12. Next Birds Up on Thursday

SOUTH BEND, Ind.  – The No. 11 Notre Dame women’s soccer squad knows the importance of the remaining two games of this homestand. Win both and put yourself in a great position (no worse than a tie for first in the ACC) before back-to-back tough road tests. Up first, take care of business against Boston College on Thursday. Kickoff on Oct. 5 is set for 7 pm ET inside Alumni Stadium.

The first 500 fans in attendance will get a pink pom pom for Thursday marks our Pink Game as well.

Then on Sunday, the Irish will host the Miami Hurricanes. That match will kick off at 1 p.m. ET with a special Senior Day ceremony taking place during pregame.

ANOTHER ACC SEASON UPON US

Since Notre Dame joined the ACC in 2013, the Irish are 61-34-10 in conference games. Their .629 winning percentage in conference games ranks in the top-4 amongst ACC schools.

Notre Dame is currently in a three-way tie for first place at 3-0-1 with North Carolina and Florida State.

VAN ZANTEN BREAKOUT NIGHT AGAINST LOUISVILLE

Van Zanten has been one of the main cogs that churn the Notre Dame offense, and she’s also now showing up in the final box scores to boot. Against Louisville on Sept. 30, she recorded a five-point night behind two goals and one assist. It marked the second most points of her career, only behind a hat trick she achieved back in 2020 against Miami. As a result, she was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week.

Van Zanten now has seven points in the last three games. Her 11 points now lead the team and her 4 goals are tied for the team lead.

TRENDING

On top of the above-mentioned, Meg Mrowicki has been a beast up top and a great freshman breakout story for the 2023 season. Mrowicki got the game-winner against Louisville on Sept. 30, which marked her fourth goal of the season. That number ties Van Zanten, Mercado and Lynch for the team lead in goals.

Leah Klenke has been a beast, registering points in five of the last seven matches. In ACC play thus far – she recorded her first multi-assist performance of her career in the win over Wake, then scored the game-winner against No. 16 Duke, then notched another assist against Louisville. Klenke now has eight points on the season and a team-best six assists.

OTHER NOTABLES

Notre Dame ranks 13th in the country and 5th in the ACC in shots per game with 18.6. Maddie Mercado leads the Irish in this category with 3.6 shots per game, which ranks 33rd in the nation and 3rd in the league.

Heading into this week’s game, seven players now boast eight points or more on the season: Van Zanten, Lynch, Klenke, Gaetino, Mrowicki, Ospeck and Mercado. Van Zanten, Mercado and Mrowicki all have double-digit points.

Currently, six players have three goals or more. In total, nine different Irish have found the back of the net this season. This is quite the contrast to last season, which was very dependent on a core unit of players. Last season, 47 of the team’s 56 goals came from Korbin Albert, Olivia Wingate, Mercado and Van Zanten.

The key to victory – the Irish have scored multiple goals in every game they’ve won this season. Notre Dame has outscored its ACC opponents 9-3 thus far.

RECENT MOVES PAYING DIVIDENDS

Coach Norman has experimented with his lineup as of late and recent moves are paying dividends.

First off, Maddie Mercado has played more of an attacking center mid instead of forward. She has now scored three times over the last seven games.

The second one was moving Kristina Lynch from right-wing midfield to forward. Lynch has scored three times over the past five games.

The next was Meg Mrowicki up top and bringing the speed of Ospeck off the bench.

Another has been the switch to Atlee Olofson in goal for three straight ACC contests. Olofson made six saves to preserve the draw at Pitt, including one point-blank diving save late in the second half. She earned her second shutout in the 3-0 win over Louisville.

ROAD SWING GIVETH AND TAKETH

On Sept. 21, the Irish earned its first win against Duke since the 2015 season. It wasn’t looking that way though early. Despite pushing the tempo for a majority of the second half, the Irish were down, 1-0, 85 minutes in. Then some Irish magic happened.

Insert Ellie Ospeck – who worked some magic of her own in Duke’s box and fired off a shot/cross that deflected off a defender, hit the post, over the goalie and to Kiki Van Zanten’s foot at the far post. A minute later, lightning struck again. Morgan Roy crossed the ball into the middle of the box. A Duke defender went to clear but Leah Klenke got her foot in to block and the deflection went in the goal. Thus two goals in the final five minutes for the 2-1 win over No. 16 Duke.

However, late magic can work both ways. Three days later at Pitt, the Irish scored in the 60th minute and were on cruise control. Yet, in the blink of the eye, the Panthers scored off a corner kick in the 83rd minute and the Irish settled for the 1-1 draw.

ASSIST LEADER – LEAH KLENKE

Klenke has been an absolute sparkplug and the main cog that runs the Notre Dame offense. Klenke leads the team with six assists, which ranks 35th nationally and fifth in the ACC.

Klenke recorded her first multi-assist performance with two against Wake Forest in the ACC opener on Sept. 15. She has three assists in conference play.

Last season, Klenke was named the 7th best freshman in the country by Top Drawer Soccer and made their Freshman Best XI First Team. She also earned ACC All-Freshman Team honors. She started all 23 games as a freshman at left-back and even added two goals and two assists to her name.

A GLANCE AT THE DEFENSE THIS YEAR

What’s been frustrating for the Notre Dame defensive unit this season is that they are only allowing 3.0 shots on goal per match thus far – however, teams are making the most of their minimal opportunities. The Irish have allowed 10 goals through 11 matches aka 0.9 goal per match – a slightly higher rate than last year’s 0.7 per match.

With that said, the Irish just earned their third shutout of the season and will look to build off that dominant defensive performance.

MULTIPLE FRESHMEN STEPPING UP

First, let’s look at 5-8 center midfielder Morgan Roy. The Michigan native started in the season opener and finished off a beautiful goal in the 2nd half. Roy has started all 11 games in the midfield and ranks third on the team in shots with 24.

Next is Meg Mrowicki, who has proven to be a scoring threat. She’s played in all 11 games with five starts. She’s tied for the team lead in goals with four.

Then there’s Clare Logan who has started all 11 games in the backline.

Charlie Codd has made two starts and seen significant time in the midfield in all 11 games as well.

— ND —