Oct. 21, 2013
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — They say there are no shortcuts to success, but thanks to a literal shortcut, Notre Dame has another rising young talent on its roster.
Freshman forward Kaleigh Olmsted (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands) has appeared in 12 matches for the No. 13/9 Fighting Irish this season, starting three times, including the past two contests. Along the way, she has collected a goal and three assists, one of five different rookies to find the back of the net for Notre Dame in 2013.
Olmsted got her college career off to a flying start, scoring a goal and dishing out an assist in a 4-1 Fighting Irish season-opening win against No. RV/25 Illinois on Aug. 23 at Alumni Stadium. Two days later, she added another assist in a 4-1 home victory over Northwestern.
Despite missing three matches, and nearly two weeks of training due to a sprained right ankle in early September, Olmsted remains one of Notre Dame’s top offensive threats, most recently chalking up a team-high four shots in a 2-1 double-overtime loss to Duke on Sunday afternoon. In that contest, she also was responsible for earning no fewer than three of her team’s season-high 12 corner kicks.
“Kaleigh has been fantastic for us this season,” Fighting Irish head coach Randy Waldrum said. “It’s unfortunate that she injured her ankle early in the season, as we could have used that time for her to gain so much more experience. Over the past three games, she has been our most dangerous forward, creating multiple chances for us in those games. She has a very bright future here at Notre Dame and I’m excited to work with her for the next few years.”
Olmsted continues the rich pipeline of talent from the Lone Star State that Waldrum (a native Texan) has drawn to South Bend throughout his 15-year tenure. In fact, 20 of the program’s 31 all-time Texas residents have matriculated to Notre Dame since 1999, a list that includes All-Americans such as Courtney Barg, Kerri Hanks, Melissa Henderson and Jessica Schuveiller.
However, Olmsted is quick to point out that her college career has barely begun, and she’s still just trying to soak it all in.
“This is an absolute dream for me,” she said. “I got involved in soccer in the hopes of someday being able to be good enough that the sport would, along with strong academics, help me get to a college I wouldn’t normally be able to attend. When I got to campus and started taking classes over the summer, it was a whole new experience for me.
“My whole thought process when practice started was that I wanted to learn as much as I could,” Olmsted added. “I was hoping maybe I would get five or 10 minutes a game, but even if I was just sitting on the bench, on a team full of people as talented as this, I wanted to do all I could to help out. We all have the same goal, from the seniors through to the freshmen, and I want to do my part to make that a reality.”
The fact that Olmsted is in a position to help Notre Dame reach its goal is remarkable all by itself. In fact, were it not for a twist of fate, the 5-foot-4 striker currently might be studying, not in the shadow of the Golden Dome, but in the shadow of redwood trees in Berkeley, Calif., as a freshman at California.
During the summer of 2011, Olmsted was playing with her club program, Challenge SC, at its annual Texas Shootout, a tournament played in Klein, Texas, not far from her hometown in suburban Houston. Coincidentally, Waldrum was on hand for the four-day event (which is considered one of the top elite-level club tournaments in the nation), but at the time, he was focused on evaluating numerous prospects.
Over the course of the afternoon, Waldrum moved from field to field at the tournament, trying to track these various young athletes. At one point, the Fighting Irish manager spotted a shortcut between two fields to his next location, but during his detour, his eyes were drawn to a match in progress at a nearby pitch. As it turned out, Olmsted’s Challenge SC squad was competing in that contest and the performance of the athletic forward caught Waldrum’s attention.
Soon after, Waldrum stopped and spoke with Olmsted’s club coach, Pat O’Toole, and mentioned that he would like to hear from Olmsted (who was then a rising junior but had not played for her high school since her freshman year) when she had the chance to call him. In turn, O’Toole relayed the news to Olmsted, who didn’t quite believe her ears.
“I had to have him (O’Toole) repeat it to me a couple of times,” she recalled. “The funny thing is at first he said `Randy Waldrum was here and he wants to talk to you,’ and while his name rang a bell, I couldn’t quite remember where I’d heard it before. Then, when he said `Randy’s the coach at Notre Dame,” that’s when it all clicked and my mouth just kind of dropped open.”
