Tag: Wrigley Field

Chicago Red Stars to play June match at Wrigley Field

The Red Stars said playing at the Friendly Confines is an effort to make the team more accessible

The Chicago Red Stars have announced that they will face Bay FC in a NWSL match at Wrigley Field on June 8.

It will be the first NWSL game held at the iconic home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city’s most recognizable landmarks.

The Red Stars were sold last fall to an ownership group led by Laura Ricketts, who is also a co-owner of the Cubs.

In a press release, the Red Stars said the game was part of an effort to make the team “more accessible to sports fans in Chicago.” The team’s home games typically take place at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, IL, 15 miles outside of downtown Chicago.

“Wrigley Field is one of the most iconic sports venues in the country. This is a unique opportunity for us to bring further visibility to our team and women’s soccer,” Red Stars captain Alyssa Naeher said in a club release.

“Chicago has always been an incredible sports town with such a rich history; I can’t wait to compete on the field, under the lights, in front of our dedicated Chicago fans from every part of the city!”

Wrigley Field was home to the Chicago Sting of the NASL in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The last top-level soccer match it hosted came back in 2012, when Roma beat Polish side Zaglebie Lubin in a friendly.

CHICAGO, IL – JULY 22: A general view during the first half of a international friendly match between Roma and Zaglebie Lubin on July 22, 2012 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by David Banks/Getty Images)

“Playing at Wrigley Field will be the event that fans of the Red Stars, Cubs and Chicago sports won’t want to miss,” said Chicago Red Stars president Karen Leetzow.

“On behalf of the Red Stars, I’d like to thank the Cubs for inviting us to Wrigley Field and giving these elite athletes the stage they deserve. We look forward to representing our great city and showing Chicago fans and the country how talented this club is and the intense level of competition that exists on the pitch every week in the NWSL and in Chicago’s backyard.”

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Report: Ohio State set to play Northwestern in historic Wrigley Field

Play ball, err football

New broke last year that Northwestern was going to build a new stadium, have since broken ground on it and that will impact where the Wildcats will play while construction is on-going.

One of those teams set to play the Wildcats during that time is Ohio State, and on Wednesday it has been reported by Rivals Louie Vaccher that the two teams most likely will face-off at the home of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field.

Northwestern is no stranger to playing on the baseball field, as they have done some many times previously, but under different circumstances. The Buckeyes have never played a game in such a setting.

As a Chicagoan, I have never attended a football game in Wrigley, but know the stadium well due to being a Cubs fan. This will surely be a game that I will attend and it looks like Buckeye Nation will be invading Wrigleyville in 2024.

Contact/Follow @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. Follow Michael Chen on X.

Notre Dame among first four out in latest tournament projections

Not good.

Notre Dame needed a strong showing in the ACC Tournament to get off the NCAA Tournament bubble. Instead, the Irish suffered losses to Pittsburgh and Wake Forest, and that was it for them in Durham. Two days after D1Baseball projected them as the last team in, they now are the second team out. Before falling to the Demon Deacons, they were the first team out.

The Irish have no one to blame but themselves for this. Beginning with a defeat to a putrid Northwestern team at Wrigley Field, the Irish lost five of their last six before Selection Monday. When you sputter towards the finish line before the tournament, you don’t do yourself any favors with the selection committee. Nothing the Irish did earlier in the season will matter much if they don’t have momentum, and they don’t.

The Irish will need a lot of luck to break into the field. To put it mildly, having to leave your season up to chance stinks. Alas, here they are.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame regular season comes to rough end against Boston College

Not a great night in Beantown.

BOSTON — Notre Dame didn’t plan on losing twice to Boston College in two different locations in one day, but it happened. With wet weather anticipated Saturday in Boston, the game scheduled for that day was moved up to Friday afternoon. The Irish lost that game, 7-2, and they hoped a shift in venues from that first game also would shift their luck. It didn’t happen in an 8-4 defeat at Fenway Park that closed the regular season.

The Irish (30-22, 15-15) ran into early trouble when Joe Vetrano put the Eagles (34-17, 16-14) on top in the first inning with a two-out, two-run homer to left-center. [autotag]Zack Prajzner[/autotag] got the Irish in the hit column with a leadoff double in the fourth, then scored on a [autotag]Vinny Martinez[/autotag] RBI single. That 2-1 score was as close as the Irish would get the rest of the evening.

After [autotag]Jackson Dennies[/autotag] pitched well for five innings, striking out six and walking nobody, [autotag]Caden Spivey[/autotag] relieved him in the sixth, and that’s when the wheels fell off. The Eagles lit Spivey up for six runs, three of which came on Vetrano’s second home run of the game, this one a three-run blast to right. Ten Eagles came to the plate in the frame, and Spivey recorded only two outs before [autotag]Shawn Stiffler[/autotag] gave him the hook.

