demers at ademers@nd.edu

In terms of strengthening the connection between Saint Mary’s students, “a huge part of our campaign is not only ensuring that you have the best four years of your life but also the 40 or so years afterwards,” Chaveriat said.

Their second point, Actively Collaborate, refers to Chaveriat and Carmody wanting to allow more dialogue on campus and provide resources to do so for all students to be a part of it.

“There’s been a lot of dialogue on campus. We want to make sure that everyone is compassionate and hearing each other and making sure that people who feel left outside of this sisterhood are embraced and welcomed,” Chaveriat said.

Their last point, Advance College, alludes to their future efforts in broadening connections between SMC students, alumnae or other successful women.

“One big thing we really wanted to emphasize was advancing careers. With this being a women’s college, I think that there are so many opportunities that we’re missing out on when connecting with very powerful women who are out there, even alumni. [We’re] improving the Career Fair, improving Career Crossings, things like that, just really doing our best to get that going,” Carmody said.

Chaveriat and Carmody are both grateful for earning their positions as student body president and vice president and are looking forward to the beginning of their terms in the fall.

“We’re doing this because… we love everyone, and we just love our Saint Mary’s,” Carmody said.

ContactAynslee Dellacca at adellacca@saintmarys.edu

Clubs march in St. Patrick’s parade

Observer Staff Report

Last week, while students were returning from spring break, the Notre Dame Club of New York City marched in the New York St. Patrick’s Day parade on Saturday, March 16.

This year marked the 90th year in which the club has marched in the parade, according to Claire Elise Stephens, the president of the NYC club. The New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade is one of the most prominent in the country, having taken place since 1762.

Notre Dame alumni, as well as friends and family of all ages, marched in the parade on an uncharacteristically warm 60-degree sunny day. 140 people walked in total.

Stephens explained the group marched behind the American Celtic Pipe Band, as is the usual tradition, which played the Notre Dame Fight Song on bagpipes.

The University was awarded second place in the “Colleges and Universities” category of the parade by the Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and Celebration Committee, losing out on the first place award to Fordham University.

For Stephens, the procession of Cardinal Dolan of the Archdiocese of New York was a highlight of the parade.

Notre Dame alumni clubs also marched in St. Patrick’s Day Parades in Dallas, St. Louis, Charlotte, and Kalamazoo, Michigan, amongst others.

SMC holds masquarade ball

By AYNSLEE DELLACCA

Saint Mary’s News Editor

Saint Mary’s College’s Residence Hall Association (RHA) hosted the annual formal at the Gillespie Center in the Hilton Garden Inn from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday evening. The event was sold out, with 800 tickets bought by students. It included a 360° photo booth, finger-food catering, a student photographer and a DJ.

This year’s event featured a black-and-gold masquerade theme, which was revealed Thursday, Feb. 22, by hanging a “giant” hand-painted banner and hosting a mask-painting party in the Student Center. Sophomore Nicole de Guzman and junior Kaitlyn (Kate) King, the formal co-chairs in RHA, chose the theme of the masquerade in June 2023.

“We called one another before the school year started, and she suggested the theme and I just ran with it. I liked it a lot because it reminded me of Gossip Girl,” de Guzman said.

Senior and president of RHA Kathleen Hunter said the masquerade theme for the formal had been “floated around”

for a couple of years, but it was only this year that the theme was approved by the administration. Hunter was excited for the theme to be approved and believed the formal would be fun for everyone that went.

“I think it’ll be fun. I think it’s a good theme, especially for an all-girls school,” Hunter said. “I feel like everybody, at one point, wanted to go to a masquerade. So I think it’s really exciting and a fun twist for formal.”

Though the theme was chosen over the summer, the actual planning for the co-chairs didn’t officially start until December, devoting a total of four months for the whole planning process.

“[Planning] actually started in December when Kate and I created a Pinterest board to find photos that match the “vibe” of what we want the formal to look like,” de Guzman said. “It then quickly picked up right when we came back for the second semester, whether that ranged from meetings about linens to ordering supplies, it got hectic at times. But, it was so nice to be able to work with Kate.

While it would get stressful, Kate was the best person I could have been with. We got really close because of it.”

The total budget for this year’s formal was estimated at around $13,000, according to Hunter. The venue itself, which included the cost of catering, was $8,000.

Hunter stated that RHA has thought of moving venues before in order to accommodate more students. However, the issue with having a different venue stems from the problem of transportation, which would become an added cost to the budget. If the formal were hosted outside of campus or within walking distance, RHA would have to provide transportation for all students. However, Hunter and the rest of RHA are open to suggestions for future formal events.

Hunter feels it’s important for Saint Mary’s to host at least one annual formal for students as a way to find community on campus and something to look forward to throughout the year.

“I think it’s just such a big aspect of bringing joy to students, having morale and having something to look forward to,” Hunter said. “I think it’s just important to everybody to have a moment where you can get dressed up and feel good about yourself.”

In previous years, the annual formal was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and incidents of poor student behavior, which made the administration apprehensive about allowing the formal tradition to continue at Saint Mary’s. It wasn’t until Hunter’s sophomore year that formals were brought back, and since then, it has become easier for the formal committee and RHA to continue this aspect of SMC culture each year.

“I honestly just feel proud that we have a formal,” Hunter said. “Getting formal to happen every year is an ordeal, and making sure ticket sales happen and everything is a lot of hard work.“

“I’m really proud of everybody who worked on the formal because it’s so much work and stressful for one night, but so many people come away with it with so much joy and excitement.”

By ELIZABETH BURT News Writer

In collaboration with students at Saint Mary’s College, the Katharine Terry Dooley Fellowship launched a petition on Feb. 15 to raise the student worker pay from $9 an hour to $15.

The College adopted the $9 an hour rate in 2022. According to Raise the Pay flyers found around Saint Mary’s campus, this rate was a $1.75 increase from the prior rate.

Andrew Pierce, adviser of the Dooley Fellowship, noted that the program trains Saint Mary’s students in social justice leadership, so students have the tools to carry out a social justice campaign on campus or in the community.

“Many SMC students must

work multiple jobs to make up for the lack of sustainable pay,” senior and Dooley Fellow Grace Enright said. “The more jobs and hours students work to make up for comparatively low pay, the less time they have for academic work, thus decreasing the quality of students‘ college experience and performance.”

The movement began with flyers posted across the campus and then spread to social media. The movement’s Instagram account (@raisethepaysmc) has 145 followers, and their petition has “exceeded its allocated quota” on Jotform.

“We recognize that higher-paying jobs are sometimes available off campus, but those who have access to cars have more access to these better-paying jobs.

Those without this resource are left to the lower-paying SMC jobs, often when they are the ones most in need,” Enright said. “This reflects the widening gap between the privileged and the underprivileged, which brings about a question of whether SMC is supporting equity.”

In 2022, Notre Dame students ran the Raising the Standard Campaign. Since Notre Dame offers a higher student wage than Saint Mary’s, senior and Dooley Fellow Jeanett Ochoa noted that Saint Mary’s must increase their pay to retain student employees on campus.

“We are hoping student voices and concerns will be heard from administrators whilst creating a chance of dialogue between the two

different worlds,” Ochoa said. “Our goal is to raise student payment to $15 an hour because, today with inflation, students are finding it difficult to pay for stuff.”

According to Pierce, the movement’s organizers aim to raise wages in light of equity between the two campuses.

“Saint Mary’s is an institution with justice at the core of its mission, dedicated to ‘preparing women for roles of leadership and action,’ and the Dooley Fellowship program strives to make good on that promise,” Pierce said. “[I am] proud that these student leaders have chosen to hold the institution to its professed values.”

