NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s soccer team is back in action this week following an extended break due to the hurricane in the North Carolina area. The Irish will begin ACC play on the road as they head down to Louisville for a Thursday night matchup.
WHAT: Notre Dame vs. RV Louisville
WHEN: Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. (ET)
WHERE: Dr. Mark and Cindy Lynn Stadium (Louisville, Ky.)
BROADCAST: ACC Network Extra
LIVE STATS: UND.com
TWITTER: @NDSoccer
SERIES HISTORY: CARDINALS
Notre Dame and Louisville will meet for the 14th time in school history and just the second time as conference foes. The Irish hold a 11-3 all-time record against the Cardinals and are a perfect 5-0 in games at Louisville. The last time these two teams met, the Irish won a dramatic game 2-1 in double overtime back on Oct. 1, 2016. Louisville jumped out to the early lead but Sandra Yu netted the equalizer in the 38th minute. The Irish went to extra time for the fourth time in 2016 and picked up their first OT win of the season after Megan McCashland headed the game winner into the back of the net off of an Irish corner. With the win, Notre Dame extended its unbeaten streak to nine games, the longest streak since 2010.
IRISH IN ACC OPENERS
Notre Dame will be playing in its sixth ACC opener since joining the league in 2013. The Irish are 2-2-1 in ACC openers and are 23-2-1 all-time in conference openers in the school’s history. This Irish have opened conference play on the road in four of the previous five seasons and have a 2-1-1 record in those games. Last season, the Irish upended No. 11 Clemson 4-2 on the road to begin conference play. Notre Dame opened the scoring with goals from Jen Westendorf and Sammi Fisher. After the Tigers tied the contest in the 57th minute, the Irish scored the final two goals from Natalie Jacobs and Sandra Yu to win 4-2.
BALANCED ATTACKED
Heading into the start of ACC play, the Irish boast a balanced offensive attack. Notre Dame has scored 12 goals this season with eight different players recording a goal. Jennifer Westendorf, Karin Muya, Olivia Wingate and Eva Hurm lead the way with two goals apiece with four other players tallying a goal. Westendorf scored her second goal of the season against Santa Clara on a beautiful one-touch shot coming off a failed Bronco pass. Sammi Fisher picked up her first goal of the year in the second half with a 25-yard strike to the top right corner. Muya tallied her second goal of the year against Stanford coming off a great flick pass from Westendorf.
UP NEXT
The Irish will continue ACC play to close out the weekend as they travel to Winston-Salem to face off with Wake Forest. Sunday’s match with the Demon Deacons will kick off at 12 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on the ACC Network Extra.
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