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Irish Earn No. 1 Seed in NCAA Tournament

Road to College Cup runs through South Bend

NCAA Bracket

INDIANAPOLIS – For the first time since 2008, the Notre Dame women’s soccer team has earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Therefore, the road to the 2022 College Cup runs through South Bend as the Irish could host up to four games at Alumni Stadium. 

The top-four seeds in the South Bend quadrant are as follows: No. 1 Notre Dame, No. 2 North Carolina, No. 3 Stanford and No. 4 Michigan State. Up first, the Irish will play Summit League Tournament Champion Omaha (7-8-6) on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 2 p.m. ET. 

The Irish enter the Big Dance with a 14-2-3 record and have not lost since Sept. 25. They went 4-1-3 against the top-25 and finished with the No. 4 rated RPI. A win this weekend would give Doug & Lisa Jones Family head coach Nate Norman his most victories at the helm. 

Notre Dame also cleaned up in the end of season ACC awards – winning Coach of the Year, Midfielder of the Year (Korbin Albert) and Defender of the Year (Eva Gaetino). In fact, Albert is making a strong push for the Hermann Trophy – scoring 11 goals over the last eight games. 

“One seed is a great validation for the work we’ve had to do,” Doug & Lisa Jones Family Head Coach Nate Norman said. “You can’t look ahead because there’s so many good teams in our bracket. Right now, the focus is on Omaha and how to get past that game.

“Being at home is great and just going through the normal routine. Plus, having soccer in South Bend in November and forcing southern or western schools to travel here could give us an edge.”

For the 28th time over the last 30 years, the Irish are dancing in the NCAA Tourney. Notre Dame’s overall postseason record sits at 70-23-4, which ranks as the third most wins behind UNC (139-17-4) and Florida State (72-18-4). UCLA is right behind with 69-21-5. 

The Irish boast three NCAA championships, which is tied for second most – 1995, 2004, 2010 – and five runner-up finishes (1994, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2008). All-in-all, they’ve qualified for 12 College Cups.

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