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Friday, March 29, 2024
The Observer

ND Women's Soccer: ND overwhelms Iowa

Notre Dame freshman midfielder Morgan Andrews has played a variety of roles for her team in her first collegiate season. On Friday night, she added a new one to her résumé - designated penalty taker.
Andrews converted Notre Dame's first penalty kick of the season in the 38th minute and added another goal six minutes later to spur the Irish to a 4-1 victory over Iowa in the first round of the NCAA Championship on Friday at Alumni Stadium.
After Irish junior forward Lauren Bohaboy was fouled to set up the penalty kick, Andrews left little doubt as to who would step up for Notre Dame (12-7-1, 7-5-1 ACC) against Iowa sophomore goalkeeper Hannah Clark.

"[Andrews] was already raising her hand as she was walking from outside the penalty box to let everybody know she got it," Irish coach Randy Waldrum said. "We didn't even have to say anything to the team to say, 'Let Morgan take it.'"
Andrews drove home a shot inside the right post to beat Clark, who dove toward the left side of the goal.
In the 44th minute, the freshman took a feed from Irish senior defender Elizabeth Tucker and fought through several defenders to knock a shot into the lower right corner of the net.
"It was a great assist by Tucker, getting that ball into the box, and then it was just really a fight," Andrews said of the goal. "I think it was just picking up on the scrap ball and making sure I got the ball into the net."
Andrews' two first-half goals helped Notre Dame climb out of an early deficit. The Irish fell behind in the fifth minute of action when Iowa junior defender Melanie Pickert launched a penalty kick past Notre Dame freshman goalkeeper Kaela Little to put the Hawkeyes (15-7-1, 5-5-1 Big Ten) on the board.
"I thought the reaction to the [Iowa goal] was great," Waldrum said. "We were on top of it early; I thought we were really good tonight, especially with our ball possession and the opportunities we created. I felt like if we could get the first one back in the first half, it would be okay."
The Hawkeyes managed only three more shots after Pickert's early goal, as Notre Dame largely controlled possession and kept the ball in Iowa's half of the field. Notre Dame outshot Iowa 32-4 and held a 13-2 advantage in shots on goal.
"I think getting more numbers in the attack and getting a little more balance in our midfield helped [our offense] out quite a bit," Waldrum said. "We needed to try to find a way to start scoring a few more goals. Hopefully, we can now build on that and keep it going."
Notre Dame reversed its recent trend of second-half struggles when Tucker added a goal in the 53rd minute to give the team a 3-1 lead. The senior captain received the ball on the far side of the field and beat a few Iowa defenders before firing in a shot from 13 yards out.
"We've been dancing around these one-goal games in the ACC for this last month it seems like, and we've had trouble hanging onto that lead, so I think it was important that we got that second goal to put a little bit of cushion," Waldrum said.
Notre Dame sophomore defender Katie Naughton added an insurance goal in the 87th minute when she took sophomore defender Brittany Von Rueden's corner kick and headed a shot into the middle of the goal.
With the victory, Notre Dame improved to 46-3 all-time in NCAA Championship games at home and 7-0 all-time in NCAA Championship games at Alumni Stadium.
Notre Dame will advance to play Western Michigan, who upset No. 8 Marquette, 1-0, in its first-round game, in the second round of the NCAA Championship. The Irish and Broncos (12-5-5, 7-2-2 MAC) will meet Friday at 4 p.m. in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Contact Brian Hartnett at bhartnet@nd.edu