SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 9 Notre Dame women’s soccer team will close out its non-conference slate with two games at home inside the friendly confines of Alumni Stadium. It’s a #BeatHuskies kind of weekend, as the Irish will host NIU on Thursday, before the football team clashes with them on Saturday in their home opener.
Notre Dame and NIU will kick off at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, Sept. 5, with the match streaming live on ACCNX. Reminder to all fans that it’s free admission during the regular season.
WHAT’S ON TAP FOR THIS WEEKEND
The Fighting Irish will try to hand another team its first loss of the season when a 3-0-1 Northern Illinois squad comes to town. Thursday marks the first-ever meeting between Notre Dame and NIU. Then the Irish host Marquette on Sunday, September 8. That match will air live on ACC Network at 1:30 p.m. Marquette is 1-4-1 on the year.
All weekend, the program will be celebrating the 20th anniversary of its 2004 national championship. The 2004 squad will be back on campus starting on Friday, be invited to a special ceremony on Saturday morning and will be recognized at halftime of Sunday’s game. Notre Dame has won three NCAA titles: 1995, 2004 and 2010.
ELECTRIC ENGLE
Izzy Engle has entered her name into the conversation of breakout star of 2024. Engle has six goals through five games. Her six goals are tied for third-most in the country, tops all ACC players and tops all freshmen nationally.
Engle recorded the first freshman hat trick in program history since 2008 in Notre Dame’s win at Samford then recorded a brace in the 4-0 win over No. 13 TCU. Then against Butler on Sept. 1, Engle had the game-winner.
Engle only trails Texas Tech’s Peyton Parsons (7 goals) and Penn State’s Kaitlyn MacBean (8).
Engle boasts two game-winners, which ranks 10th in the country.
Engle’s 13 points rank 10th in the nation and second amongst ACC players – Florida State’s Taylor Huff has 14. MacBean from PSU leads the nation with 16. Engle’s 13 points tops all freshmen nationally.
More on Engle’s hat trick at Samford — she was the third quickest in program history to record a hat trick, doing so in just her second game. Kerri Hanks (2005) and Rosella Guerrero (1992) achieved hat tricks in their freshman debuts. Engle did tie Hanks though for the earliest hat trick for a true road game.
More on Engle: she ranked 59th overall nationally as a recruit. As a high school senior, Engle scored two…