No. 5 Notre Dame women\u2019s soccer will make their way to Raleigh, North Carolina this Thursday for a clash against NC State. The match marks the Irish\u2019s first conference game of the season. They head into the game with a 5-0-1 record and the sixth-ranked scoring offense in the country.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame\u2019s potent offense is led by sophomore Izzy Engle. Named a preseason All-American, Engle has lived up to her billing through the Irish\u2019s first six games of the season. The goal-getting forward is scoring approximately every 67 minutes she\u2019s on the field, already totaling six \u2013 including two braces.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Wolfpack will need to play a low-block if they are to stop Engle. However, even if they are able to achieve the seemingly arduous task of denying Engle a goal, they\u2019ll also have to be alert of sophomore Anabelle Chukwu. Fresh off a hat trick against Michigan State, Chukwu is one of the nation\u2019s most intimidating forwards. Her natural instinct to find open pockets of space has molded her into becoming not just a reliable No. 2 option to Engle, but a No. 1 target in her own right.<\/p>\n
The Irish\u2019s offensive stars are complemented by their crafty midfield. Headlined by sophomore Grace Restovich, whose 11 assists ranked her 11th nationally just a season ago, Notre Dame\u2019s crew in the middle of the park have consistently delivered exceptional service to the forward line. Restovich\u2019s four assists this season is tied for a team-high, alongside fellow senior midfielder Laney Matriano.<\/p>\n
Head coach Nate Norman has added to his midfield by bringing his fullbacks\u2019 higher up the pitch, forming a 3-5-2 formation. On the left side is senior captain Leah Klenke. Her presence in the attacking third creates for constant overloads. Klenke\u2019s involvement in the attacking third will be vital for Notre Dame as they seek to start their ACC campaign off strong.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame face an NC State team that is out to prove something after a rough start to the year. The Wolfpack started their season with a 3-0 loss to James Madison before drawing to East Carolina 1-1. Since, they have fallen to Michigan State 3-0, Davidson 1-0, Western Carolina 3-2 and Utah 3-0. However, NC State has slowly started to turn their year around with a tie against Elon last Thursday and a triumphant 4-0 victory over Campbell on Sunday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Junior Mary Frances Symmes scored two goals for the Wolfpack in the win. Her second was placed into the top left corner from outside the 18, provoking a lively reaction from a strong home-crowd in attendance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Between Notre Dame\u2019s status as a College Cup hopeful and their name-brand, the Wolfpack faithful will once again play a big factor in Thursday night\u2019s game.<\/p>\n
Last season, the Irish hosted NC State to a 1-1 draw despite owning the ball for 61% of the game. The result was a surprising one for Notre Dame, who were expecting a win. Following their mid-season fixture, the Irish ended up flying to the Elite 8 while NC State finished the season 4-10-4. NC State have not beaten Notre Dame since 2019.<\/p>\n
Notre Dame cruise into Thursday night on a four-match winning streak. In that stretch, the Irish have scored 18 goals and allowed none. The run is highlighted by a 3-0 rivalry win against Michigan and colossal 8-0 victory over Oakland.<\/p>\n
Thursday night also marks Notre Dame\u2019s last away game until their trip to Virginia Tech on Oct. 23. Sandwiched between their dates with the Wolfpack and Hokies is a six-game ACC home gauntlet featuring the likes of No. 3 Duke and No. 7 Florida State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No. 5 Notre Dame women\u2019s soccer will make their way to Raleigh, North Carolina this Thursday for a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-128134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-soccer","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}