Three months later, Olmsted was on the Notre Dame campus for an official visit, and it only confirmed what she knew all along — she was going to attend the University and play for the Fighting Irish.
“I remember sitting at the airport getting ready to fly home and already I had that feeling,” she said. “I turned to my dad (Frank) and told him I knew this is where I want to go.”
After returning to play one final season of prep soccer at The Woodlands High School, where she led the team with 21 goals and added 13 assists, Olmsted knew a larger challenge awaited her at Notre Dame, but it was one she embraced, fueled by a competitive drive that was ingrained at any early age and which continues to show itself daily on the pitch for the Fighting Irish.
“I hate to lose at anything,” she said with a laugh. “I think that comes from being so competitive with my older sister (Allison, who is two years older), and feeling you want to meet or exceed whatever your big sister did, whether it’s a grade on a test or a time in a race. It’s still part of me today, as my friends will sometimes tell you, when I can really start bickering with them over some little thing just because I like the challenge to win, even if it’s an argument.
“When I’m out on the field now, I’m just trying to go all out and give every bit of energy I have,” Olmsted added. “I’m also never really satisfied with my performance and always feel like I can do more. When I had to sit out with my injury, it drove me crazy because I wanted to be out there and helping the team.”
“Kaleigh has this uncanny ability to run at defenses and then cut the ball back from positions that don’t even look possible,” Waldrum said. “She is very dangerous when she attacks the defenses. We do want to improve her finishing techniques, and we want to get her stronger to endure some of the physical battles that she faces. I have been very pleased with her overall performances, though, and she’ll only get better.”
WALDRUM FINDS PROGRESS IN DUKE LOSS
With more than three decades of coaching experience under his belt, Waldrum certainly has seen his fair share of good wins and tough losses. It’s what has helped the Fighting Irish skipper maintain a cool head and calm demeanor even as his Notre Dame squad endured a third consecutive last-minute loss with Sunday’s double-overtime defeat against Duke. It also allows him to see the big picture and the long-term benefits of the club’s current travails.
The Fighting Irish wound up with the edge in total shots (20-14), shots on goal (9-7) and corner kicks (12-1) against the Blue Devils. Those figures were even more stark after halftime (14-7 in shots, 6-4 in shots on goal, 7-1 in corner kicks), when Notre Dame was creating seemingly endless pressure on the Duke goal, forcing the visitors back on their heels and into a steady rhythm of long clearances over the center line to try and repel another Fighting Irish charge. Yet, all it took was a small miscue late in the second overtime and the Blue Devils snuck out of town with three priceless points.
“I felt we were the better team and was extremely disappointed for our kids not to get that win,” Waldrum said. “It’s a cruel and difficult game to take at times, but it’s part of what makes the sport so great. We’ll be better at the end of the season for all the difficult times we are going through now. I was really pleased with the way we played against Duke. I thought we were back to ourselves after a rough weekend in Virginia.”
