NEWTON, Mass. – The No. 16 Notre Dame women’s soccer team (9-2-0, 2-2-0) reminded the league of what it’s capable of on Thursday night when they rolled to a 3-0 win over Boston College (4-5-3, 0-4-0) at the Newton Soccer & Lacrosse Complxex. Maddie Mercado, Olivia Wingate and Kiki Van Zanten all scored goals in the dominant victory.
In fact, Notre Dame has now scored three goals or more in six of its 11 games this season. The Irish now boast a 26-8 goal aggregate.
Mackenzie Wood started in goal and needed to make just one save in the match. With the 3-0 finish, Wood secured shutout number four on the year. As a team, it was shutout number six.
Mercado scored the first goal which meant she notched game-winner number 4 on the season. Her four game-winners now tie her for third in the country in said category.
Both Mercado and Wingate tallied three-point games on Thursday with a goal and assist each. Wingate and Van Zanten each scored in the 63rd minute to put the Eagles away in the second half.
Both Mercado and Wingate move to seven goals on the season, as it marks season bests for both of them. For Van Zanten, it marked goal number three on the year.
How It Happened
The first Notre Dame scoring chance occurred 10 minutes in off a Korbin Albert corner kick. The ball found Bri Martinez on the far end who volleyed it back to the other side to Maddie Mercado, but the senior couldn’t place it on frame.
The Irish possessed most of the ball in the first half and that ability to put pressure on the Eagles backlline paid dividends in the 22nd minute. That’s when Wingate sent a perfect through ball to Mercado in the box who one-touched it past the keeper and into the corner of the net.
With nine minutes remaining in the first half, Eva Gaetino nearly made it a two-goal game yet off another corner. The junior once again made sure she was the first to connect with the ball in the air, and if it wasn’t for a well-placed defender on the post, it would have been a goal.
Therefore, the Irish took a 1-0 lead into halftime in which they outshot the Eagles 6-3.
The second half featured two other offensive Irish threats pouring in goals in Wingate and Van Zanten. In fact, those goals came 52 seconds apart.
At 62:03, Mercado returned the favor to Wingate in what was a 2-on-5 scenario, yet Mercado’s ball was slotted perfectly as Wingate put it away.
At 62:55, Van Zanten hit the spin button beautifully and opened up space at the top of the 18-yard box to fire off a low missile into the corner of the goal.
Up Next
The Irish receive some rest time this weekend in the form of a bye and then return home for a couple of big games inside Alumni Stadium. Up first, NC State on Oct. 6 at 7 pm, followed by Florida state on Oct. 9 at Noon.
— ND —