Contact Elizabeth Burt at eburt01@saintmarys.edu

Embracing poetry’s stupidity

Gracie Eppler The Soapbox

Shakespeare once wrote, “Poetry is like a boundless sea / wherein the soul doth sail.”

But actually, he really didn’t … I did, just now. Maybe some of you literature nerds caught this, but others of you were convinced. You were convinced that Shakespeare really did write something about poetry being a sea, and since he wrote it, then it must be “good” poetry.

I’m here to tell you that there is no such thing as “good” poetry.

As an English major, I’ve been force-fed Elliot and Dante and Dickinson. I’ve painfully swallowed Virgil and Wadsworth and Plath. And even with those poets whom I find slightly tolerable (Poe and Angelou), I still cannot resist the occasional urge to roll my eyes at them.

Shakespeare once wrote, “I am a man / More sinned against than sinning.”

He really did.

When I first came across this line in one of my English classes, I nodded my head. I thought to myself, “maybe poetry isn’t so bad after all.” I went home, and I tried to write a line of poetry myself.

I wrote, “I arrive at the year of the cat, still the same then mouse. / Small, soft, always spinning still / on callouses cautiously crafted for that very pirouette.”

I nodded my head. I thought to myself “maybe I’m not such a bad poet after all.” I submitted my poetry to “The Juggler,” Notre Dame’s student-led magazine for creative publications. And then I was met with this email: “We regret to inform you that we cannot accept your poetry at this time.”

I am not a very good poet, or so I’m told. I’ve

Christina Sayut Graphics Editor Emeritus INSIDE COLUMN

been told that I’m a good writer and a mediocre piano player and an average singer at best. But I’ve never once been told that I write “good” poetry.

Walt Whitman once wrote, “I celebrate myself, / And what I assume you shall assume, / For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.”

He really did. His poetry was so groundbreaking, so unorthodox, so earth-shattering that it is still being taught in high schools across America, where teachers display his weird sentences with punctuation that would make a thesaurus cry and say, “Wow, this is good poetry. This is excellent poetry, actually.”

Walt Whitman once wrote, “I sing the beet, red as the blush of dawn / … proudly unfurled, your Flesh a crimson hue.”

But actually, he really didn’t … I did, just now. If I submitted this to my professors, I would probably get a big fat F. Maybe Walt Whitman got bad grades too, and yet, his poetry is now deemed “excellent.” My poetry is almost always met with: “We regret to inform you that we cannot accept your poetry at this time.”

I came across a Tiktok the other day in which a boy named Rocco Frattasio read aloud, “Jack and I have this habit of drinking too many cups of coffee sometimes. I just love coffee. Jack says yeah no kidding, there are other things to love besides coffee.” I nodded my head.

I thought to myself, “Hey, Rocco, that’s good poetry.” And all the 40,000 people in the comments said, “That’s good poetry, Rocco.” I sent it to my sister. She pursed her lips. “I don’t like poetry,” she said. “Poetry is stupid.”

She said what I’ve been thinking since before I even knew what thoughts were: POETRY IS STUPID! Who decides what a “good” poem is, anyway? When Homer wrote: “Nobody — that’s my name. / Nobody — so my mother and father

call me, all my friends,” all the Greeks nodded their heads and said, “Hey, Homer, that’s good poetry.” English teachers wearing floor-length skirts and dangly feather earrings later agreed, and so now sixteen-year-olds everywhere have to sparknote “The Odyssey” so that they can get a passing grade on their world literature quizzes.

I wrote, “It is raining outside my parents’ bedroom / I hear no storm, only their laughter / Thunderous, unbridled / I could not bottle it if I tried” and someone in the office of an unnamed publication shook their head and said, “Hey, Gracie, that’s terrible poetry. I mean seriously, this crap is really stupid.”

It seems that even those who reject me can agree on poetry’s stupidity.

But maybe that’s the whole point. Maybe poetry is stupid, but who said everything always had to be smart? I’ve spent my whole life running from stupid and towards smart and my legs are killing me. We’re all so afraid of being stupid, whether we like to admit it or not. Perhaps some stupidity is good for us. Maybe a bit of rejection, a loosening of expectations and a chance to laugh at our own vulnerability is necessary.

Gracie Eppler once wrote: “Poetry is like a boundless sea / wherein the soul doth DROWN.”

She really did. Maybe this made you nod your head. Maybe you thought to yourself, “that’s good poetry.”

Or maybe you just thought it was stupid.

Gracie Eppler is a junior business analytics and English major from St. Louis, MO. Her three top three things ever to exist are ‘70’s music, Nutella and Smith Studio 3, where she can be found dancing. You can reach her at geppler@ nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

The consistent joy of New York Times games

If there is one thing that I love throughout my week, it is a sense of consistency. I love doing the same thing every day, leaning into a routine that helps ground me as the world changes around me. There is one thing that genuinely doesn’t change in my life — a source of laughter, solace and sanity — the New York Times games. As I pull my frequent all-nighters, I know that the games are there to give me a quick break to step back from all of the work ahead.

There is something reassuringly familiar about the New York Times Crossword. No matter what I might be freaking out about, whether it is an essay or critique, the New York Crossword is always there for me. I love being able to forget about whatever deadlines I have and instead ponder what kind of random tricks the New York Times games team might be trying to pull on me. The cryptic clues and clever wordplay offer more than just a puzzle; they serve as a poignant reminder that some things remain constant — namely, that I’m never going to understand more than half of the clues on the first attempt.

I’ve also recently found a new love for the Mini Crossword. The mini crossword is more than just

a game. It gives me something to screenshot and send to my friends, bragging about my time being under 15 seconds or complaining about it taking over a minute. Does it frustrate me when I cannot figure out what seems to be one of the easiest clues ever? Obviously. But would I have it any other way? Absolutely not.

I’m going to be fully honest here: Connections has been really consistent in my life lately — consistently hard. There was one from a couple nights ago that really took it out of me. But at least it is always there to humble me when I feel a little too good. I’ve been able to find some more simple meaning of Connections in my life, apart from just another game I can play. It serves as a good reminder that I can link small moments together with meaning and humor, embracing the absurdity in life and trying to find joy in things that are seemingly ordinary and unconnected. Finishing a game of Connections offers a moment of clarity and connection that cannot typically be found by late nights of studying.

I have been a Wordle stan since before it was a New York Times game. My favorite way to play it is to turn and ask my boyfriend to give me a five letter word, and then go from there. I’ve even figured it out in one guess two times (I still do not know how I did it). There is something so fun

about being able to check in with the WordleBot and see how my guesses stood up against the other players. Sometimes I feel like I even learn new words, but most of the time I just sit there racking my brain trying to find another five letter word.

The beta games are some of the best parts of the New York Times Games universe. Lately, I have really been enjoying the new game Strands. It is like a word search, except I find that I am usually better at it than a word search. While it is less consistent since it might not make it to the big leagues, I still find a great sense of joy in opening up safari on my phone and finding the newest game of Strands to play.

As I sit and wonder what my future might hold post-graduation, I find comfort in knowing that the New York Times games will still be there for me — a constant companion in an ever-changing world. From crossword grids to Connections, Wordles and Strands, I am always going to remember that there is a light at the end of the puzzle.

So here’s to a lifetime of laughter, companionship and endless struggle with the New York Times games by my side.

You can contact Christina at csayut@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

LETTER EDITOR

Is Notre Dame aware of Celtic’s history?

Picture this: an institution whose earliest members were Irish Catholic, who left their homeland in search of a better life and who faced bigotry and discrimination in their adopted country. This institution, therefore, became a beacon of Irish Catholicism, a safe space where Irish Catholics could excel and celebrate their heritage.

I’m talking about Celtic Football Club, who announced they will play an exhibition match against Chelsea in Notre Dame Stadium this summer.