PITCH POINTS
Notre Dame’s current four-match losing streak equals the longest in school history, set on two occasions during the 1989 season (the program’s second varsity campaign) … however, upon closer examination, the past three of those losses have come by one goal, and each time the winning score came in the final four minutes of regulation or in double overtime (102nd minute of 3-2 loss at No. 1 Virginia, 87th minute of 1-0 loss at No. 10/12 Virginia Tech, 109th minute of 2-1 loss at home vs. Duke) … of the six Fighting Irish non-wins (five losses and one draw) this season, five have come by one-goal margins, all decided in the final 14 minutes of regulation or overtime (No. 4/2 UCLA won 1-0 on goal in 80th minute; No. 9/10 Wake Forest earned 1-1 draw on goal in 77th minute) … another statistical quirk has seen Notre Dame outshoot its opponent in three of its last four matches (all losses), finishing ahead in that column at Miami (16-13), Virginia Tech (14-9) and Duke (20-14) — prior to the Miami match, the Fighting Irish were 8-0-1 this season when outshooting the opposition … the Fighting Irish lost on Senior Day for just the second time in Waldrum’s 15-year tenure, the other loss coming in 2003 vs. Michigan (3-2) … Notre Dame also dropped its first conference match at home since Oct. 14, 2011 (a 3-2 loss to Georgetown), falling to 23-3-2 in conference play since moving to Alumni Stadium … Duke became just the second team in 29 matches to win in its first-ever visit to Notre Dame’s new facility (which opened in 2009), and the first since North Carolina won the stadium opener, 6-0 on Sept. 4, 2009 (in between, the Fighting Irish was unbeaten in 27 consecutive matches against first-time visitors to Alumni Stadium) … Duke won its second consecutive match in the series with Notre Dame after the Fighting Irish had gone unbeaten in their previous nine outings against the Blue Devils (Notre Dame still leads the series, 8-5-1) … Duke won for the second time in South Bend, and first since Sept. 25, 1992, also a 2-1 margin against the Fighting Irish in a contest played at old Alumni Field … Notre Dame’s 12-1 spread on corner kicks against Duke was a season high and largest since Oct. 7, 2012, when the Fighting Irish had a 14-3 edge from the flag in a 2-2 draw with Rutgers at Alumni Stadium (also the last time Notre Dame had double-digit corner kicks in a match) … freshman midfielder Rilka Noel (West Bloomfield, Mich./Marian) became the 14th different Fighting Irish player to score a goal and 17th separate player to notch a point this season when she opened her account in the 44th minute on Sunday — Notre Dame hasn’t had that many different goal scorers in one season since 2008 (school-record 19).
FIGHTING IRISH JERSEY AUCTION WINDING DOWN
There are only a few days left to bid on the special jerseys that Notre Dame will wear in its home finale Thursday night against Boston College. These alternate home white tops, with block “Notre Dame” on the front and blue and gold trim, are available for bid on-line through the official Notre Dame athletics auction web site, , with the proceeds going to benefit The SEGway Project, a non-profit organization started by former Fighting Irish player Lindsay Brown (’13) to use soccer as a means of empowering young girls in the developing world.
Bids will be accepted on-line through Thursday night’s match with Boston College. In accordance with NCAA regulations, the winning bidders then will have the option of seeing their jersey autographed by the player who wore that uniform and one other Fighting Irish player, or autographed by the full Notre Dame squad.
Earlier this month, Brown sat down with Fighting Irish Digital Media to explain the genesis and mission of The SEGway Project:
UP NEXT: BOSTON COLLEGE
Notre Dame closes out its 2013 regular-season home schedule at 7 p.m. (ET) Thursday, playing host to Boston College at Alumni Stadium. The match will be streamed live and free of charge through the official Fighting Irish athletics multimedia platform, WatchND.
The Eagles (8-7-1, 4-5-1 ACC), who will be facing Notre Dame for the first time since the 2004 BIG EAST Conference Championship semifinals (won by the Fighting Irish, 2-0 in Storrs, Conn.), are unbeaten in three of their last four outings and feature a high-octane offense (led by double-digit goal scorers McKenzie Meehan and Stephanie McCaffrey) that has scored at least three goals in five of the past six matches.
BC is coming off a 3-3 draw at Miami on Sunday afternoon, getting a pair of goals from McCaffrey and then battling back after going down a player when goalkeeper Alex Johnson received a red card in the 68th minute. The Eagles forced added time on Gibby Wagner’s penalty kick with 10:46 left in regulation, eventually settling for their first deadlock of 2013.
Tickets may be purchased through the University’s Murnane Family Athletics Ticket Office by calling (574) 631-7356 or visiting the ticket windows at Gate 9 of Purcell Pavilion weekdays from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET). Tickets also can be ordered on-line 24 hours a day with a major credit card through the official Notre Dame athletics ticketing web site, UND.com/tickets. Groups wishing to attend can receive a discounted ticket rate — contact Rita Baxter in the Murnane Family Athletics Ticket Office to learn more.
For more information on the Fighting Irish women’s soccer program, follow Notre Dame on Twitter (@NDsoccernews or @NDsoccer), like the Fighting Irish on Facebook (facebook.com/NDWomenSoccer) or sign up for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the “Fan Center” pulldown menu on the main page at UND.com.
— Chris Masters, Associate Athletic Media Relations Director