Game 6 - Michigan

NOTRE DAME NOTES

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 11 Notre Dame women’s soccer team (3-0-2) will be breaking out their brand new green jerseys on Thursday evening when they host their neighbor from up north in Michigan (2-1-2). The annual Irish Wear Green contest will kickoff at 7 p.m. ET inside Alumni Stadium. We are encouraging all Notre Dame fans in attendance to show support by donning green attire as well. As always, admission is free.

THURSDAY BREAKDOWN

It’s been four years since Notre Dame and Michigan have squared off on the pitch. The Irish own a 15-4-1 advantage, but recently in the series it has been split even – 2-2 in the last four encounters.

Notre Dame has had much success against the Big Ten as of late. In fact, Notre Dame’s last loss against a Big Ten opponent – a 3-2 decision to Iowa on Sept. 15, 2019. Since that 2019 loss – a record of 8-0-2.

This season, Michigan started with a 1-0 loss at No. 22 USC, then recorded ties against Pepperdine and No. 5 Virginia. They have since won two in a row with 1-0 victories over Boston College and Cincinnati.

WHO’S TRENDING

Senior forward Ellie Ospeck has been nothing short of electric in the last two matches for the Irish. First, she came up big by scoring the late equalizer against top-10-ranked Arkansas in the 85th minute to earn the 2-2 draw. She then followed that up with her first career three-point performance in the 2-1 win at Michigan State. Ospeck scored in the 10th minute, then garnered the assist in the 51st on Mercado’s goal.

She might not be showing up on the stat sheet but Kiki Van Zanten has been operating on a different level. She set up Ospeck’s late equalizer against Arkansas. Then, Van Zanten was responsible for distributing the ball out wide perfectly on both occasions on both assists against Michigan State.

GAETINO ALREADY MAKING AN IMPACT

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 five games. 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 battled for the ball in the box.

The three goals are already a career best, for she entered the season with tw0 career goals to her name. Two of her goals were game-winners.

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 a different story. Out of 30 corners taken, the Irish have scored four goals — two from Gaetino, one from Fisher and one from Ospeck.

Now add in a goal scored off of a free kick from Mercado and the Irish have scored five set-piece goals out of their 13 total goals on the year.

GOAL SCORERS FROM ALL OVER

The Irish have tallied 13 goals on the year and it’s come from eight 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 (2), Ospeck (2), Van Zanten, Fisher, Roy, and Lynch.

MAKING YOUR SHOTS COUNT

The last three games, the Irish have been efficient with their shots – eight goals from 16 shots on goal. Here’s the breakdown: two goals from three SOG at Michigan State; two goals from five SOG against Arkansas; four goals from eight shots on goal vs. Butler.

ND has posted a .411 SOG pct and is averaging a goal every 2.8 SOG.

— ND —