22. Irish Compete For A Spot In College Cup On Friday

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Pull out the Thanksgiving leftovers, cozy up on the couch and get ready for some high-stakes Notre Dame women’s soccer. The fourth-seeded Fighting Irish will be competing for a spot in the 2024 College Cup on Friday. In order to book their first ticket to the Final Four since 2010 they’ll have to take down Stanford on the Cardinal’s pitch. That match will kick off at 5 p.m. ET on Nov. 29 on ESPN+.

REMATCH WITH STANFORD

Both groups on Friday are different teams than what they were on Oct. 20; but on that faithful day, the Irish came out flying against the Cardinal and shut them out 3-0 in South Bend.

Izzy Engle drew a penalty kick in the 50th minute in which Leah Klenke converted. Then Engle scored off a cross from Morgan Roy in the 66th minute. Just 2.5 minutes later, Ellie Hodsden put the exclamation mark on the game. Lily Joseph and Ellie Ospeck connected on a great passing combo on the left side, as the latter crossed into Hodsden who tucked it away from the six-yard box.

With that win, the Irish took an 8-7-3 lead in the series. However, Notre Dame has never won at Stanford – 0-4-2 to be exact.

This will mark the fourth time the two have squared off in the NCAA Tournament. 2010 was also the last time Notre Dame faced Stanford in the NCAA Tournament and it was a 1-0 Irish victory to win the national title.

BY THE NUMBERS – IRISH NCAA HISTORY

• For the 30th time over the last 32 years, Notre Dame women’s soccer qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
• Notre Dame’s overall postseason record sits at 77-25-4. Their 77 victories passed UCLA (75) for the third most and rank only behind Florida State (78) and UNC (148).
• Notre Dame is a seeded team for the fourth consecutive year, earning the four-seed in the bottom-right quadrant. The past four seasons under Doug & Lisa Jones Head Coach Nate Norman: Sweet 16 in 2021, Elite Eight in 2022, 2nd Round in 2023 and now at least an Elite Eight in 2024.
• The Irish will be making their 17th all-time appearance in the NCAA Quarterfinals. They are an impressive 12-4 in that round.
• Thus, they’ve qualified for 12 College Cups with their last being in 2010. They are 8-4 in the Semifinal round.
• The Irish boast three NCAA championships, which is tied for second most – 1995, 2004, 2010 – and five runner-up finishes (1994, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2008).

COMING IN HOT

What a strong showing by the Irish in Starkville. Notre Dame first dispatched five-seed Kentucky 3-1, then two days later they knocked off 1-seed Mississippi State 2-0.

The Irish became the first team to score on the Bulldogs’ (19-3-0) home pitch all season and the first to earn a win there as well.

This also marked the first time Notre Dame toppled a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament since the 2010 season, which coincidentally was the last time the Irish won a national championship.

Izzy Engle continues to expand upon her incredible freshman year campaign by going into this Elite Eight weekend on an absolute heater. The Minnesota native has scored nine goals over the last eight games and has scored in all three NCAA Tournament games including the game-winner against Mississippi State.

Both Lily Joseph and Grace Restovich follow right behind with five points (two goals, one assist) each in the NCAA Tournament.

NOTRE DAME’S RESUME

• At the time of NCAA selection, Notre Dame’s RPI was 12th in the country. They went 3-2-1 against the RPI Top-25.
• Irish competed in the No. 1 RPI league, the ACC, and went 5-2-4. Before the ACC Tournament, Notre Dame was the only ACC school to earn a point against the Duke Blue Devils.
• With the Mississippi State victory, the Irish improved to 5-3-1 against ranked opposition this season. They defeated No. 2 Miss State, No. 6 Stanford, No. 13 TCU and No. 14 Virginia, No. 25 Cal, while tying at No. 1 Duke.
• All three 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 at No. 6 Florida State.
• Notre Dame has been excellent on the road this year. They’ve only dropped one road match (top-seed Florida State), owning a 7-1-3 record. ND is outscoring opponents 24-8 on the road. The top-three point getters on the road are Izzy Engle (19), Grace Restovich (12) and Lily Joseph (10).

NOTRE DAME NOTABLES

• Notre Dame’s scoring offense of 2.62 ranks sixth in the country. It’s also Notre Dame’s highest-scoring offense since 2008 (3.07).
• The Irish rank top-10 nationally in both shots per game (19.8) and SOG/game (8.9).   
• Keys to the game — Irish are 14-0 when scoring first this season. ND is 13-0-1 when leading at the half. They are 12-0-2 when allowing just one goal or less.
• 44 of the team’s 55 goals have been scored by freshmen.
• Right now the top-4 point getters on the team are freshmen: Izzy Engle (39 points), Lily Joseph (22 points), Grace Restovich (21 points) and Ellie Hodsden (18 points).

ELECTRIC ENGLE

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 on October 20. Since, she’s been on an absolute tear again and what a perfect time.

She’s recorded nine goals over the last eight games with a goal in every NCAA Tournament game. Her 19 goals are tied for the Division I lead for most in the country. Engle’s 19 goals also move her up the program’s all-time list for goals by a freshman, taking over sixth place. Irish great Kerri Hanks holds the record with 28.

Engle leads the Irish with 39 points, which ranks fifth nationally and leads all ACC players.

THESE FRESHMEN ARE GOOD

Lily Joseph brings flashy play and swag to the Irish. Last weekend she recorded a brace against 5-seed Kentucky in the second round, then had the game-winning assist to Izzy Engle in the win over Miss State. A dynamic force in the midfield all season long, Joseph boasts the second most points on the team with 22 on eight goals and six assists.

Then there’s Grace Restovich, who leads the Irish in assists with 11 – which ranks 10th in the country. Restovich was the highest rated recruit in the signing class, ranking No. 8 nationally. She was the 2022 ECNL National Player of the Year and a two-time ECNL National Champion with her club team Scott Gallagher in St. Louis.

Defensively speaking … Abby Mills took over the starting center back position from an all-time great, Eva Gaetino. Then right behind her in the GK position is Sonoma Kasica. The Florida native has posted a 10-3-3 record with a 1.06 GAA, a .757 save percentage, plus seven shutouts.

— ND —