CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish finished with nine honors in the 2026 All-ACC Women’s Soccer announcement by the league office on Wednesday afternoon.
Two major honors include Doug and Lisa Jones Head Women’s Soccer Coach Nate Norman being named the 2026 ACC Coach of the year and junior forward Lily Joseph being named the 2026 ACC Midfielder of the Year.
Norman rallied Notre Dame to the program’s first outright ACC regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in the 2026 Ally ACC Women’s Soccer Championship.
Despite opening the season with five draws through their first six matches, the Fighting Irish responded with nine victories in their last 11 contests, including a six-match winning streak entering the postseason. Over the last two seasons, Notre Dame is 16-2-2 in ACC matches, the best record of any league team in that span.
This is his second ACC Coach of the Year honor as Norman previously took home the award in 2022. Norman is now 107-45-24 at Notre Dame in his nine seasons at the helm of the program.
This marked Norman’s fifth straight year mentoring a Fighting Irish to a ‘of the Year’ award. The Irish are now the only ACC school to win such an award for five consecutive seasons: Korbin Albert (2022 ACC Midfielder of the Year), Eva Gaetino (2022, 2023 ACC Defender of the Year), Izzy Engle (2024 ACC Freshman of the Year, 2025 ACC Offensive Player of the Year) and now Joseph takes home the ACC Midfielder of the Year.
Joseph was named the ACC Midfielder of the Year and also received First Team All-ACC honors. She is just the second Irish player to win the award with All-American and Mac Hermann Trophy Top-3 Finalist Korbin Albert being the only other Notre Dame player to take home the honor.
Despite missing the first five matches of the season due to injury, junior forward Izzy Engle picked up right where she left off last year. She also received First Team All-ACC honors this season after coming off an impressive awards-run in the 2025 season.
Engle was named the 2025 ACC Offensive Player of the Year, First-Team All-ACC, United Soccer All-American First Team and All-Atlantic Region First Team, Honda Sport Award for Soccer Finalist, and Top Drawer Soccer Best XI Teams First Team.
This season Engle was also named ACC Offensive Player of the Week twice and was named to the Preseason All-ACC Team and the MAC Hermann Trophy Preseason Watch List.
Junior defender Abby Mills was named to the All-ACC Second Team and senior midfielder Charlie Codd was named to the All-ACC Third Team. Mills was also named to the Preseason All-ACC Team and received ACC Defensive Player of the week honors this year.
The freshman trio of Reese Canada, Bristol Kersh, and Kate Kemmerley were all selected to the All-ACC Freshman Team.
2026 All-ACC Women's Soccer Team
Offensive Player of the Year: Bella Devey, North Carolina
Defensive Player of the Year: Sierra Sythe, Wake Forest
Midfielder of the Year: Lily Joseph, Notre Dame
Goalkeeper of the Year: Valentina Amaral, Wake Forest
Freshman of the Year: Cali O’Neill, North Carolina
Coach of the Year: Nate Norman, Notre Dame
First-Team All-ACC
Mia Minestrella, F, Duke
Bella Devey, F, North Carolina
Hope Munson, D, North Carolina
Jade Bordeleau, F, NC State
Izzy Engle, F, Notre Dame
Lily Joseph, M, Notre Dame
Lizzie Boamah, D, Stanford
Charlotte Kohler, M, Stanford
Addison Halpern, M, Virginia
Valentina Amaral, GK, Wake Forest
Sierra Sythe, D, Wake Forest
Second-Team All-ACC
Dani Davis, M, Clemson
Daya King, D, Duke
Avery Order, M, Duke
Wrianna Hudson, F, Florida State
Aven Alvarez, D, North Carolina
Abby Mills, D, Notre Dame
Y-Lan Nguyen, M, Stanford
Pearl Cecil, D, Virginia
Victoria Safradin, GK, Virginia
Allie Flanagan, F, Wake Forest
Kylie Maxwell, F, Wake Forest
Third-Team All-ACC
Katie Shea Collins, F, Duke
Sam Courtwirght, M, Duke
Cameron Roller, D, Duke
Jocelyn Travers, D, Duke
Karina Peat, F, Louisville
Lilliah Blum, M, North Carolina
Ashley Pennie, M, North Carolina
Charlie Codd, M, Notre Dame
Caroline Birkel, GK, Stanford
Ella Carter, M, Virginia
Anna Weir, F, Virginia Tech
Riley Cross, M, Wake Forest
All-Freshman Team
Natalie Chudowsky, M/D, Duke
Yuna Marui, M, Duke
Bridget Mutipula, D, Florida State
Scottie Antonucci, M, North Carolina
Cali O'Neill, D, North Carolina
Amari Manning, F, North Carolina
Reese Canada, M, Notre Dame
Kate Kemmerley, F, Notre Dame
Bristol Kersh, F, Notre Dame
Ella Kral, F, Stanford
London Young, D, Stanford