If the Eagles’ offense hadn’t exploded, starting pitcher John West might have beat the Irish by himself. Over seven-plus innings, he gave up three hits despite striking out only four. Two of the three runs he allowed came during an eighth inning in which the Irish benefited from walks, hit batsmen and a wild pitch. He exited to an ovation after putting the Irish’s first two hitters on base in that inning.

The Irish did get one more run in the ninth on a pinch-hit home run by [autotag]Nick Juaire[/autotag], but all that did was make the game look closer than it was. The focus for Irish fans by that point was the ACC Tournament, which begins Tuesday in Durham. Between losing twice to the Eagles and the earlier loss this week to Northwestern at Wrigley Field, the Irish likely will need to win it or at least get to the title game to have a shot at the NCAA Tournament. Get those prayer circles going.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame appearances at MLB ballparks through the years

The Irish have been well-represented during ceremonial first pitches.

This is an exciting week for Notre Dame. Not everyone can say they’ve been at MLB’s two oldest ballparks during the same week, but this year’s Irish will be able to make that claim. They’ll face Northwestern at Wrigley Field on Tuesday before meeting Boston College at Fenway Park on Friday. The best part for us at Fighting Irish Wire is that we’ve been credentialed for both games, so we’ll be reporting the action directly from these historic venues.

With these two games taking place during the final week of the regular season, we thought it would be nice to take a look back at Notre Dame figures making appearances at MLB ballparks over the years. We’re not talking about when the football team has played games there or former Irish players who have made the big leagues. We’re talking about when figures have made appearances on behalf of the university. If you have a really good memory, maybe you can recall at least one of these:

Pending inclement weather cancels Notre Dame-Bowling Green

No game Tuesday.

Monday was a wet day in South Bend. With Tuesday’s forecast not looking any better, Notre Dame’s scheduled game against Bowling Green at Frank Eck Stadium has been canceled. That means the Irish’s 25-17 record will stay where it is for now.

The rainout means a wet start to what will be a memorable month for the Irish, who have won seven of their past nine games and thus earned four votes in the latest national poll. Their season at Frank Eck Stadium concludes with a pair of three-game series against NC State and Akron. They’ll face Northwestern at Wrigley Field and then finish the regular season with a four-game series against Boston College, which includes a game at Fenway Park.

Not every baseball player throughout history can boast playing at MLB’s two oldest stadiums in the same week, but the Irish will get that opportunity. To say the least, times are good for the program right now.

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Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame will play Northwestern at Wrigley Field

Make your plans to be at the Friendly Confines.

The third week of May is going to be quite the historic ballpark tour for Notre Dame. We already knew it would face Boston College on May 20 at Fenway Park. It turns out that will be a second helping for the Irish that week. Notre Dame will be the visiting opponent against Northwestern on May 16 at Wrigley Field.

The Wildcats have a sponsorship with the nearby Chicago Cubs, and this game will be a part of that. Northwestern already has hosted football and lacrosse at the Friendly Confines. This will be the second baseball game the Wildcats have played there but their first since 2013. The football team will return in November.

The Irish handed the Wildcats a 12-0 drubbing April 4 in South Bend. They also won, 14-4, in a seven-inning meeting last season. While the Irish (18-15) have had an average season, the Wildcats (5-25) are struggling. That should make the Irish favored in this game, but as many have attested, Wrigley Field can and has provided some very unpredictable elements.

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Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Notre Dame football: The coldest games in recent memory

Coldest you’ve ever been at a sporting event?

When Notre Dame hosts Boston College for senior day on Saturday it will be one of the coldest games in recent memory at Notre Dame Stadium.  According to the Notre Dame game notes from the 2013 win over BYU, that particular day was then the coldest game at the stadium since 1991.  There have certainly been cold ones since but I haven’t found one officially listed as colder.

Temperature is one thing but wind, rain, snow, and perhaps icy seats can make things significantly worse, even if the temperature is warmer.  With this game in mind and the idea of bundling up in my head I threw a question out to the masses on social media.  I simply asked: “What is the coldest you’ve ever been at a sporting event? (Not necessarily the air temp but worst physical cold feeling you sat thru)”

I’ve got answers that involve Notre Dame and have nothing to do with Notre Dame.  Living around Chicago my entire life has provided plenty of April baseball games and winter football games to freeze my rear-end off at.

Here are some of the best replies to the question.  The only ones I posted are related to Notre Dame but my mentions are full of classic memories of fans freezing their fingers off while watching their teams.