Jon Gallagher earns ACC honor and leads Irish soccer to another win

Notre Dame, ranked ninth in the country, has proven to be one of the best teams in the country.

However, each match has seemed to make Irish fans a little nervous, and Tuesday's meeting with Michigan was no different.

The Irish were back at home after a late win on the road against Number 5 Clemson, and once again found themselves needing late goals for victory.

After a scoreless first half, Jeff Farina put Notre Dame ahead only to have Michigan equalize shortly after.

The final ten minutes belonged to the Irish, and more specifically, Jon Gallagher. The senior forward netted two goals in the final minutes to win the game, and said afterward the team has been pleased to find results despite the nerves.

"Those are games we were struggling to win last year," he said. "We just keep chipping away. The main thing is we just believe. We managed to get another good result here tonight against a good Michigan side."

Gallagher has been huge all season for Notre Dame. He scored the game-winner against Northwestern and served the assist for Farina's late winner against Clemson. He's now found the back of the net an ACC-leading 10 times thus far.

This week, Gallagher was named the conference's Player of the Week, but says the success has been thanks to his teammates.

"Immediately, my mom was texting me [about the honor]," he said. "It's another team award. Boss (Bobby Clark) says every individual award is a team award, so we'll just add that one to the books."

Gallagher wasn't the only Irish player to receive recognition this week.

Jake Evans and Jordan Gross of the hockey team were named the 2nd and 3rd stars in the Big Ten after a season-opening sweep of Alabama Huntsville.

Swimmers Abigail Dolan and Zachary Yeager also earned Notre Dame's first national swimmer of the week awards.