Celtic, a soccer club based in Glasgow, was founded by Irish immigrants who fled Ireland during the peak of the Great Famine and British colonial rule. Celtic’s success on the soccer pitch meant that Irish Catholics had an institution of their own of which they could be proud.

Of course, the above description could just as easily apply to Notre Dame itself. The history of Notre Dame’s Irish Catholic identity, its Fighting Irish moniker and the Leprechaun mascot are well-established, and newcomers to the Notre Dame community are quick to pick up on the centrality of Irish Catholic traditions to Notre Dame’s identity.

It is no wonder, then, that Celtic want to play a match at Notre Dame Stadium, and there is a certain poetic symmetry to the partnership. However, the similarities end there, and this brings us to the uncomfortable but necessary conversation about sports, politics and sectarianism. There is, under the surface, a dark side to this.

Put simply, Celtic is a central player in a long, nasty dispute over Ireland, its history, its sense of identity and its shared future.

Ireland for years was under the

control of Great Britain, who suppressed local Irish culture and identity. This tragically culminated in the Great Famine, where over a million Irish people perished and a million others emigrated. Ireland gained its independence in 1922, but this was only partial: six of its thirty-two counties remained under British rule, leaving the island divided between the majority-Catholic Republic of Ireland and the majority-Protestant Northern Ireland. Since then, Northern Ireland has been a battleground between its Catholic population, who want its unification with the Republic, and its Protestant population, who want it to remain under British control.

The battleground reference is no metaphor. During the latter half of the twentieth century, Northern Ireland saw a spate of bombings, shootings and other terrorist attacks carried out by sectarian terrorist groups such as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), who wished to further their political objectives.

So where does Celtic come into this? It largely has to do with what a sports club can symbolize and the power it has to organize and channel fan groups and protests.

Glasgow is a notorious sectarian hotbed, and for years, a subset of Celtic’s supporters have veered into sectarian behavior at matches. In other words, for these fans the club no longer represents Irish Catholic pride. These fans now use the club to further their own sectarian agendas. Instead of expressing pride in Irish culture, these fans instead chant and sing songs glorifying the IRA and its campaign of terror in Ireland.

Threats from the Scottish

Parliament to curb such behavior have been only modestly successful. This is glorifying a dark, shameful period in Ireland’s history and celebrating a group that wished to use Ireland’s long history of suffering as a justification for sectarian-fueled terrorism. It is the celebration of violence and a willingness to use any tactics necessary to accomplish goals. It is one thing to be proud of one’s heritage and to wish Ireland to be united. It is another thing to kill civilians to accomplish this goal. Celtic has been hijacked and held hostage by this subset of fans who wish to use the club to broadcast these sentiments.

Violence during an exhibition match over the summer is, admittedly, unlikely. So, too, is overtly sectarian behavior. It is important to note that Celtic has a wide and diverse fanbase, its sectarian fans make up a small portion. There are many reasons people support a soccer club. Some support Celtic because their parents did, or because they are from certain parts of Glasgow. Others may have a particular childhood memory they hold dear or a favorite player they supported.

But others support Celtic as a way of broadcasting their sectarian beliefs. Rightly or wrongly, Celtic has become inextricably linked with sectarianism and a history of violence in Ireland. Whether sectarian behavior or violence occurs at the match this summer is not the issue. The issue is that the University is inviting an institution with links to sectarianism in the first place. I urge the University to seriously consider the ramifications of this invitation.

There is precedent, after all, for this. Stanford’s marching band has

been banned from playing during football games after a series of performances in the 1990s mocked the Great Famine and featured ugly and hurtful stereotypes about Irish people. Notre Dame, quite rightly, spoke out against this and disinvited the band. The University must make it clear that sectarian or bigoted behavior will not be tolerated.

Songs and chants celebrating terrorist organizations who bomb indiscriminately and target civilians have no place on our campus. And it is worth questioning whether a club whose fans demonstrate this behavior and has become a symbol of sectarianism should have a place on our campus either.

Notre Dame is a wonderful symbol of Irish Catholicism and its culture, and it has been able maintain this status while avoiding wading into the nasty, brutish aspects of Ireland’s recent history. But inviting Celtic to play risks Notre Dame getting drawn into the briar patch. Ireland’s resilience, pride in its culture and struggle to assert itself in the face of a legacy of suffering are things to be celebrated. Groups that use indiscriminate violence are not, no matter their ultimate aim, and we need to be extremely cautious in giving an institution that has links to such groups a platform.

Did Notre Dame realize what it was getting into when it invited Celtic to play? The University has some thinking to do before the summer.

Joey Speicher Notre Dame class of 2022 and researcher in residence at the Notre Dame Dublin Global Gateway March 22

By PETER MIKULSKI Scene Editor

“Petrarch,” a one-act musical by Notre Dame student Ayden Kowalski, debuted last Friday and Saturday in the basement of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center — I didn’t even know that DPAC had a basement. The venue was 25% liminal space, 25% tornado drill, 25% speakeasy and 25% bomb shelter. The “theater,” a small rearranged rehearsal space, was packed and abuzz.

The band — a little pop ensemble of a drummer, a bassist, a pianist and a cellist — occupied the back half of the stage. The pianist did an expert job leading the group, serving as their rhythmic and harmonic backbone. The cellist had good tone and effortless intonation; poor string technique ruins a lot of amateur pit orchestras, but it didn’t ruin this one.

The show adopted a pop-rap idiom reminiscent of Lin-Manuel Miranda for the male lead’s numbers, while the female lead’s songs featured a more lyrical style. The music wasn’t super showy, but it was well written; the words were poetic (unsurprising, given the title).

‘PETRARCH’: COVID AND DRAMA

The music was well performed, too. The male lead, Kowalski, was passionate — also unsurprising, because he wrote the thing. The female lead had a remarkable voice, and she knew how to use it to work the room.

Customarily, show tunes end with a “button”: a flourish in the music that tells the audience that the performers are done and that it’s time to clap. “Petrarch” needed stronger buttons — without them, the applause was a little trepidatious. Still, “Petrarch” was a show worth clapping for.

Initially met with skepticism by me, it was promoted as a work exploring “love in the time of COVID.” One reason that disasters are compelling fodder for art is that they drive people together. In “The Decameron,” the plague forces 10 Florentines out of the city and into one countryside villa. In “Guernica,” women and animals and children and soldiers alike are all united in suffering. There’s a lot of drama in plagues and wars, but COVID? COVID was different. It didn’t unite us — it atomized us. In this way, it was an excruciatingly undramatic pandemic. In fact, it was so excruciating precisely because it was so undramatic. It was a lot of sitting around, and that’s

tough to stage.

This is the stumbling block which tripped up the Department of Film, Television and Theatre’s production of “As You Are” — another COVIDinspired adaptation of a canonical work (in their case, Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”). I was afraid the Not-So-Royal Shakespeare Company (NSR) would fall prey to the same traps, would make the same mistakes.

But luckily, they didn’t. By keeping “Petrarch” small-scale, they kept it highly focused: one neat love triangle plot line, three clear-cut characters and a half-hour format. They managed to present a COVID narrative which — unlike the COVID pandemic itself — didn’t leave you feeling lonely and schizophrenic, but content instead. It wasn’t too sappy, though. It had a handful of jokes and a few cutting lines.

“Petrarch” was worth its audience’s time. It was invigorating to see a packed house for an original musical, and it showcased NSR’s strengths — a predilection for the classics, a confidence in modernity, finesse in miniature, spunk.

