11. New York, New York

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – If you are superstitious, you hate to write this, but Notre Dame has never lost to Syracuse. The Irish lead the overall series, 17-0-1, with a 6-0-1 mark at Syracuse. The series dates back to 1997. The lone tie happened back in September of the 2016 season, a 1-1 draw in Syracuse.

Since, the Irish have won five straight, winning by a combined margin of 16-1. Overall in the series, the Irish have outscored the Orange, 59-5.

We’ll see how the next encounter will unfold on Saturday, Oct. 5, at the SU Soccer Stadium. The No. 17 Fighting Irish will kick off against the Syracuse Orange at 1 p.m. ET on ACCNX.

UP AND DOWN ACC

This year’s ACC slate has been up-and-down. The down being that the two draws were against teams that are currently in the bottom half of the standings. The up being that the Irish battled back in both those instances — Irish were down 0-2 at BC and 0-1 vs. NC State.

Another up — With this year’s 1-0 victory at Virginia, the Irish knocked off the Cavaliers in back-to-back meetings for the first time in program history. It also marked their second ever win in Charlottesville.

REINFORCEMENTS

Notre Dame lost three starters to the U20 World Cup and now all three are back in the fold.

The Canadian duo of Annabelle Chukwu and Clare Logan were back for the Virginia game, were immediately thrusted into the starting lineup and made an instant impact. Logan solidifed a backline that shutout a ranked Cavaliers squad. Then Chukwu netted the game-winner in the 1-0 victory.

Klenke returned to South Bend after earning a bronze medal with the U20 USA squad. Her first game back was NC State.

Klenke was named as one of the top returning players in the league and earned a 2024 Preseason All-ACC spot.  In 2023, she was a Second Team All-ACC selection.

ELECTRIC ENGLE

Izzy Engle has nationally become a breakout start of 2024 and she’s just a freshman. Engle has 10 goals in 10 games, with four multi-goal performances.

• Her 10 goals are the fifth most in the country, and second in the ACC.
• Engle ranks second in the country and leads the ACC in goals per game at 1.00.
• Engle boasts three game-winners (Butler, TCU, Marquette), which ranks 19th nationally and third in the ACC.
• Engle’s 21 points rank 12th in the nation and third in the league. Her 2.1 points per game ranks sixth nationally, third in ACC.

ELLIE HODSDEN – THE COMEBACK STORY

It’s been a long road and certainly emotional journey back for Hodsden. Within a couple of weeks of each other in 2023, Hodsden tore her ACL and then lost her sister in a vehicular accident while she was serving overseas. When she played in her first Notre Dame game and scored against Marquette, the emotions overcame her in the post-game locker room.

Hodsden played hero at Boston College, recording a brace to rally the Irish down 2-0 for the 2-2 tie. Her game-tying goal came via header in the 88th minute.

Hodsden has three goals in 94 minutes of action, which means she’s finding the back of the net every 31.3 minutes.

PICK YOUR POISON

The Irish attack will be very fun to watch moving forward as Coach Norman figures out how to fit his young arsenal together. We’ve seen Izzy Engle, Lily Joseph, Annabelle Chukwu and Ellie Hodsden all be dynmaic up top, now it’s about fitting the pieces together.

Joseph has three goals on the year with two coming in the last five games. She also boasts three assists for a total of nine points, which ranks third on the team.

1-2-3 PUNCH

Notre Dame has developed a three-headed monster in its midfield. First let’s start with freshman Grace Restovich, another young star of 2024 who leads the Irish in assists.

She ranks fourth in the country in total assists (7) and fifth nationally in assists per game (0.70). Both rank second in the ACC. Restovich ranks second on the team in points (13) and goals (3). In Notre Dame’s dominant win over Marquette, Restovich posted a career best three assists.

Next, there’s sophomore Charlie Codd who ranks second on the team in assists with four.

Lastly, there’s junior Laney Matriano, who was named 1-of-4 team captains for the 2024 season. Holding down the tough No. 6 position, Matriano has now started in 43 of 48 games played at ND. She boasts an 86 percent passing completion record.

TRENDING

• The win over No. 14 Virginia was the squad’s second top-15 ranked win of the season.
• Notre Dame’s RPI sits at No. 18 heading into Syracuse match.
• Notre Dame’s +22 goal differential ranks ninth in the country and third in the ACC.
• The Irish backline have posted seven shutouts over the last nine games.
• The defense is allowing 4.2 SOG/Game.
• Notre Dame’s scoring offense (2.7) ranks 12th overall and third in the ACC.
• Irish are 7-0 when scoring first and 7-0-1 when allowing just one goal or less. Notre Dame is 6-0 when leading at the half.

GOALIE CORPS

Coach Norman has a talented goalie group at his disposal and both Atlee Olofson and Sonoma Kasica have shown out.

Together the duo, along with the defensive unit, have posted a shutout percentage of 0.700 which ranks eighth in the nation and second in the ACC. Together — a save percentage of .881 which ranks 13th nationally (3rd in ACC) and a 0.500 GAA which ranks 12th (4th in ACC).

First, let’s look at sophomore Atlee Olofson. The Austin native surrendered her only goal of the season in the 1-1 tie vs. NC State. She is 4-0-1 with 13 saves.

Then there’s 5-10 freshman Sonoma Kasica. The St. Petersburg, Florida, native has gotten five starts and has gone 3-1-1.

She is coming off a stellar four-save shutout performance in the 1-0 win at No. 14 Virginia.

She has 23 total saves on the season with a GAA of 0.80.

Kasica was ranked 44th overall in her recruiting class.

YOUTH MOVEMENT

The freshman class at Notre Dame has been and will be a huge talking point. An infusion of 13 freshmen – the most in program history. Not only that, this freshman class boasted a top-4 national recruiting ranking by Top Drawer Soccer.

Right now five of the top-six point getters on the team are freshmen: Izzy Engle (21 points), Grace Restovich (13 points) and Lily Joseph (9 points), Ellie Hodsden (6 points) and Annabelle Chukwu (5 points).

22 of the team’s 27 goals have been scored by freshmen.