NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s soccer team (1-0-1) battled the Indiana Hoosiers (1-0-1) for 110 minutes but just couldn’t find the back of the net, settling for a 0-0 draw on Sunday. The Irish defense was stout the entire way, not allowing a single shot on goal.
Notre Dame outshot Indiana 13-5 and owned a 9-1 advantage in corner kicks. The Irish put three shots on net and had some narrow misses off of a few key free kicks.
“Give Indiana some credit, they were very organized defensively,” Doug & Lisa Jones Family Notre Dame head coach Nate Norman said. They didn’t let us transition. We got to learn. It won’t be the first team that sits in like that and puts numbers behind the ball. We need to be sharper in those areas. We wanted to press them and we did a good job of not letting them build out.”
How It Happened
Notre Dame certainly had a few key opportunities to deliver what would have been that one pivotal goal.
It started with Olivia Wingate in the eighth minute, who once again displayed her great speed. Collecting the ball around midfield with open space to spare, she sped past three IU defenders, but her final touch was too heavy as the Hoosier goalie collected it.
Korbin Albert had the first near miss for the Irish on Sunday. After working the ball down the right side, the freshman fired off a shot near the right-upper corner of the 18-yard box. The ball sailed just over the upper-left 90.
A flurry of opportunities transpired around the 35th minute. After a Notre Dame corner was punched slightly out, center back Eva Gaetino took one-touch before volleying a shot that went just over the crossbar.
A minute later, Kiki Van Zanten sent a low cross from the left side, hit off an IU player, and ricocheted to the feet of Erin Hohnstein. The junior then launched a low liner to the left side of the net, which was saved and deflected out.
Fast forward to the opening minutes in the first overtime and the Irish faithful in the stands thought it was over. A beautiful cross from Bri Martinez on the right side found a wide open Sammi Fisher on the far post, but the ball glanced off her head and away from the goal.
Martinez delivered another dangerous cross with 4:30 left in overtime as the ball deflected around until it found a volley from Wingate which skimmed just over the crossbar.
With a minute left in the first overtime, Fisher took a free kick from about 22 yards out that sailed high and right. The Hoosiers then had the same opportunity with 15 seconds left on the other side of the field, but soared their free kick high as well.
The second overtime featured two good chances from the Irish. First, a free kick from Maddie Mercado to Gaetino, whose header just went over the crossbar. Later, Wingate tried to split three IU defenders on the dribble but was stopped by the final player.
Up Next
The Irish hit the road to Madison to challenge Wisconsin on Thursday, Aug. 26. That match kicks off at 8:30 p.m. ET.
— ND —