Contact Peter Mikulski at pmikulsk@nd.edu

THE ENJOYMENT OF ‘UNREAL UNEARTH’ IS EXTENDED IN HOZIER’S ‘UNHEARD EP’

By CLAIRE MCKENNA Scene Writer

Hozier just dropped new music, and our ears are all the better for it. The new EP titled “Unheard” features four songs: “Too Sweet,” “Wildflower and Barley,” “Empire Now,” and “Fare Well.” Each song “very nearly could have made” his latest full length album “Unreal Unearth,” according to Hozier in a new video posted to his social media.

Those familiar with “Unreal Unearth” know that the songs in the album are split into the different circles of Hell outlined in Dante’s “Inferno.” These songs were close enough to release that they also fit into those thematic circles. “Too Sweet” would have fit into the circle of gluttony, “Wildflower and Barley” in limbo, “Empire Now” in violence and “Fare Well” would have been the ascent out of Hell.

“Too Sweet” twisted the idea of gluttony. Instead of wanting that which is too sweet in life, the speaker tells his lover that they are “too sweet,” or too good, for him. Instead, he prefers to indulge bitter black coffee, neat whiskey and staying up late at night. The song repeats a bass guitar riff, which reminded me of the prominence of bass in

“De Selby (Part 2)” from “Unreal Unearth.” The bass on “De Selby (Part 2)” was part of why I loved that song, and I think it contributes a similar depth to “Too Sweet.”

“Wildflower and Barley” is a duet featuring Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Russell and is comparably lighter in feel than “Too Sweet.” Where “Too Sweet” is defined by a low bass, “Wildflower and Barley” shines through Russell’s sweet, soaring vocals. The laid-back nature of the song perfectly fits the lyrics. Hozier and Russell sing the speakers’ promises to embrace action, subtly indicating their current state of inactivity. The song is perfect for spring and would be perfect background music for the days everyone decides to soak up the good weather on the quads.

“Empire Now” is a more political song, with its references to empires and revolution. The refrain of the lyrics “one hundred years from the empire now” is most likely a reference to independence for the Republic of Ireland (2021 was the 100th anniversary of the Anglo-Irish Treaty). By focusing on freedom and the future instead of the past, Hozier instills a sense of optimism in the song. There is hope that the future will be better.

“Fare Well” is a song about indulging while you can and accepting the possibly negative results of that indulgence. The song cleverly includes percussion — using it to build movement then removing it to create a sense of free-floating. The arch of the song is an enjoyable switch of moods, and anyone who read my review of “I Wish You Would (Taylor’s Version)” knows how much I love good drum usage in a song. The other highlight of the song is the creative analogies to the different ways that he would not fare well. A favorite of mine is “a kitten-cozy-in-the-engine type of fare well.”

Anyone who liked “Unreal Unearth” will enjoy these four songs from “Unheard EP.” Because they were nearly released in the album, each of the songs from the EP clearly aligned with the musical and lyrical themes of the album. They also, however, each stand on their own merit and are enjoyable listens. Instead of locking these songs that nearly made the album away never to be heard, Hozier blessed us by releasing them. We are all truly better off for that fact.

Wild Sunday game, early pitching success headline Notre Dame series win over Miami

By TYLER REIDY Sports Editor

Through two games of this weekend’s Miami-Notre Dame baseball series in South Bend, strong pitching and cold weather held a cap on offensive output. Notre Dame got the better of the situation, winning 6-2 on Friday and 5-2 on Saturday to take its first home ACC set. But on Sunday, the only day on which the wind blew out, complete chaos broke out on the scoreboard. A weekend finale that featured 26 total hits ended in a 12-10, extra-inning win for Miami.

Overall, the series served as a vital bounce-back for Notre Dame. The Irish, now 14-9 overall and 2-7 in ACC play, had lost its first six conference games before taking two of three against Miami. In the opposing dugout, the Hurricanes avoided a sweep and flirtation with the Coastal Division’s basement, moving to 13-10 overall and 5-4 in league action.

Friday: Irish own second half of first ACC victory

Coming off a 16-run showing against Western Michigan, Notre Dame’s bats took a while to get going in the weekend opener. Facing a hot starting pitcher in Gage Ziehl, the Irish went hitless through four innings. In the meantime, Miami jumped ahead in the third with consecutive doubles from Jason Torres and Jack Scanlon.

Notre Dame woke up in the fifth, plating the tying run on a junior catcher Joey Spence’s first collegiate triple. On the next pitch, he crossed home with the go-ahead run on senior designated hitter Brady Gumpf’s groundout. Junior shortstop Jack Penney, who opened the two-run fifth with a single, added another

three-bagger but did not score in the sixth.

The Irish would add four more runs across the next two frames, stringing three straight RBI hits together in the seventh. Run-scoring singles from senior center fielder T.J. Williams and junior first baseman Connor Hincks bookended an RBI triple from graduate left fielder David Glancy, ballooning the home lead to 5-1. Though Miami drew a run back in the eighth, Williams brought in a sixth Irish runner with his eighthinning groundout.

Matt Bedford, Notre Dame’s steadiest starting pitcher, began the contest with a careerhigh 4 innings on the mound. The senior right-hander allowed one run, striking out seven Hurricanes for another career best. In the fifth, he passed the baton to sophomore right-hander Caden Spivey, whose 2 scoreless frames earned him his first win of the season. Finally, graduate right-hander Bennett Flynn handled the eighth and ninth innings, punching out three to close out the game.

Saturday: Radel, Reeth rally Notre Dame to series-clinching win

Game two of the series featured a 37-degree first-pitch temperature, the coldest either team has endured this season. However, it featured another simmering effort from the Irish pitching staff, which again limited Miami to two runs. Freshman righthander Jack Radel continued his impressive introduction as a collegiate starter, conceding one run across four innings.

Though Miami’s lone run against Radel came in the first, Notre Dame quickly answered it with one after starting the game with back-to-back hitby-pitches. Three frames later,

the Irish would bust out of the 1-1 tie with a three-run fourth inning. Four consecutive Notre Dame batters reached to begin the home half, with Gumpf and freshman catcher Carson Tinney driving in runs with hits. Williams would push the Irish lead to 4-1 with a single for his third RBI of the weekend.

At that point, Radel gave way to junior right-hander Ricky Reeth on the Irish mound. The first batter he faced in the fifth, Miami leadoff hitter Edgardo Villegas, pulled a solo home run over the right-field wall. The Hurricanes then put two men aboard with one out, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate and pressurizing Reeth’s appearance. But the native Floridian escaped, rolling up a 6-4-3 double play and upholding Notre Dame’s 4-2 lead.

Reeth would use the same twin-kill trick to exit the sixth before locking down Miami the rest of the way.

In the game’s final three innings, he retired nine of the 10 Hurricanes he faced, icing the visiting offense. Sophomore second baseman Estevan Moreno added an RBI double, his second two-bagger of the game, in the eighth to bring the game to its final score of 5-2.

Sunday: No lead safe in 22run, 10-inning shootout With Notre Dame antsy for a sweep and Miami desperate to rev up its offense, all bets were off for Sunday’s series finale. However, two frames in, it carried the same feel as its two predecessors. Miami starting pitcher Herick Hernandez matched sophomore right-hander Rory Fox’s pair of scoreless innings, moving the game along quickly to the third.

Fox would blink first in the

third, surrendering a lone run on an aggressive, sac-fly tag-up by Daniel Cuvet. But Hernandez blinked harder, allowing seven Irish runs across the third and fourth innings. Glancy delivered the big blow, a two-out grand slam that traveled 412 feet out to left field. With the four-run swing, the St. John’s transfer handed Notre Dame a 7-1 lead and took the team lead with seven home runs on the year.

The next time the Irish hit, they trailed 9-7. Miami posted eight runs off the combination of Fox, sophomore right-hander David Lally Jr. and graduate right-hander Nate Hardman in the fifth, bringing 11 men to the plate. The half-inning opened with six consecutive Hurricanes reaching and ended with a towering, three-run homer to left by center fielder Jacoby Long, his first roundtripper of the season. After Hernandez departed the Miami mound, Notre Dame tested left-hander Chris Scinta and the Hurricane bullpen. The Irish put two on with one out in the sixth, but a failed steal of third by Williams killed the rally. Miami would respond with a 10th run in the eighth, opening up a threerun lead.

Scinta, who had retired the side in the seventh, gave way to freshman right-hander Nick Robert for the home half of the eighth. Notre Dame attacked him right away, with junior outfielder DM Jefferson and Spence both singling as pinch-hitters. With one out, Williams then sent a run-scoring hit down the right-field line and attempted to stretch it to a triple. But he didn’t realize Spence, the baserunner at first, had not rounded third to score a second run, leaving the catcher stranded to make a key out on the basepath.

Moments later, however,

with two away and a full count, Glancy minimized the blunder’s relevance. He launched his second home run of the game over the left-field wall, bringing home Williams and leveling the score at 10. At that point, leads of 1-0, 7-1 and 10-7 had gone by the wayside.

After a scoreless ninth, the game entered extra innings with graduate right-hander Bennett Flynn pitching for the Irish. Flynn’s 10th began with a leadoff walk and wild pitch, immediately moving Miami’s go-ahead run into scoring position. Cuvet would plate that run, torching a single off the glove of Hincks at first and into right field. A sacrifice fly made the score 12-10, forcing Notre Dame to start another rally.

For a moment in the bottom of the 10th, it seemed the Irish stars would align perfectly. Williams flared a two-out single into left-center, extending the game to Glancy as the tying run. But Sunday’s RBI machine struck out non-competitively in his second duel with Robert, ending the game and the series.

Up next, Notre Dame will finish its five-game homestand with a midweek tilt against Bowling Green. The Falcons have ripped through the Mid-American Conference through three weeks, posting a 9-0 record in league play. Overall, Bowling Green is 11-8 with a six-game win streak and a .502 slugging percentage, the highest in the MAC. The Falcons have scored double-digit runs in five straight games, including a 34-run explosion against Ball State on March 16.

Tuesday’s midweek matchup begins at 4:30 p.m. at Frank Eck Stadium.

Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu

Women’s team rounds out championship season with 32nd-place finish at NCAAs

By MADELINE LADD Assistant Managing Editor

The Notre Dame women’s swim and dive team concluded its season with the 2024 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships in Athens, Georgia. Represented by four women — three of whom made their NCAA Championship debuts over the weekend — the Irish placed 32nd at the event.

Junior diver Calie Brady had a

standout performance for Notre Dame, earning All-American Honorable Mention status after an 11th place finish in the 3-meter (312.50 points). Brady also finished 19th in the 1-meter (264.90) in her third time at the championships. In the 3-meter, she improved on a 33rd-place result and score of 243.55 from the 2023 NCAA Championships. Brady moved up positionally in the 1-meter after finishing outside the national top 20 in 2022

and 2023.

Sophomore and fellow diver Grace Courtney made her NCAA Championships debut, ranking 21st in the 3-meter (279.20) and 22nd in the 1-meter (262.00).

For the swimmers, junior Maggie Graves saw a new best time in the 1650 freestyle with a 16:10.82. Her time ranks second in program history and finished 28th overall at the meet, besting her previous record

of 16:16.78 scored at the ACC Championships. No stranger to the upper echelons of the Irish record books, Graves had previously posted a 1000 freestyle time of 9:45.27 against Princeton and Navy that ranks second in program history.

Fellow junior Madelyn Christman finished 39th in the 100 backstroke (52.76) and 37th in the 200 backstroke (1:54.77). Christman ends the season with times ranking third and

second, respectively, in school history for those events.

While the women’s teams have returned to South Bend following the end of their season, the men are gearing up for their NCAA Championships in Indianapolis this upcoming week, aiming to contribute further to the season’s list of championships.

Contact Madeline Ladd at mladd2@nd.edu

Happy Birthday: Place your power where it counts. Believe and trust in yourself and your ability to improve your world. Concentrate on making small but effective lifestyle changes this year that encourage saving environmentally and financially, and everything else will fall into place. Change begins with you, and a positive attitude will set an example for others to follow. Be a leader, make a difference. Your numbers are 4, 12, 23, 25, 32, 37, 44.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Look for a cost-efficient way to bring about positive change. Share feelings and participate in events that offer hope. Changing how you earn or manage your money will lead you to less stress and more freedom. Join forces with someone who shares your ideologies.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Take the initiative change and follow through with plans. Stand up for your rights and beliefs and do your part to enforce a healthier lifestyle. Don’t be shy regarding how you feel or what your intentions are when it comes to love, life, and happiness.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Think twice before you challenge someone. Make sure you have your facts straight. Don’t expect others to back down or to fight fairly. Step back, consider the consequences, and reevaluate your approach. Someone will reveal your secrets if you share too much information. Be cautious and kind.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Don’t announce your plans, let your actions speak for you. Take a unique approach, use your talents uniquely, and recognize what you have to offer. Choose to take the path to artistic expression and freedom of speech. Express yourself and represent your beliefs.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Change the dialogue if necessary. Don’t let anyone interfere with your plans or deter you from following your dream. Be true to yourself, your beliefs, and the path you want to take. Experience will help you grow and gain the power to reach your destination.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Take charge of your life, educate, add to your skill set, and vie for more significant opportunities. Traveling, participating, and expanding your mind will encourage better relationships and greater self-respect and confidence to lead the way to your success. Love is favored and will make your life better.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Emotions will mount, and feelings will surface. Consider how to use your energy to bring about positive change. Home improvements, spending time with someone you love, and challenging yourself to make positive financial and lifestyle changes will lead to a better headspace. Opportunity is present.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Plan to have fun. Socialize, sign up for an event, or attend a gathering that brings back memories or gives you a platform to test your beliefs and theories. Change your living arrangements but not your space. Work with what you have and resolve a problem.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Slow down, Address details, expense, and how-to instruction to ensure you get things right. Don’t trust anyone else to do things for you. Use your experience and intelligence to guide and stop anyone from taking advantage of you. Don’t mix business with pleasure.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Choose what you want to do next. Embrace the future with optimism and the intent to use your skills in a fresh and entertaining manner. Don’t confide in others when using the element of surprise; letting your plans play out naturally will be more compelling.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Proceed with caution. Don’t expect things to fall into place; prepare to adjust as situations change, and let intelligence guide you. Don’t be surprised by what others choose to do or let anyone persuade you into something that doesn’t feel right. Do your best.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Put differences aside and follow your heart. A change regarding how someone treats you will verify your intentions and offer insight into what to do next. A closer bond will develop if you are receptive to what you hear and contribute what’s important to you.

Birthday Baby: You are protective, meticulous, and innovative. You are steady and ambitious.

ND WBB

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

we did a really good job on [freshman guard] Hannah Hidalgo. You have to take something away from a team as talented as them,” said Starkey. “We just didn’t expect Citron to have 29, a career high. She was just unconscious. Now, we helped her out. She had some open looks, but she hit some difficult shots as well and really was what separated them early.”

On a slower scoring day, Hidalgo acted as more of a distributor, finishing with 14 points and 11 assists.

DeWolfe took up some of her slack, hitting two key, firsthalf 3-pointers and ending the day with 12 points. The bigger takeaway for DeWolfe, though, might just have been playing in the game. In her four seasons at Fordham, the graduate transfer never played in an NCAA Tournament game.

Although DeWolfe is always smiling and making jokes with her teammates, that shone even more in Saturday’s win.

“I was actually talking to one of my classmates the other day about enjoying every moment and knowing that I get another chance to step on this court and wear this jersey. It just means a lot,” DeWolfe said. “[I am] enjoying every second and try[ing] to remind myself why I’m here and why I’m doing what I’m doing, and truly enjoying every second I get to step on the court with my friends.”

Ivey was complimentary of her team’s efforts. However, she did admit that her team made some defensive lapses and mistakes.

“I thought we fouled and had some defensive lapses that put us in a bad situation with foul trouble,” she said. “Hopefully that was a lesson for us, and then we could do better on Monday.”

The Irish now look ahead to Monday against Ole Miss — the team who beat Marquette in the second game of the day. In the regular season, Ole Miss finished third in the Southeastern Conference. The Rebels eventually lost to LSU in the semifinals of the conference tournament. Ole Miss has not won a game against a team ranked in the top 25 at the time of the game. Ole Miss and Notre Dame share Louisville, South Carolina and Tennessee as common opponents. Ole Miss lost to Louisville by six and South Carolina by 29 while beating Tennessee by five.

The tip-off time for Monday’s Round of 32 contest at Purcell Pavilion is 2 p.m.

Contact Jake Miller at jmille89@nd.edu

Notre Dame keeps win streak alive with sweep of NC State at home

By CLAIRE WATSON Sports Writer

Notre Dame softball, now 20-10 overall, extended its win streak to six with three wins against NC State this past weekend. The Irish won the first game 5-3, the second game 9-4 and the third game 2-0.

Friday: Balanced offense complements Laudenslager’s strong start Graduate pitcher Alexis Laudenslager started in the circle for the Irish, throwing 6 2/3 innings, striking out eight hitters, allowing six hits and conceding three runs (two of which were earned). With the effort, Laudenslager picked up her eighth win of the season. Junior right-hander Shannon Becker came on in relief for the Irish, pitching the rest of the game with one batter on and two outs and making the final out of the game for her fifth save for the season.

Becker’s save also marked the 10th save on the season for the Irish, which ties an all-time record in the program for team saves in a season. The Irish last achieved the milestone of recording 10 saves in a single season back in 1999.

Offensively, the Irish had nine hits from eight different players that helped lead the team to victory in the first game. Senior catcher Carlli Kloss contributed, going 2 for 4 at the plate. Fellow seniors first baseman Karina Gaskins, third baseman Cassidy Grimm and infielder Mac Vasquez all added a hit for the Irish as well. Among the juniors, designated player Rachel Allen and left fielder Emily Tran found hits, while sophomore center fielder Mickey Winchell and freshman second baseman Addison Amaral added on knocks for the Irish. Amaral contributed by driving in two runs during her at-bats alongside Tran and Vasquez, who plated runs of their own.

Saturday: Becker breezes by Wolfpack to clinch series

The Irish kept their momentum going to take a 9-4 win over the Wolfpack in the second game.

Sophomore right-hander Micaela Kastor started in the circle for the Irish, throwing one inning. Kastor allowed two hits, four runs (one earned) and struck out one batter. Becker then came into the circle and threw six scoreless innings for the Irish, allowing one hit and striking out two to

earn the win.

Kloss and Grimm led in the box for the Irish, each both going 3 for 4 by the end of the game. Kloss drove in one run, scored twice herself and pulled a walk. Grimm drove in two runs and also scored once herself during the game. Gaskins went 2 for 3 at the plate with a walk, driving in three runs on a home run and scoring twice herself. Additionally, Tran, Amaral and junior shortstop Anna Holloway added hits as well, each scoring themselves.

Sunday: Irish sweep Wolfpack with shutout win

In the final and very thrilling Sunday game against NC State, the Notre Dame took a 2-0 win against NC State.

Laudenslager pitched all seven innings for the Irish, allowing six hits but striking out eight hitters.

Neither team scored for the first four innings of the game, but in the bottom of the fifth, the Irish were able to pull ahead of the Wolfpack by scoring two runs. Freshman outfielder Tenley Sweet reached base and subsequently scored the Irish’s first run, thanks to a double by Winchell. Then, with two outs, Kloss made it on base and scored to make it 2-0 with the help of a single to shortstop from Tran. Neither team scored in the sixth or the seventh inning, ultimately making the final score 2-0 in favor of the Irish.

Irish to host Central Michigan on Tuesday

Last year, the game between Notre Dame and Central Michigan was canceled, making their most recent encounter on March 30, 2022. The Irish last took a 4-1 win against the Chippewas and now are getting ready to face off against them again this year.

Offensively, neither team scored in the first inning in the 2022 matchup. The Irish scored first in the second inning, putting one run up on the board. Central Michigan was quick to respond, putting up a run of its own in the third inning. Neither team scored in the fourth inning, but the Irish pulled ahead in the fifth, putting another run on the board before scoring two more in the sixth. Neither team scored in the seventh, making the final score 4-1 in favor of the Irish.

Then-freshman Shannon Becker started in the circle, throwing three innings for the Irish. Becker allowed

four hits, gave up one earned run and struck out three. After her, Payton Tidd came on in relief, pitching the last four innings for the Irish. Tidd did not allow any batters to get on base and struck out four.

Looking ahead, Central Michigan is 5-18 on the season and comes off of two wins and one loss in a series against Northern Illinois this past weekend. Central Michigan lost its first game 4-0, won the second game 7-5 and won the third game 7-6 against the Huskies.

Carly Sleeman currently leads the team in hitting with a batting average of .311, having a team-high slugging percentage of .527 and a total of 23 hits on the season so far. Sleeman, alongside her teammate Skylar Coberley, has a total of 13 runs on the season so far.

Central Michigan has used three main pitchers this season -- Mackenzie Langan, Grace Lehto and Madelyn

Wallace. Each of those pitchers has one win for the season.

Lehto is the pitcher that the Irish want to look out for. She leads the Chippewas on the circle with a total of 52.1 innings pitched for the season and has started 10 games for Central Michigan. Lehto also leads the team with a total of 40 strikeouts this season. However, Lehto totals 51 runs allowed in the season so far.

As a team, Central Michigan owns a .937 fielding percentage in comparison to a .953 opponents’ mark. Sleeman has a total of 82 putouts on the season, and Coberley has a total of 42 assists in the field for Central Michigan.

Notre Dame looks ahead to its midweek matchup against Central Michigan on Tuesday in Melissa Cook Stadium. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.

Contact Claire Watson at cwatson01@saintmarys.edu

PAID ADVERTISEMENT

ND Fencing

the defending champions to overcome. The Crimson notched 87 points in that aspect of the competition, significantly exceeding Notre Dame’s 73.

Women’s Sabre

Both top-two schools went quiet in the women’s sabre, with Harvard posting 20 points to Notre Dame’s 27. However, the Irish just missed an opportunity to put a fencer in the semifinals and raise their scoring ceiling. Senior Atara Greenbaum claimed fifth place with 14 round-robin victories, narrowly falling short of the desired topfour. Another top-10 finisher represented Notre Dame in the women’s sabre, with junior Jadeyn Williams closing her season in ninth place.

The team totals indicated Princeton as the victor for the women’s sabre weapon. Maggie Shealy of Brandeis took the individual title, winning both her bracket bouts by at least five points.

Women’s Foil

Harvard made a statement in the women’s foil, producing a one-two finish to earn 11 points of headway on Notre Dame. Jessica Guo and Lauren Scruggs amassed 37 combined victories in the round-robin portion of the competition, securing the top two seeds in the bracket. The two then opposed one another in the gold medal bout, with Guo besting her Crimson teammate for the individual title.

To reach that point, Guo knocked off Notre Dame’s Rebeca Candescu in the semifinal bouts. The junior Irish fencer entered the bracket as a No. 4 seed with 15 round-robin victories before falling 15-7 to the eventual champion. Notre Dame’s other foil fencer, sophomore Josephina Conway, ended her weekend in 13th place.

Women’s Epée

Similarly, Harvard gained major ground on Notre Dame in the women’s épée. The Crimson placed individual fencers in first and sixth, with Emily Vermeule winning her way to an individual championship. On the other hand, Irish fencers senior Amanda Pirkowski and sophomore Michaela Joyce posted finishes of 16th and 18th place, respectively. Those outcomes appointed 30 points to Harvard and 20 to Notre Dame, who took eighth among the 15 teams that registered points in the women’s épée.

Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu

ND HOCKEY

Irish hockey roundtable discussion

By ANDREW McGUINNESS, RYAN MURPHY and TYLER REIDY

Notre Dame hockey wrapped up its season two weeks ago with a Big Ten quarterfinal loss at Michigan. Andrew McGuinness, Ryan Murphy and Tyler Reidy of The Observer’s hockey beat break down the team’s past, present and future in a roundtable discussion.

How would you summarize the 2023-24 edition of Notre Dame hockey?

Andrew McGuinness, Senior Sports Writer: Tantalizing. This team had a real chance to go on a run around the beginning of February when it swept Penn State and took the first game against Michigan State. Freshmen forwards Danny Nelson and Cole Knuble were at the height of their growth, giving the Irish the formidable onetwo punch down the middle they previously lacked.

It will be exciting to see how they continue to grow going forward. But everyone knew they were only to get one season alongside Landon Slaggert, Drew Bavaro and the brick wall that is Ryan Bischel. That group feels strong enough to be the core of a championship contender. The timelines just don’t align quite right, as the final month of the season showed.

Tyler Reidy, Sports Editor: Ryan said it to me so astutely during the final Minnesota series — “Life is a Highway” with 2023-24 Notre Dame hockey. He was right. Unlike last year’s team, marred by chronic series splitting, this year’s Irish were just too streaky for their own good. Sticking with the analogy, they either breezed through each intersection or hit every red light on the way to the unwanted final destination. Ultimately, the losing skids — including the one that ended this season in Ann Arbor — outweighed the winning accelerations.

Ryan Murphy, Associate Sports Editor: I have to say, I do almost always love that song “Life is a Highway.” As an analogy for this year’s season, though, maybe it’s slightly more bittersweet than usual.

I was rifling through my notes for this season to get ready for this roundtable and found a note I wrote earlier in the season that turned out to be ominously true: with youth in the lineup, there will be very high highs and very low lows. The highs this season were memorable: 6-1 home wins over Michigan and Minnesota come first to mind. But the lows were lower than at any point last season: an 8-2 home loss to Boston University, a 6-1 drubbing to Boston College, and the bottom falling out during a 1-8 end to the season. Ultimately, inconsistencies (as well as a fair share of injuries) did the Irish in.

What ultimately kept the team short of having any postseason success?

McGuinness: The lack of secondary scoring. Notre Dame’s seven goals in the Big Ten Tournament came from three different players. With Danny Nelson out for the series due to injury, the Irish were clearly lacking down the middle. It showed when Michigan was able to tighten up in the big moments, keeping the Irish off the board in the third period of both games.

Murphy: A lack of discipline may not be the ultimate reason, but it’s certainly a factor. Over the course of their last 10 games, Notre Dame were whistled for no fewer than six 5-minute major penalties and six 10-minute game misconducts. Now, some of those occurred on the same infraction, but the point stands — that’s far too many. The Irish have long prided themselves on discipline, but they finished the season taking 12.3 penalty minutes per game, 14th most in the country. That’s no way to have postseason success: 13 of the top 15 teams in penalty minutes (Notre Dame included) will not qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Reidy: An inability to win away from Compton Family Ice Arena. Including the postseason, Notre Dame went 1-12-0 on the road from November 18 onward. Overall, the Irish went 2-11-2 outside South Bend. Those records are simply incompatible with a legitimate contender, and, come Sunday, they will give the selection committee no reason to see the Irish as a team that can win at neutral sites in the NCAA Tournament. The last three weeks of the season encapsulated Notre Dame’s road struggles, with the Irish unable to win one game at Michigan with home ice on the line before going 0-2 there in the Big Ten quarterfinals.

Who wins your team awards (MVP, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player)?

McGuinness: MVP has to go to Ryan Bischel, even factoring in a second straight postseason where he was merely human. Notre Dame struggled offensively all season and were consistently outshot for the second straight season. But Bischel once again dragged them to the fringes of the NCAA Tournament. Irish fans may learn the hard way how big of a luxury he was until next season when someone isn’t stopping 30 to 40 shots on a nightly basis.

Reidy: Landon Slaggert deserves plenty of credit with a 20goal season, but Ryan Bischel earned himself MVP honors. For a young team like Notre Dame, you can’t ask for more than a goaltender who started every game and played to a .924 save percentage against unrelentingly stiff competition.

Danny Nelson is a fairly easy choice for Rookie of the Year.

Despite having different linemates seemingly every series, Nelson produced a steady stream of points all season, ending with 23 on nine goals and 14 assists. He also ranked as one of the Big Ten’s best face-off men with a win percentage of 59.0. Cole Knuble deserves recognition here too, as he gave Nelson a run for his money with 10 points in the season’s final 11 games.

Michael Mastrodomenico takes home my Most Improved Player award. He spent his freshman season in and out of the lineup as a sixth or seventh defenseman but became a major factor this season. As a top-four blue line, Mastrodomenico emerged as Notre Dame’s most physical player while avoiding the major penalties that plagued other Irish defensemen. Heading into year three, the Quebec native can hold his own against the nation’s best.

Murphy: We are unanimous with our choice for MVP. Ryan Bischel didn’t repeat as Big Ten goaltender of the year — that honor went to Wisconsin’s Kyle McLellan — but he’s again a semifinalist for the Richter Award. For the second year in a row, he finished the season with the most saves on any goalie in the country. With Notre Dame’s strength of schedule (secondbest nationally), the Richter committee should give Bischel a good, long look for the award.

I’ll go a bit unconventional for my Rookie of the Year pick – it’s hard to argue against Knuble and Nelson, but I also think defenseman Paul Fischer also deserves some credit. It’s not easy to jump into the top six as a freshman, and Fischer played a pivotal role in Notre Dame’s defense this year. He spent some time on the power play as well and is going to be an important cornerstone on Notre Dame’s blue line of the future.

As for Most Improved, it might sound a bit silly, but I’m taking Landon Slaggert. It’s no secret that, after breaking out with 26 points his sophomore year, Slaggert was disappointed in his junior season last year. This season, though, Slaggert was a changed player. With a little more rest and rehabilitation under his belt, Landon truly came into his own this year. He played like the powerful forward he can be, notched 31 points and showed the capability to take over a game when he wanted to.

What is your outlook for the 2024-25 season and the near future of the program?

McGuinness: Concerned. Notre Dame had never missed the NCAA Tournament in consecutive years under Jeff Jackson, yet that’s what happened after the team qualified for every NCAA tournament that was played from 2016-2022. (There wasn’t a tournament in 2020, although they weren’t making it

that season.)

Each of the last two seasons, Notre Dame’s five-on-five play has been very poor. That’s arguably the greatest indicator of how good a team is, and the Irish haven’t been good enough on both ends of the ice. And it’s hard to see that improving with their top forward and best offensive defenseman departing, among others. There’s more young highend talent than in the recent past, which is encouraging. But it only matters if the foundation around them is sound. Next year will be very telling if that can be restored.

