SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 11 Notre Dame women’s soccer team looked great in stretches, held most of the possession, fired off a total of seven shots on goal to Michigan’s three; yet, the final score read 1-0 in the Wolverines (3-1-2) favor. The Irish (3-1-2) suffered their first loss of the 2023 season and its first shutout defeat at home in a regular-season game since October of 2020.
In total, the Irish fired off 27 shots to Michigan’s eight. The standout of the game for the Irish was freshman Morgan Roy, who led the team with six of those shots.
She diced through several Michigan defenders throughout the night and in the second half she had a shot that went off the crossbar, and later, a free kick that was nearly perfectly placed. It took an exceptional dive from the keeper to save it.
Speaking of great second-half chances, Leah Klenke nearly registered a goal off of a corner kick. Charlie Codd one-timed a shot that was deflected right to Klenke’s feet. With her back to the goal, Klenke heel-shot the ball and it was kick-saved by the keeper.
Maddie Mercado nearly had two goals in the match. Minutes into the second half, Mercado got the ball after a corner kick and fired off a shot to the near post. Michigan’s goalie made a quick one-handed save to deflect it out-of-bounds. In the first half, Mercado collected the ball after a deflected shot and rifled a shot to the right post. Yet, the unluck of the Irish struck again as a Michigan defender just happened to be standing in the trajectory of the shot of an open net.
Michigan’s goal came in the 58th minute. The Irish outnumbered the Wolverines in their own box but didn’t get matched up as Gabrielle Prych one-timed the cross into the goal.
The Irish will conclude the non-conference portion of their schedule with a trip to Bowling Green on Sunday, Sept. 10. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET.