Four weeks ago, the Notre Dame women’s soccer team lost three of its primary players to the U-20 World Cup in Colombia. At the time, the Irish had one win and one loss entering a top-15 tilt against TCU. Notre Dame won big in that match, breezing past the Horned Frogs with a 4-0 shutout.
As two of those three players returned to the lineup over the week, No. 16 Notre Dame — still with only one loss on the season — faced another difficult challenge at No. 14 Virginia. A postponement for inclement weather gave sophomore defender Clare Logan and freshman forward Annabelle Chukwu additional time to settle back into the college soccer environment. When the time came to play on Sunday afternoon in Charlottesville, they certainly delivered. Logan played the full 90 minutes on the Irish back line, while Chukwu deposited the day’s only goal to lead a 1-0 Notre Dame victory.
However, with the schedule change, Notre Dame as a whole came out somewhat flat-footed to open the match. Virginia attempted each of the afternoon’s first nine shots, pinning freshman goalkeeper Sonoma Kasica and the Irish on the ropes early. The 0-0 score remained, and Notre Dame began to turn momentum over just shy of the first half’s midway point. Freshman forward Izzy Engle, who by her standards now has an astronomically high scoring drought of two games, took four shots in the first half alone. Chukwu also threatened, forcing a diving stop from Victoria Safradin in the 22nd minute.
Notre Dame’s strongest chance originated with substitute Sophia Fisher in the 34th minute. Given space, the senior midfielder stepped into and pounded a 25-yard shot that rang the crossbar and stayed out. By halftime, the Irish had crept to an 11-8 deficit in the shooting category and led the Cavaliers by a 4-2 margin in shots on goal.
Only 69 seconds of second-half time passed before Notre Dame found the difference maker. Freshman midfielder Grace Restovich located Chukwu on a wonderful through ball, setting her up for a 1-on-1 chance against a defender inside the 18-yard box. With the ball, Chukwu cut back to her right foot, opening up a lane to shoot inside her defender and beyond Safradin’s reach for her second goal of the season.
Virginia would jeopardize Notre Dame’s lead in the 61st minute, as another through ball sent Meredith McDermott toward goal in a 1-on-1 against freshman defender Abby Gemma. With McDermott approaching the end line on the left side of the 18-yard box, Gemma attempted a slide tackle and came up empty. That miss positioned McDermott to square up Kasica and shoot with the right foot. Her rising attempt, however, caught the reaching right hand of the Irish keeper and trickled beyond the far post for a corner kick.
From there, Notre Dame limited Virginia to only two additional shots, with Kasica needing to make just one more save against McDermott in the 85th minute. As the match went final, Virginia finished with 15 shots to Notre Dame’s 13, but the Irish walked away with their seventh shutout win of the season and their first ACC victory of the year.
Now at 7-1-1 on the year overall and at 1-0-1 within conference play, Notre Dame comes home this week with an opportunity to multiply its momentum. The Irish will host NC State on Thursday looking for their fourth consecutive defeat of the Wolfpack and a win in their first ACC home game of the season. The match is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Alumni Stadium.
