6. #BeatHuskies Kind of Weekend

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 9 Notre Dame women’s soccer team will close out its non-conference slate with two games at home inside the friendly confines of Alumni Stadium. It’s a #BeatHuskies kind of weekend, as the Irish will host NIU on Thursday, before the football team clashes with them on Saturday in their home opener.

Notre Dame and NIU will kick off at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, Sept. 5, with the match streaming live on ACCNX. Reminder to all fans that it’s free admission during the regular season.

WHAT’S ON TAP FOR THIS WEEKEND

The Fighting Irish will try to hand another team its first loss of the season when a 3-0-1 Northern Illinois squad comes to town. Thursday marks the first-ever meeting between Notre Dame and NIU. Then the Irish host Marquette on Sunday, September 8. That match will air live on ACC Network at 1:30 p.m. Marquette is 1-4-1 on the year.

All weekend, the program will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of its 2004 national championship. The 2004 squad will be back on campus starting on Friday, be invited to a special ceremony on Saturday morning and will be recognized at halftime of Sunday’s game. Notre Dame has won three NCAA titles: 1995, 2004 and 2010.

ELECTRIC ENGLE

Izzy Engle has entered her name into the conversation of breakout star of 2024. Engle has six goals through five games. Her six goals are tied for third-most in the country, tops all ACC players and tops all freshmen nationally.

Engle recorded the first freshman hat trick in program history since 2008 in Notre Dame’s win at Samford then recorded a brace in the 4-0 win over No. 13 TCU. Then against Butler on Sept. 1, Engle had the game-winner.

Engle only trails Texas Tech’s Peyton Parsons (7 goals) and Penn State’s Kaitlyn MacBean (8).

Engle boasts two game-winners, which ranks 10th in the country.

Engle’s 13 points rank 10th in the nation and second amongst ACC players – Florida State’s Taylor Huff has 14. MacBean from PSU leads the nation with 16. Engle’s 13 points tops all freshmen nationally.

More on Engle’s hat trick at Samford — she was the third quickest in program history to record a hat trick, doing so in just her second game. Kerri Hanks (2005) and Rosella Guerrero (1992) achieved hat tricks in their freshman debuts. Engle did tie Hanks though for the earliest hat trick for a true road game.

More on Engle: she ranked 59th overall nationally as a recruit. As a high school senior, Engle scored two goals in the game that led her team to win the Class 3A Minnesota State Soccer Tournament for the first time since 1986. Not to mention a perfect 22-0 record. Engle was the 2023-24 Gatorade Minnesota Girls Soccer Player of the Year. Furthermore, Engle made Top Drawer Soccer’s Preseason Best XI All-Freshman Team.

1-2-3 CENTER MIDFIELD PUNCH

Notre Dame has developed a three-headed monster in the middle of its midfield. First, let’s start with sophomore Charlie Codd.

Codd has registered points in 4-of-5 games. She dished out an assist in each of the first three games, then picked up a goal in the fourth at Michigan – which was the game-winner.

Then there’s freshman Grace Restovich who ranks second on the team in points (7) and goals (2) and is tied for the lead with Codd in assists with 3.

Restovich is coming off a road week in which she scored a goal in the 2-0 win at Michigan, then picked up the game-winning assist in the 1-0 victory at Butler. She’s recorded a point in all but one game, which was TCU. .

With that said, Restovich and Codd rank 35th in the country and 5th in the ACC in total assists.

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.

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 38 of her 43 games played at ND.

Matriano recorded her second career goal, first of the season, in the win over TCU, via a PK.

Coach Norman has named Matriano as his breakout player to watch despite her value probably not showing up on stat sheet.

TRENDING

It’s four straight victories and four straight shutouts for the Irish. They have outscored its opposition 13-0 in that span. This is the longest shutout streak since the Irish recorded six in a row in 2022.

Overall on the year, Notre Dame’s +12 goal differential ranks 17th in the country and 4th in the ACC.

The defensive backline of Fisher, Gemma and Mills have started together in all four shutouts. Over the four games, the defensive unit have combined in allowing just 15 shots on goal (3.8 per game).

Offensively, Notre Dame’s scoring offense (2.8) ranks 29th overall and 4th in the ACC.

The freshmen duo of Engle and Restovich were simpatico this past week when the Irish collected road victories at Michigan and Butler. In Ann Arbor, Engle earned her first assist with a flick header in which Restovich buried in the net. A few days later in Indy, Restovich returned the favor with a phenomenal first touch which allowed her to attack the Butler backline and made the easy dish to Engle for the finish.

The Irish held steady at the No. 9 spot in the week three United Soccer Coaches poll. The ACC holds five spots in the top-10, including the top-4: No. 1 Stanford, No. 2 UNC, No. 3 FSU and No. 4 Virgnia.

GOALIE BATTALION

Coach Norman has a talented goalie group at his disposal and both Atlee Olofson and Sonoma Kasica have shown out.

Together the duo, along with the defensive unit, have posted a shutout percentage of .800 which ranks 9th in the country and 2nd in the ACC.

First, there’s sophomore returner Atlee Olofson. The Austin native has not surrendered a goal this season and is 3-0. She has notched 9 total saves.

She has almost matched last year’s shutout total of five. In 2023, she went 7-3-2 in net with a .763 save percentage and a GAA of 1.17.

Then there’s 5-10 freshman Sonoma Kasica. The St. Petersburg, Florida, native has gotten two starts and has gone 1-1. She earned the shutout at Michigan and made six saves. She has 10 on the season with a GAA of 1.0

YOUTH MOVEMENT

The youth movement is on at Notre Dame and will be a huge talking point early on. An infusion of 13 freshmen – the most in program history. Not only that, this freshman class boasted a top-4 national recruiting ranking by Top Drawer Soccer.

Though an early sample size, but four of the top-six point-getters on the team are freshmen: Izzy Engle (13 points), Grace Restovich (7 points), Annabelle Chukwu (3 points) and Lily Joseph (3 points).

CANADIAN SENSATION

Izzy Engle may be stealing the early storylines, but keep an eye on freshman Annabelle Chukwu from Ontario, Canada.

Chukwu is currently tearing it up at the U20 World Cup for Team Canada. She scored a goal in their first match to earn a 3-3 tie against France, then followed that up with a hat-trick against Fiji.

After scoring four goals down in Colombia, Chukwu broke the record for most goals scored through the Canadiana Youth Soccer system, passing Canadian great Christine Sinclair.

Chukwu was 15 years old when she made her Canadian debut and has left her mark across all programs. Highlights include: Chukwu winning a CONCACAF silver medal with U15 in 2022, scoring in Canada’s opening match at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, receiving a National Team call-up in 2022 at the age of 15 and scoring twice in extra time in the bronze medal game to help Canada win and qualify the squad for the U20 World Cup.

She didn’t wait long to score when donning an Irish uniform, netting a goal in the season opener against a top-ranked Michigan State squad.

— ND —