It was a successful weekend down south for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish women’s soccer team as they defeated Kentucky and Mississippi State to advance into the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA Division 1 women’s soccer tournament.
After a strong regular season, the freshman-led Irish finished 11-2-4 overall and earned the No. 6 seed in the deep Atlantic Coast Conference. Following a first round defeat to Florida State in the conference tournament, Notre Dame was selected as the No. 4 seed in the bottom right quadrant of the NCAA Tournament.
The Irish began their fifth-consecutive postseason run with a resounding 5-1 home victory over the Milwaukee Panthers, before making the trip to Starkville, Mississippi earlier this week for the second and third rounds.
Irish outclass Kentucky
Up first for the Irish on Friday would be No. 5 seed Kentucky, making their first tournament appearance in over a decade. The Wildcats, led by graduate forward Makala Woods, snuck by West Virginia in penalty kicks in their opener, setting up the first meeting between Kentucky and Notre Dame since a 9-0 Irish wallop back in 1992.
It didn’t take long for the star-studded freshmen class to make their postseason impact, as the Irish opened up a 2-0 advantage in just 13 minutes behind two beautiful goals from freshmen forwards Izzy Engle and Lily Joseph. Engle, the ACC Freshman of the Year, scored her team-leading 18th goal of the season just four minutes after the opening whistle, as some individual brilliance provided her just enough space to slot it into the top-corner past the outstretched reach of Kentucky graduate goalkeeper Marz Josephson. The Edina, Minnesota native was assisted by fellow freshman Grace Restovich, who recorded her team-high 11th assist of the campaign.
Engle’s work up top also led to the Irish’s second goal of the evening, as she was taken down inside the 18-yard box in the 13th-minute, leading to a penalty kick from Joseph. Joseph, who along with freshman midfielder Annabelle Chukwu collected All-ACC third-team honors following the season, calmly converted from the spot, giving the Irish the early two-goal edge.
Notre Dame would hold that advantage well into the second half, until Kentucky answered back on a failed clearance from the Irish backline in the 60th-minute. Graduate midfielder Catherine DeRosa’s left-footed rocket flew past Notre Dame freshman keeper Sonoma Kasica and the momentum had been seized by the ‘Cats.
The Irish would put matters away just eight minutes later however, as graduate midfielder Ellie Ospeck saved the ball from going out of bounds before finding Joseph, who smoothly completed her second brace of the year with a right-footed strike into the back of the net.
Notre Dame would dominate possession for the remainder of the match, and the 3-1 result would hold, sending the Irish into their third Sweet Sixteen in the last four seasons.
Irish dominate top-seeded Mississippi State
Sunday’s Sweet Sixteen contest against No. 1 Mississippi State would be a much more challenging task for the young Irish to overcome. For one, the match was being played at MSU Soccer Field on Mississippi State’s campus, and the Bulldogs were appearing in their third-consecutive NCAA Tournament.
After the Irish dominated possession and shots to begin the match, a perfectly timed through ball from Joseph found the feet of Engle, who touched it past Mississippi State graduate goalkeeper Maddy Anderson to open the scoring for Notre Dame. Engle’s 19th goal of the season catapulted her into a tie atop the national leaderboard, while the dime was Joseph’s sixth assist during her freshman season.
After some marvelous footwork, Restovich would add a second goal just five minutes later, giving Notre Dame a commanding 2-0 lead to shock the home crowd in Starkville. Although the Irish wouldn’t score across the final hour, they dominated the Bulldogs from start to finish. Shots were 24-8 in favor of Notre Dame, with the Irish also attempting eight corner kicks while blanking the Bulldogs. Mississippi State also didn’t record a shot on goal until the 81st minute of the match.
Sunday’s victory moved Notre Dame into the Elite Eight for the second time in three years under Head Coach Nate Norman’s leadership. Additionally, the win was the Irish’s first triumph over a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament since 2010, also the last time Notre Dame hoisted the College Cup.
All-ACC battle with Cary awaiting
Notre Dame will now make the trip out to the West Coast to battle Stanford for a chance to go to Cary, North Carolina for the College Cup. The Irish welcomed the Cardinal to the ACC with a 3-0 victory at Alumni Stadium back on October 20th. Despite that Irish victory, Stanford earned a higher seed than Notre Dame, and thus the Elite Eight contest will be played at Cagan Stadium in Palo Alto, California.
While Notre Dame and Stanford’s rematch guarantees the ACC at least one berth into the Final Four, the conference lays claim to six of the eight remaining schools in the field. No. 1 Florida State was upset by Vanderbilt, but Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest and Virginia Tech all join Stanford and Notre Dame representing the nation’s deepest soccer conference in the Elite Eight. The second meeting between Stanford and Notre Dame will take place next weekend at a time to be determined, and can be seen on the ESPN family of networks.
