1. Top-15 Matchup For The 2024 Season Opener

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The wait is over. The 2024 Notre Dame women’s soccer season is here. The Fighting Irish kick off the 2024-25 athletics slate with a top-15 matchup at home on Thursday, August 15. It’ll be No. 15 Notre Dame hosting No. 13 Michigan State inside Alumni Stadium at 7 p.m. ET. Admission is free to all fans and for those who can’t make it, you can stream the matchup on ACCNX.

SEASON OPENERS

The Notre Dame women’s soccer program is now in its 36th year, dating back to the 1988 season. ND has achieved much success in its season openers, going 28-4-3.

When looking at home season openers specifically, the Irish haven’t lost an opener at Alumni Stadium since a 3-2 double overtime defeat to North Carolina on Sept. 3, 1999. Since the Irish have gone 14-0-3 in that span.

A TOP-15 MATCHUP TO START THE SEASON

The Irish will get tested right out of the gates, opening the year with a top-15 matchup. The Irish lead the all-time series, 13-2, with a 6-1 record at home. Notre Dame has won 13 straight matches against Michigan State.

However, the Spartans roll into town with a lot of recent momentum. They are coming off back-to-back Big Ten Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances, including a Sweet 16 in 2023.

With MSU coming to South Bend, it completes the home-and-home series. A year ago, the Irish went up to East Lansing and secured a 2-1 victory. The star of the match was Ellie Ospeck, who recorded three points on the day. Ospeck scored in the 10th minute, then picked up the assist on Notre Dame’s second goal that came in the 51st minute.

STATE OF THE PROGRAM

Doug & Lisa Jones Family Head Coach Nate Norman is hitting his stride on making Notre Dame women’s soccer an impactful program, and he shows no signs of letting up. For starters:

• Back-to-back seasons with either an ACC Midfielder (Korbin Albert in 2022) or Defender of the Year (Eva Gaetino in 2023). Both Albert and Gaetino were also First-Team All-Americans and went on to sign with PSG.
• Back-to-back years in which multiple Irish were selected in the NWSL Draft. Kiki Van Zanten and Maddie Mercado were the most recent selections. Seven Irish have gone pro over the last two years.
• Back-to-back years in which the Irish made the ACC Tournament semifinals in Cary, North Carolina.
• Three consecutive seasons of earning a top-3 seed or higher in the NCAA Tournament.
• Three straight years in which Notre Dame has achieved 7 wins during ACC play (10-league game format).
• Notre Dame finished in 2nd place in the ACC in 2023 and outscored league competition 24-11.
• Irish are 8-4-4 against ranked opposition over the last two years.
• Lastly, an 82.9 winning percentage at home over the last three seasons.

KORBIN ALBERT WINS OLYMPIC GOLD MEDAL

Former Notre Dame student-athlete Korbin Albert, at the young age of 20, has already checked off a major career bucket list item with the USWNT. Albert was 1-of-18 players selected to represent Team USA in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Albert not only started in the gold-medal game, but also delivered the game-winning assist to Mallory Swanson. Team USA ultimately defeated Brazil 1-0 to claim the gold medal.

KLENKE EARNS PRESEASON PRAISE

A Notre Dame standout to keep an eye on — Leah Klenke was named as one of the top returning players in the league and earned a 2024 Preseason All-ACC spot. She was the lone Irish representative out of the 12 honorees.

In addition, Top Drawer Soccer released its preseason top-100 Division I players list and Klenke checked in at No. 18 on the list. Sophomore Clare Logan joined her on the list at No. 51.

In 2023, Klenke started all 20 games, logging over 1,740 minutes on the pitch. She led the squad with 10 assists, which ranked fourth in the ACC and 18th in the nation. In fact, she tallied the most assists in conference play with seven.

Klenke posted a career best 14 points on the season. She booted in two goals in 2023 – both game-winners. The most memorable being the late game-winner at Duke in the 87th minute for the 2-1 victory. For all of her efforts last season, she was named a 2023 Second Team All-ACC selection.

ACC PREDICTED ORDER OF FINISH

1. Florida State (15), 255

2. Stanford (2), 235

3. Notre Dame, 211

4. North Carolina, 187

5. Clemson, 186

6. Virginia, 177

7. Duke, 175

8. Pitt, 168

9. Wake Forest, 160

10. Virginia Tech, 116

11. California, 111

12. NC State, 85

13. Louisville, 80

14. Boston College, 50

14t. SMU, 50

16. Miami, 44

17. Syracuse, 22

YOUTH MOVEMENT

The youth movement and the giant infusion of freshman talent is underway at Notre Dame. This year, the program welcomes in 13 freshmen – the most in program history. Not only that, this freshman class boasted a top-5 national recruiting ranking by Top Drawer Soccer.

Keep an eye on forward Annabelle Chukwu from Ontario, Canada. Chukwu has risen fast through the Canadian Youth National Team system. Chukwu scored both goals in Notre Dame’s 2-1 exhibition win over Indiana.

