Debuted each year at the OSCARS - the year-end highlight video provides a look back at all 26 varsity sports competed at the University of Notre Dame and is created in cooperation with the Student Welfare and Development Office and LeSea Broadcasting.
Notre Dame Women's Lacrosse 17-14 victory over Stanford on February 19, 2012.
Christine Halfpenny enters her second season as head coach of the Notre Dame women's lacrosse program in 2013 after five seasons in the same position at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
The Irish turned in quite a year in Halfpenny's first campaign at the helm of the program as they finished 13-5 and earned bids to both the BIG EAST and NCAA Tournaments. The 13 regular season wins was tied for first in school history, while the 13 wins overall was tied for third in school annals.Notre Dame knocked off five ranked teams during the year as they raced out to an 8-0 start, which was the second-best start in school history and the best since 2008. Halfpenny became the first coach in BIG EAST history to start out 8-0 in their opening year at the helm of their program.Halfpenny helped tutor five all-BIG EAST and IWLCA West/Midwest all-region performers and two All-Americans. Earning all-BIG EAST and all-region honors were Maggie Tamasitis, Margaret Smith, Barbara Sullivan, Megan Sullivan and Lindsay Powell. Tamsatis went on to earn second team All-America honors, while Smith was a third teamer.
In the classroom, the 2012 squad was an IWLCA Academic Squad team (combined GPA of 3.0 or higher), while three student-athletes made the IWLCA Academic Honor Roll (Kelly Driscoll, McKenzie Brown and Adelle Bruggeman).
Halfpenny came to Notre Dame from William and Mary, where her teams achieved four straight 10-win seasons and a pair of regular-season conference titles over her final four seasons with the program.Halfpenny's Tribe squads captured Colonial Athletic Association regular-season titles in both 2008 and 2009 - and she merited CAA coach-of-the-year honors in 2008. Her teams combined for a 20-8 record in league play (including four straight conference tournament bids) - as William and Mary reached double digits in victories each of the last four seasons (10-7 in 2011 and 2009, 10-8 in 2010, 10-9 in 2008). Those four consecutive 10-win seasons matched the best previous stretch in program history.
"Chris brings to Notre Dame the experiences of having been involved with multiple programs and teams that have been to the NCAA final four, won conference titles and produced All-Americans," says Notre Dame vice president and athletics director Jack Swarbrick."From a coaching, recruiting and academic standpoint, she understands exactly what the expectations are here at Notre Dame and what it will take for our program to take the next set of steps forward."
Notre Dame's newest head coach tutored two All-Americans at William and Mary, to go along with 26 all-conference selections and 10 all-region honorees. Her 2011 squad became the first in CAA history to receive awards for player of the year, defensive player of the year and rookie of the year in the same season.Her five seasons with the Tribe produced single-season records for points (347 in 2009), goals (244 in 2009), draw controls (269 in 2009), caused turnovers (third nationally in 2010 at 12.61 per game) and saves (211 in 2008).In the classroom Halfpenny's players earned 59 combined CAA Commissioner's Academic Awards from 2007-2010, as well as five William and Mary Provost Awards.
Halfpenny came to Williamsburg in the summer of 2006 after three years (2004-2006) as the top women's lacrosse assistant coach at Duke University.The Blue Devils won the 2005 Atlantic Coast Conference postseason tournament title, won or shared three straight ACC regular-season crowns and made three straightNCAA Championships appearances, advancing to the national semifinals in both 2005 and 2006.
Halfpenny worked specifically with goaltenders at Duke, assisting Megan Huether in 2005 in earning first-team All-America honors. She played a key role in producing three recruiting classes at Duke that ranked among the top four in the nation (including the number-one-rated class in 2005 by Inside Lacrosse). The 2004 Duke team produced the top women's lacrosse grade-point average in the country (3.46).
Halfpenny also spent a season as an assistant women's lacrosse coach at her alma mater, Virginia Tech University, in 2003, directing recruiting and serving as offensive coordinator. She began her coaching career as an assistant coach at Brown University in 2001 and 2002.
Off the field Halfpenny has worked with several national committees including the IWLCA All-American program, NCAA site advisory decisions, the Tewaaraton Award and the IWLCA North-South Game selections.Before joining the college coaching ranks she spent a year as boys' and girls' swimming coach and assistant varsity tennis coach (winning the Virginia Boys AAA state swimming title) at Cave Spring High School in Roanoke, Va.
A four-year letter-winner in women's lacrosse at Virginia Tech, Halfpenny started on the 1999 Hokie team that won the Atlantic 10 Conference championship, finished 11-6 and achieved a program-first top-20 ranking. She received the coaches award that year and was a two-time member of the athletic director's honor roll (1998, 1999). She graduated in 1999 with a degree in health and physical education.
Born in Latham, N.Y., Halfpenny and her husband Matt are parents of two sons - Jackson and Cole.
Year by Year with Chris Halfpenny
Year School / Position
2000 Cave Spring High School (Roanoke, Va.)
Head Boys and Girls Swimming Coach
(Virginia Boys AAA state champion)
2001 Brown
Assistant Women's Lacrosse Coach
2002 Brown
Assistant Women's Lacrosse Coach
2003 Virginia Tech
Assistant Women's Lacrosse Coach
2004 Duke
Assistant Women's Lacrosse Coach
(13-6, NCAA Championships, Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season champion)
2005 Duke
Assistant Women's Lacrosse Coach
(17-4, NCAA Championships semifinalist, Atlantic Coast Conference
regular-season and tournament champion)
2006 Duke
Assistant Women's Lacrosse Coach
(18-3, NCAA Championships semifinalist, Atlantic Coast Conference
regular-season champion)
2007 William and Mary
Head Women's Lacrosse Coach
2008 William and Mary
Head Women's Lacrosse Coach
(10-9, Colonial Athletic Association regular-season champion,
CAA Coach of the Year)
2009 William and Mary
Head Women's Lacrosse Coach
(10-7, Colonial Athletic Association regular-season champion)
2010 William and Mary
Head Women's Lacrosse Coach
(10-8)
2011 William and Mary
Head Women's Lacrosse Coach
(10-7)
2012 Notre Dame
Head Women's Lacrosse Coach
(13-5, BIG EAST Semifinals, NCAA Tournament - First Round)
