Game 5: at Michigan State

NOTRE DAME NOTES

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The tough non-conference slate for No. 15 Notre Dame women’s soccer continues this weekend when the Irish (2-0-2) hit the road for the first time, travelling to the reigning Big Ten champions Michigan State (4-1-0). The Irish and Spartans will kick-off on Sunday, Sept. 3, at 1 p.m. ET on B1G Network.

A LOOK AT MICHIGAN STATE

Not only will it be another tough battle for the Irish on this young 2023 season, but it’ll mark their first road contest as well. Michigan State enters the contest with a 4-1 record, with their lone loss occurring at Colorado, which dropped them from a No. 14 ranking to receiving votes.

Notre Dame has been dominant in the series, winning 12 straight against Michigan State. In fact, the last loss happened back in 1989. Furthermore, the Irish are 6-1 in East Lansing, winning six straight.

The 2022 season was a big one for the Spartans, as MSU posted a 17-3-3 record, went 9-0-1 in league play en route to the program’s first Big Ten regular season title and later matched their best NCAA Tournament finish, advancing to the second round (of the South Bend regional where they lost to TCU).

MSU lost All-Americans Lauren Kozal and Lauren DeBeau, who were both drafted by Portland Thorns FC in the 2023 NWSL Draft, as well as All-Big Ten honoree Ruby Diodati. The Spartans reloaded by bringing in five transfers and 10 freshmen.

GAETINO ALREADY MAKING AN IMPACT

In the seven halves that Gaetino has played, she and the rest of the Irish defense have allowed nine total shots on goal with 4 goals allowed (Unfortunately one of those was the Milwaukee equalizer that went in with 30 seconds left from midfield, and another was a goal-kick mishap in which the Arkansas forward poked it in).

The reigning ACC Defender of the Year continues to take leadership in holding the backline, but what’s been incredible so far this season, has been her ability to be a force on set pieces. In fact, Gaetino is leading the team in scoring with three goals through four games.

All three goals have been scored on set pieces. She first scored off a corner kick against Ball State on Aug. 20, then got her second against Butler on Aug. 24 off a free kick from Mercado outside the box. The third came via a corner kick against Arkansas as she continues to be a force in the box, fighting for loose balls.

The 3 goals are already a career best, for she entered the season with 2 career goals to her name.

Two of her goals were game-winners, as that number ranks 3rd in the country right now. Her 3 goals rank 36th in the country and 3rd in the ACC.

TURNED A “CORNER” THIS SEASON

You can say the Irish have turned a corner in 2023 in terms of scoring off of set pieces, specifically corner kicks. Last season, the Irish ranked 1st in the ACC in corners per game (6.4), but only had 3 goals to show for the 146 total corners taken.

This year has been quite the different story. Out of 26 corners taken, the Irish have scored 4 goals — 2 from Gaetino, 1 from Fisher and 1 from Ospeck.

Now add in a goal scored off of a free kick from Mercado, to Gaetino, and the Irish have scored five set-piece goals out of their 11 total goals on the year.

MULTIPLE FRESHMEN STEPPING UP

In game one it was 5-8 center midfielder Morgan Roy. The Michigan native started in the season opener and finished off a beautiful goal in the 2nd half. Roy has started all 4 games thus far at center-mid.

In game two vs Ball State it was Meg Mrowicki, who was subbed in late in the first half and made her presence known, finishing off a great low cross from Audrey Weiss. In game three vs Butler, it was a freshman-to-freshman connection, as Chayse Ying registered her first career assist finding Mrowicki, as the latter continues to be a force coming off the bench. Mrowicki was later rewarded with her first career start in game four vs. Arkansas.

GOAL SCORERS FROM ALL OVER

The Irish have tallied 11 goals on the year and it’s come from 8 different players: Last season, 47 of the team’s 56 goals came from Albert, Wingate, Mercado and Van Zanten, with 11 different goal scorers total.

This year, the scoring spread goes as follows: Gaetino (3), Mrowicki (2), Mercado, Van Zanten, Fisher, Roy, Lynch and Ospeck.

GETTING THE SHOTS, NOW FINISH

In a similar storyline to last season, the Irish are getting plenty of shot opportunities, they just want more shots on frame and their conversion rate in finding the back of the net to be a little bit better. Heading into the weekend, Notre Dame ranks 18th in the country in shots per game with 20.0, but rank 36th in shots on goal per game with 8.5.

The last two games, the efficiency has been better: two goals from five SOG against Arkansas and four goals from eight shots on goal vs. Butler.

With all that said, their scoring offense of 2.8 now ranks 34th in the country and 4th in the ACC.

ND has posted a .425 SOG pct and is averaging a goal every 3.1 SOG.

Mercado is leading the charge with 3.8 shots per game, which ranks 42nd nationally, 3rd in the ACC.

HANDLING THE ADVERSITY

When the ending to game one was a surprise result and one that caught ND off guard, both Coach Norman and captain Eva Gaetino spoke to the team about handling adversity and raising the standard moving forward. The Irish answered the call with a dominant 3-0 win over Ball State. Then in game three vs Butler, the Bulldogs caught the Irish in a counter-attack and stole a 1-0 lead in the 56th minute. The response was swift – a goal less than 30 seconds later – three goals in the next 6.5 minutes – and a 4-1 victory over Butler.

Again, in the Arkansas game, when a mental mistake off of a goal kick resulted in the Razorbacks taking a 2-1 second-half lead. The Irish didn’t lose poise and battled and earned the equalizer in the 85th minute. They also had really good looks in the closing minutes to win the match thanks to Van Zanten.

— ND —