The player who delivered both those assists to Chukwu in the exhibition win was fellow freshman Lily Joseph. From Hamden, Connecticut, Joseph broke her school record (boys and girls) for most goals scored in a season with 66 goals in 19 games (previous record was 46).

Next, there’s the highest rated recruit in the class in Grace Restovich, who checked in at No. 8 nationally. She was the 2022 ECNL National Player of the Year and a two-time ECNL National Champion with her club team Scott Gallagher in St. Louis.

Another highly ranked recruit was defender Abby Gemma, who checked in at No. 19. Gemma had the benefit of training with the Irish during their 2024 spring exhibition slate.

Then there’s Abby Mills who was ranked 34th nationally and fifth in the state of Texas. Mills was a 2024 High School All-American (United Soccer Coaches). Furthermore, she reclassified to join the 2024 incoming freshmen class.

U20 WORLD CUP – THE GOOD NEWS & THE BAD

You love to see your student-athletes get the call from a youth national team program, in this instance U20’s. The U20 World Cup is right around the corner and Leah Klenke has already gotten the nod from Team USA. A couple more Irish are expected to receive an invite from Team Canada in the coming days. That’s the good! The bad is that the U20 World Cup takes place in the heart of our 2024 fall season – August 31-September 22 in Colombia.

Klenke is no stranger to the U20 U.S. squad. She is 1-of-10 returning players who were a part of the CONCACAF qualifying team. Klenke also made the U20 USA roster for the 2023 Women’s U20 CONCACAF Championships.

This past summer, both Charlie Codd and Clare Logan competed in a pair of friendlies in Germany with the U20 Canadian squad. Freshman Annabelle Chukwu has also been called onto the U20 squad on several occasions.

For the first time ever the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will feature 24 nations drawn into six groups of four. The top two finishers in each group along with the four best third-place teams will advance to the Round of 16 to be played on Wednesday, Sept. 11 and Thursday, Sept. 12. The winners of those matches advance to the Quarterfinals on Sunday, Sept. 15, from which the winners will advance to the Semifinals on Wednesday, Sept. 18. The Third-Place Match will be held on Saturday, Sept. 21 with the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup Final taking place on Sunday, Sept. 22.

CUE THE CRAZY FROG

Ospeck collected a career best 17 points in 2023, which is also the highest amongst returners this season.

The graduate turned up the heat in October and November and achieved a lot of firsts: First career ACC POTW honor, first four-point performance of her career in the win over BC on Oct. 5, first three-assist performance of her career in the win over Miami on Oct. 8 and first NCAA Tournament goal (netting the game-winner against Valpo in the first round).

She ended the year ranked second on the team in total points with 17 – for reference, her point total in 2022 was four. She also ranked second on the team in assists with seven. Thus, Ospeck notched five goals.

NOTRE NOTABLES

First let’s talk about two returners who both earned 2023 ACC All-Freshmen Team recognition – Charlie Codd and Morgan Roy.

Codd made four starts (including both NCAA Tournament games) and played significant time in both the midfield and up top in all 20 games. She scored four goals on the year – all from October 5 on – including her first NCAA Tournament goal of her career when ND defeated Valpo in the first round. Codd was 1-of-2 freshmen (other being Meg Mrowicki) to tally double-digit points on the season.

Roy started every game in the midfield minus Senior Day and ranked third on the team in shots with 40. She had 2 goals, including one in the ACC Tournament semifinals against Clemson. Her five assists were the third most on the team.

Some other key returners who saw significant minutes last season:

• Meg Mrowicki was a great breakout story. She played in all 20 games with seven starts, and recorded five goals – one of which was in the second round of the NCAA Tournament vs. Memphis.
• Then there’s senior Sophia Fisher who earned a starting centerback role in the 2nd half of the season. The Irish went 3-2-1 in games she started, which included a 2-0 shutout over Clemson – a game in which she scored on a corner kick.
• Next, the calming presence in the midfield of junior Laney Matriano. The Irish were 10-3-3 in games Matriano played. She has started in 33 of her 37 games played at ND.
• Be on the lookout for the return of Berkley Mensik, who redshirted last season after recovering from a tough double-knee surgery. You can read about her journey back here.

GOALIE BATTALION

First there’s Atlee Olofson. The now sophomore went 7-3-2 in net in 2023 with five shutouts. She produced 45 total saves with a .763 save percentage. She finished with a GAA of 1.17.

Next is 5-10 freshman Sonoma Kasica, who was ranked 44th overall in her recruiting class. Kasica spent this past summer playing a few friendlies with the U.S. U19 squad.

Rounding out the battalion is grad transfer Katherine Montgomery and sophomore Jackie Hollomon. Montgomery arrives to South Bend after four years at Missouri State, while Hollomon has turned some heads during this preseason.

HOME SWEET HOME

It is not easy for opposing teams to earn a victory inside Alumni Stadium. Since its creation in 2009, Notre Dame has gone 127-30-10. Over the last three seasons in particular – an impressive 29-4-5 (.829) record inside Alumni. Going further back, the Irish are 40-7-6 (.811) over the last five seasons.

— ND —