While the majority of students were able to head home and relax over fall break, the Notre Dame women’s soccer team was still hard at work, playing three games over the past week and going 2-1 in the process as it nears the end of the regular season. This stretch started Oct. 15 on Senior Night with the Irish playing their final game at Alumni Stadium for the year. Play was postponed Saturday and conditions were still rather wet for the matchup when Virginia Tech came to town. Notre Dame got off to a good start taking the lead in the 37th minute when senior defender and co-captain Monica Flores buried her shot from 30 feet out. The goal marked the first of Flores’ career, a fitting accomplishment on senior night. However, despite taking a 1-0 lead into the locker room at halftime, Notre Dame ultimately fell short as the Hokies were able to sneak out the 2-1 win.
Things turned around for Notre Dame later in the week, as the Irish were able to pick up a pair of wins within the Sunshine State. On Thursday, the team had an extremely important matchup down in Tallahassee against No. 18 Florida State, and the offense delivered in a big way as the Irish picked up a 4-3 win over the Seminoles. Play went back and forth throughout the contest, and after a goal in the 87th minute by freshman midfielder Sammi Fisher, Notre Dame had the lead for good. The final score also marked the sixth time Notre Dame has notched four goals in a game, and improved the Irish record on the road to 4-1-2.
The trip to Florida wrapped up this past Sunday with a matchup against Miami, a game Notre Dame was able to pull out by a score of 2-1 to complete the sweep in Florida. The victory came thanks to a hot start as the Irish were able to net a pair of first half goals of the feet of sophomore forward Natalie Jacobs and senior forward Meghan Doyle. For Doyle, this marked her second game-winning goal of the season and helped continue a long string of successful Sundays for the Irish who have been 7-1 this year when playing on Sunday. The win left the Irish at 9-5-3 on the season and 5-3-1 in conference play.
With the season coming into the home stretch, Notre Dame has just one regular season game remaining Thursday night on the road against North Carolina. The Tar Heels currently sit at No. 3 in the nation, while Notre Dame currently sits at fifth in the conference standings.
Play Thursday night gets underway at 6 p.m. in Chapel Hill and will be streamed live by ACC Network and WatchESPN.
