7. Non-Con Ends This Sunday

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – And just like that, the 2024 non-conference portion fo the Notre Dame women’s soccer schedule is closing to a close. On Sunday, September 8, the No. 9 Fighting Irish will host Marquette inside Alumni Stadium before next week’s ACC slate begins. Sunday’s match will kick off at a special time of 1:30 p.m. ET, airing live on the ACC Network.

FIVE FOR FIGHTING IRISH

Count it up. After dropping a 2-1 decision to a now top-10 ranked Michigan State team in the season opener, No. 9 Notre Dame found its footing with five consecutive wins. Not only that but all five were shutouts, outscoring its opposition 17-0.

If the Irish were to shut out Marquette on Sunday, it would tie for the third-longest shutout streak in program history. The Irish last posted six straight shutouts during the 2022 season. The top-two program shutout streaks were eight in 1995 and 10 in 2003.

In terms of ACC teams, only Stanford and Virginia boast longer win streaks right now with their 6-0 overall records.

OLD BIG EAST BATTLE TO CLOSE OUT NON-CON

It’s an old Big East Midwestern rivalry to close out Notre Dame’s non-conference schedule on Sunday when the No. 9 Irish host the Marquette Golden Eagles. That match will kick off at 1:30 p.m. ET on ACC Network.

Marquette is 1-4-1 on the season under first year head coach Chris Allen. They are coming off a close 2-1 defeat to Minnesota.

The Irish lead the overall series 9-5-1, including an unblemished 4-0 record at Alumni Stadium. The two sides last met on August 18, 2022, when the Irish captured a 3-0 victory.

A CELEBRATORY WEEKEND

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 ultimately won three NCAA titles: 1995, 2004 and 2010.

ELECTRIC ENGLE

Izzy Engle has entered the conversation as the breakout star of 2024. Engle has eight goals through six games and recorded three multi-goal performances.

• Her eight goals are tied for the second most in the country, only behind California’s Karlie Lema who has nine.
• Engle tops all freshmen scorers nationally, with the next highest one being Tulsa’s Blaine Schutte with six.
• Engle recorded the first freshman hat trick in program history since 2008 in Notre Dame’s win at Samford then recorded braces in the win over No. 13 TCU and most recently against NIU.
• Engle boasts two game-winners: against Butler & TCU.
• Engle’s 17 points rank 4th in the nation behind Minnesota’s Khyah Harper (19), California’s Karlie Lema (19) and Pitt’s Sarah Schupansky (18). Engle’s points tops all freshmen nationally.

1-2-3 PUNCH

Notre Dame has developed a three-headed monster in the middle of its midfield. First let’s start with freshman Grace Restovich, another young breakout star of 2024.

• Restovich ranks second on the team in points (9), goals (3) and assists (3).
• In addition, the St. Louis native has earned a point in all but one game. She has posted three straight games with a point.
• 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.

Next, there’s sophomore Charlie Codd, who leads the team in assists with four, which is already a career high.

• Codd’s four assists rank 16th in the country and 3rd in the ACC.
• Her six points rank 3rd on the team. Codd has registered points in 4-of-6 games.

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 39 of her 44 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

• Notre Dame’s +16 goal differential ranks 8th in the country and 2nd in the ACC.
• The defensive backline of Fisher, Gemma and Mills have started together in all five shutouts. Over the five games, the defensive unit have combined in allowing just 22 shots on goal (4.4 per game).
• Notre Dame’s scoring offense (3.0) ranks 17th overall and 2nd in the ACC.
• The freshmen duo of Engle and Restovich have been simpatico the last three games. 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.  Both players scored in the dominant win over NIU.
• 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 0.833 which ranks 5th in the nation and tops 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 nine 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 three starts and has gone 2-1. She earned the shutout at Michigan and made six saves, then posted seven saves in the shutout over NIU. She has 17 total saves on the season with a GAA of 0.67.

Kasica was ranked 44th overall in her recruiting class.

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 three of the top-four point-getters on the team are freshmen: Izzy Engle (17 points), Grace Restovich (9 points) and Lily Joseph (5 points).

CANADIAN SENSATION

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

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 Canadian 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 —