Murphy: I’m known to be the eternal optimist, so I’ll present the optimistic case. Great hockey teams are built down the middle, and Notre Dame will return all four of its top centers in Danny Nelson, Cole Knuble, Hunter Strand and Jayden Davis. Tyler Carpenter, who played wing for most of this year, is a very capable fifth. There’s a lot Notre Dame needs to fill out around them, but the foundation at forward is there.

I’ve also got my eye on the schedule. Notre Dame almost always has a strong schedule, and that won’t be changing any time soon. But the Irish finished first in schedule difficulty last year and second this year. It’s something to keep in mind when evaluating the team over the last two seasons. Jeff Jackson has never had consecutive losing years at Notre Dame, so as Andrew said, next year will be telling.

Reidy: Over the last two seasons I’ve covered Notre Dame hockey, I never felt great about the team’s ceiling. Bischel gave the team a floor of being a borderline top-20 team, but the Irish objectively lacked the skater talent of other Big Ten teams like Michigan and Minnesota. And the Irish never really pushed their ceiling, sitting outside the nation’s top 15 for essentially the entire last two seasons.

Now, with Bischel gone, we have to worry about the floor as well. To offset that, Notre Dame needs some combination of six players to step forward next season. Knuble and Nelson must produce again without the help of experienced forwards Landon Slaggert and Trevor Janicke. Fellow NHL-drafted freshmen Brennan Ali (forward) and Paul Fischer (defenseman) must do more as they climb the line chart. And rising senior forwards Justin Janicke and Hunter Strand, both of whom showed flashes of topend chemistry on the third line, must become true offensive leaders. If all of those things happen and the team’s newcomers contribute, Notre Dame can survive a goaltending drop-off.

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu, Ryan Murphy at rmurph22@ nd.edu and Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu

Notre Dame loses championship streak after three years, Linder makes program history

By TYLER REIDY Sports Editor

Notre Dame fencing’s magical, multi-year run atop the college fencing world has -- at least for the next year -- come to an end. Harvard snapped the three-season Irish streak of national championships, claiming the 2024 team title in Columbus, Ohio. The Crimson posted 169 points, besting Notre Dame’s silver medal-worthy 161 and Columbia/Barnard’s third-place 149.

Harvard’s team championship marks its second nationwide fencing triumph in school history, joining its 2006 title. The Crimson previously finished as a runnerup during the second leg of Notre Dame’s three-peat

ND WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

in 2022, coming within 21 points of the Irish.

During the 2024 team defeat, Notre Dame produced a special individual performance from senior sabreur Luke Linder. He took home the NCAA sabre title for the third time in the last four years, becoming the only male fencer in the history of Notre Dame fencing to take secure three NCAA individual titles. With the championship, Linder also staked his claim as the first overall men’s sabre fencer since 2006 with three individual national crowns.

Men’s Saber

In no other event than men’s sabre did Notre Dame hold a wider margin of scoring against Harvard. Linder

made simple work of the individual competition, helping the Irish post 36 points as a team and best the eventual champion Crimson with a 16-point margin.

Linder went 22-1 in his round-robin bouts, exerting two days’ worth of dominance on competition from around the country. His preliminary performance earned him the top seed entering the semifinals, in which he shot past Wayne State’s Eyad Marouf by a count of 15-7. In the gold medal bout, Linder got the better of Penn State’s Neil Lilov, winning by a 15-13 margin.

Junior Alexandre Lacaze also competed in the sabre for Notre Dame, posting a seventh-place finish with 14 round-robin victories.

Men’s Foil

Penn controlled the men’s foil portion of the competition, placing two fencers inside the top two to claim 35 points. Notre Dame put forth a respectable effort, notching 28 points with two fencers inside the top eight overall. Graduate student Marcello Olivares and senior Ziyuan Chen each compiled records of 14-9, with Olivares finishing in sixth place and Chen slotting in at eight place.

Men’s Epée

Though Harvard handled the top of the leaderboard in this event, Notre Dame sent a fencer to the gold medal bout. Sophomore Jonathan Hamilton-Meikle concluded round-robin action as the field’s No. 3 seed, entering

the semifinals.

There, he defeated an ACC opponent in Allen Marakov of Duke before taking Princeton’s Tristan Szapary down to the wire in the épée finale. Though, Szapary knocked off HamiltonMeikle by a final score of 15-14, the young Irish fencer showed impressive year-toyear growth after an 11thplace finish at the 2023 NCAA Championships.

Combining the three men’s weapons, Notre Dame ended the competition as the highest-scoring team. The Irish fencers compiled 88 points, clearing Harvard by six.

Harvard’s performance in the women’s weapons, however, proved too much for

see ND Fencing PAGE 11

Citron’s 29 points, Hidalgo’s double-double carry Irish to 81-67 victory in Round of 64

By JAKE MILLER Senior Sports Writer

As fans across the country have seen over the past couple of days, anyone can win in March Madness — especially unranked, mid-major teams. The madness that encapsulates March can ruin any team’s success, but maybe not Notre Dame’s — or at least, not just yet.

Notre Dame’s recent run has been difficult. Its now nine-game win streak is even more impressive when considering the five wins before Kent State came against ranked teams. Kent State, while talented, is not in the same caliber as Louisville, Virginia Tech or NC State, and that showed on Saturday. The Irish controlled the Golden Flashes from the start, advancing to the Round of 32 with an 81-67 win.

In the game’s first minutes, Notre Dame came out firing, including an 18-0 Irish run in the first quarter. With senior forward Kylee Watson’s absence, Notre Dame needed its shooters to step up. Graduate guard Anna DeWolfe did just that, continuing her hot streak with a 10-point first half on 4-for-5 shooting.

On offense, Kent State

played very similarly to Notre Dame. The Golden Flashes utilize a lot of off-ball cuts and screens while also driving the ball into the paint and kicking out for looks from 3. While the idea has worked, the execution did not on Saturday. Kent State was plagued by missed layups, travels and a brutal day from deep.

Kent State’s play turns unconventional on defense, though. The Golden Flashes use a selection of uncommon zones, including a 1-2-2, a 2-21 and a diamond-and-one. All these zones look to swarm the ball and create traps, which can be effective against immature teams. Notre Dame showed its poise, though, and when the lane was full of Kent State defenders, the Irish kicked it out of traffic toward open looks.

After the halftime break, Notre Dame slowed down slightly. Although senior forward Maddy Westbeld went into halftime with three personal fouls, head coach Niele Ivey trusted her senior leader, deciding to let her play early. For nine minutes and 59 seconds, Westbeld avoided picking up a fourth foul. But on a last-second Kent State shot to end the quarter, Westbeld

made contact, fouling out of the game.

Notre Dame’s shooting also took a turn, with the Irish going 0 for 4 from deep, 4 for 13 from the field and 2 for 6 from the free-throw line in the third quarter. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Golden Flashes cut the lead to 13.

The foul trouble continued for the Irish, although no other Irish player was disqualified in the end. Notre Dame

saw its lead cut to 12, but after every Golden Flashes run, it responded. After a lay-in from junior guard Sonia Citron with 2:10 remaining, the fans and team began to celebrate. It was all Notre Dame from there. Ultimately, Saturday’s game moves the team towards its goal of making it to Cleveland for the Final Four. Notre Dame’s win streak now extends to nine, stretching

all the way back to Feb. 19 against Duke.

Citron led the way for the Irish, finishing with 29 points that tied a 27-month-old career high. Kent State head coach Todd Starkey was particularly impressed with her performance, expressing it as a key reason the Irish went out on top.

“Defensively, I thought

see ND WBB PAGE 10

RYAN VIGILANTE | THE OBSERVER

Junior guard Sonia Citron leans over to control her dribble during Notre Dame’s defeat of Florida State at Purcell Pavilion on Jan. 26, 2023. Citron scored a team-high 29 points in Saturday’s Round of 64 victory.