13. New Member Cal Visits Alumni Stadium For The First Time

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – It is a pivotal final stretch of the season for the Notre Dame women’s soccer program. Four of the final five matches are at home inside Alumni Stadium. Four of the next five are against current top-25 ranked teams. The first task at hand is to go 2-0 this week against two of the newest ACC members.

First up is No. 25 Cal on Thursday, Oct. 17, at 7 p.m. ET. The special promotion tied to this event is Pups at the Pitch. Free admission to all fans, plus their pups! In addition, free Irish dog collars will be given out while supplies last.

After Cal, the Irish will host No. 6 Stanford on Sunday, Oct. 20, at 2 p.m. ET. That contest will air live on ACC Network. In addition, it will mark the program’s Breast Cancer Awareness game. Free pink pom-poms will be distributed to fans.

THE STRETCH AHEAD

It’s been three straight ACC regular seasons in which the Irish have gotten to seven wins. If they want to make it four in a row, the time is now. Notre Dame hasn’t suffered an ACC defeat but sits at just 2-0-3. The Irish have five games remaining, with four against the top-25.

The Irish finally get to return to Alumni Stadium, where they haven’t played a match since Sept. 26. As previously mentioned, they’ll get to host two of the ACC’s newest members — No. 25 Cal on Thursday then No. 6 Stanford on Sunday.

Thursday marks Notre Dame’s first ever meeting against Cal. However, Notre Dame and Stanford have a little bit of history. The Irish defeated The Cardinal 1-0 in the NCAA Championship match to win their third national title. The series between the two is tied at 7-7-3.

The final three remaining games after that include No. 1 Duke, No. 18 Virginia Tech and Pitt.

ACC UPDATE

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

Presently, Notre Dame is 2-0-3 in ACC play, as their nine points puts them in a tie for ninth place.

DEFENSE HOLDING STRONG

Notre Dame’s defense has taken shape and has now posted nine shutouts through 12 games. Coach Norman has solidified his backline with Abby Mills, Clare Logan and Leah Klenke, plus Abby Gemma providing relief off the bench.

• Notre Dame’s shutout percentage of 0.750 ranks third nationally and leads the ACC
• Sonoma Kasica & Atlee Olofson have combined for a save percentage of 0.891 which ranks fourth in the country and leads the ACC. Furthermore, their GAA of 0.417 ranks sixth nationally and tops in the ACC.
• Atlee Olofson has surrendered her only goal of the season in the 1-1 tie vs. NC State. She is 4-0-1. Olofson has a GAA of 0.200 with 13 saves.
• Sonoma Kasica has gotten seven starts and has gone 4-1-2. She has produced three straight ACC shutouts. She has 26 total saves on the season with a GAA of 0.57.

TRENDING

• Notre Dame’s RPI sits at No. 25 heading into the Cal match.
• Notre Dame’s +25 goal differential ranks 13th in the country and fourth in the ACC.
• Notre Dame’s scoring offense (2.5) ranks 16th nationally and fourth in the ACC.
• The Irish, who have now hit the crossbar six times over the last two matches, have been focusing on finishing their chances. A further illustration of this – Notre Dame ranks seventh in the country in shots per game (20.2) and 14th nationally in SOG per game (9.0).
• Irish are 8-0 when scoring first and 8-0-2 when allowing just one goal or less. Notre Dame is 7-0 when leading at the half.
• The win over No. 14 Virginia was the squad’s second top-15 ranked win of the season. Irish are 10-5-4 against ranked opposition over the last 2.5 seasons (Start of 2022 season-Present Day).
• 25 of the team’s 30 goals have been scored by freshmen.
• Right now five of the top-six point getters on the team are freshmen: Izzy Engle (21 points), Grace Restovich (14 points) and Lily Joseph (13 points), Ellie Hodsden (8 points) and Annabelle Chukwu (5 points).

PICK YOUR POISION

Coach Norman is figuring out how to fit all his young attacking puzzle pieces together and he’s close. So many emerging talents who have stoten season storylines: Izzy Engle, Annabelle Chukwu, Ellie Hodsden and Lily Joseph.

Lily Joseph flashed both her power and quickness in Notre Dame’s most recent ACC win when she recorded her first career brace with two first half goals (within 90 seconds of each other) at Syracuse.

Joseph has five goals on the year which ranks as second most on the team. She also boasts three assists for a total of 13 points, which ranks third on the team.

1-2-3 PUNCH IN THE MIDDLE

Notre Dame has developed a three-headed monster in its midfield. Let’s discuss:

• First let’s start with freshman Grace Restovich, who leads the Irish in assists.
• Restovich ranks sixth in the country in total assists (8) and fourth in assists per game (0.67). Both rank second in the ACC.
• Restovich ranks second on the team in points with 14. She has recorded a point in 8-of-12 games this season.
• Next, there’s sophomore Charlie Codd who ranks second on the team in assists with four. She also has scored one goal this season.
• Codd is making a defensive play every 3.5 minutes. She’s started over 35 counterattacks.
• 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 45 of 50 games played at ND.
• Matriano boasts an 85 percent passing completion record.

— ND —