18. ACC Tournament - Florida State

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – One can argue that the Notre Dame women’s soccer program already started the ACC Tournament. They were in a must-win situation against Pitt this past Thursday night to qualify and they did just that, defeating the Panthers 3-2. The Fighting Irish earned the No. 6 seed in the six-bid ACC Tournament. They’ll have to travel to Tallahassee for a Sunday night showdown with No. 3 seed Florida State. That match will kick off at 8 p.m. ET on ACC Network.

This year’s ACC Tournament is no joke. All six teams who qualified are ranked in the top-13. Iron will be sharpening iron in this NCAA Tournament resume-building opportunity. The winner of Sunday night’s contest will advance to Cary, North Carolina, to take on No. 2 seed Wake Forest.

IRISH IN THE ACC TOURNAMENT

This weekend will mark Notre Dame’s 10th overall appearance in the ACC Tournament. It also marks their sixth straight year in it as well.

The Irish are 1-8-2 all-time in the ACC Tournament and have appeared in the semis four times (2014, 2016, 2022, 2023). The Irish have booked a ticket to Cary for the past two seasons. Their lone ACC Tourney win was a quarterfinal matchup in 2016.

Notre Dame last met Florida State in the ACC Tournament in the 2022 semifinals. It was a heavyweight bout that ended in a 3-3 draw. FSU ultimately advanced on penalty kicks, 4-2.

WHAT’S ON THE LINE

• Notre Dame joined the league back in 2013 and is searching for its first appearance in the ACC Tournament Championship game.
• Irish are looking for their first win in Tallahassee since a 4-3 victory back in October of 2017.
• Looking at the bigger picture that is the NCAA Tournament and building their resume. Notre Dame’s RPI sits at No. 10 heading into the weekend. FSU is at No. 6 and Wake Forest at No. 7. If the Irish want to venture up into the two-seed category for NCAAs and host a second weekend, the ACC Tournament presents a beautiful opportunity.

NOTRE DAME’S RESUME

• Speaking of the Notre Dame resume, this is where they currently stand. Back on Oct. 17, the NCAA committee released its initial top-16 and the Irish checked in at No. 15.
• As previously mentioned, since then, Notre Dame has raised its RPI to No. 10. They are 3-1-1 against the RPI Top-25.
• The Irish are 4-2-1 against ranked opposition this season. They have defeated No. 6 Stanford, No. 25 Cal, No. 13 TCU and No. 14 Virginia, while tying at No. 1 Duke. Notre Dame is the only ACC school to earn a point against the Blue Devils.
• Both of ND’s losses were to ranked teams. They dropped the season opener against then No. 13 Michigan State and then later against then No. 19 Virginia Tech on Oct. 27.

TRENDING

• Izzy Engle is heating back up. She’s recorded a brace in two of the last three games. She has five goals over the last four.
• Notre Dame’s +30 goal differential ranks 15th in the country and third in the ACC.
• Notre Dame’s scoring offense (2.59) ranks ninth nationally and third in the ACC.
• Irish are 11-0 when scoring first this season. ND is 10-0-1 when leading at the half.
• They are 9-0-2 when allowing just one goal or less.
• Irish are 12-6-5 against ranked opposition over the last three seasons (Start of 2022 season-Present Day). They are 4-2-1 this season.
• 36 of the team’s 44 goals have been scored by freshmen.
• Right now the top-five point getters on the team are freshmen: Izzy Engle (31 points), Lily Joseph (17 points), Ellie Hodsden (16 points), Grace Restovich (16 points) and Annabelle Chukwu (8 points).

ENGLE HEATING UP AGAIN

Izzy Engle scored 10 goals during the non-con portion of the schedule and was the nation’s leader in Goals Per Game entering ACC play. The freshman hit a little dry spy but finally got the monkey off her back against No. 6 Stanford. She has recently recorded two braces – at No. 1 Duke and against Pitt in the regular-season finale.

Her 15 goals now rank sixth in the country, and second in the ACC. Her 0.88 goals per game rank fifth nationally and lead the ACC.

Engle’s 15 goals rank as the ninth most by a Notre Dame freshman all-time. Engle leads the Irish with 31 points, which rank second in the league (12th nationally).

Engle’s brace at No. 1 Duke marked the first time in program history in which an Irish freshman recorded multiple goals against the No. 1 team in the country.

— ND —