EAST LANSING, Mich. – The first true road test of the season for No. 15 Notre Dame women’s soccer team (3-0-2) and it came against the 2022 Big Ten champions (RV) Michigan State (4-2-0). The Fighting Irish passed the test admirably with a 2-1 victory on Sunday afternoon.
The star of the match was none other than Ellie Ospeck, who recorded three points on the day. The senior, who scored the late-match equalizer in the draw against top-10 ranked Arkansas, carried that momentum into East Lansing where she scored in the 10th minute of the game. Leah Klenke registered her second assist on the season on Ospeck’s goal.
However, Ospeck wasn’t done there, for she picked up the assist on Notre Dame’s second goal that came in the 51st minute. Ospeck crossed to forward Maddie Mercado who tallied her second goal on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish didn’t waste much time to get on the scoreboard, doing so in the 10th minute – connecting pass-after-pass, it was a beautiful setup. Holding the ball in the middle of the field, Kiki Van Zanten distributed the ball out wide to Leah Klenke on the left. Klenke then hit a dangerous low cross that found a sliding Ellie Ospeck for the goal.
From there on, not too many chances for either squad for both teams went into halftime with one shot on goal. The one shot Michigan State had though, Irish keeper Ashley Naylor came up big. With the ball floating around Notre Dame’s own six-yard box and a Spartan player winding up for the tap-in goal, Naylor sprung into action and gobbled the ball up and the impending kick.
The second Irish goal came in the 51st minute and it came on the counter-attack. In a similar fashion, Van Zanten delivered the ball out wide, but this time to Ospeck on the right side. Opseck then crossed it back to the left to Mercado at the top of the box. After she beat her defender with a move, Mercado fired off the shot to the far post and in.
Opseck almost netted a brace in the 62nd minute. Van Zanten delivered a nice through ball into the Michigan State box. Ospeck, who was bumping shoulder-to-shoulder with a Spartan defender, got to the ball first and got a shot off, but the keeper made a kick save.
Just minutes later, Van Zanten took the ball down the right side and hit another beautiful ball to the back post, but no Irish player could get there in time.
Fast forward to the 81st minute and the combo of Ospeck and Van Zanten nearly obtained goal number three in the match on a breakaway attempt. Van Zanten got the shot off but it was blocked at the last second.
Michigan State got its lone goal in the 88th minute, scoring off of a corner kick.
UP NEXT
The Irish will look to check off another Big Ten foe when Michigan comes to South Bend on Thursday, Sept. 7, at 7 p.m. ET. The matchup against the Wolverines will be their Irish Wear Green game. We are encouraging all fans in attendance to match the Irish as they don their new green jerseys.
– ND –