CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The No. 12 Notre Dame women’s soccer squad battled hard for 90 minutes and earned a pivotal point at No. 3 North Carolina on Thursday Night at Dorrance Field. The Fighting Irish (9-2-4, 5-1-2) snap a six-match losing streak against the Tar Heels (9-0-7, 4-0-4) in the overall series and earn their first point in Chapel Hill since 2017.
As a result, the Irish are now in sole third place in the ACC standings, just two points behind future opponent No. 8 Clemson.
Tonight’s goal was scored by freshman forward Charlie Codd, her third on the season. She has now scored three times over the past four games. It was assisted by fellow freshman Meg Mrowicki, who jumps her points total to 11 on the year.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Defending the corner has been a concern for the Irish this season and it bit them again in the first half at North Carolina. In the 18th minute, UNC hit a corner to the far corner of the six. It was headed down and Tessa Dellarose found a way to poke it throught a ND defender and in.
The Irish played in their half of the field for the majority of the first half. In fact, Notre Dame keeper Atlee Olofson made a tremendous diving save to her left in the 35th minute to keep the Irish at striking distance.
Notre Dame only registered one shot in the first half, yet, they sure made the most of it because it found the back of the net.
In the 42nd minute, Klenke worked her way through a few UNC defenders in the middle of the field and found Audrey Weiss out wide to the right. Weiss then crossed to the middle of the six to Meg Mrowicki, who had a slick touch to Charlie Codd on the far post who finished it off.
As a result, the Irish took a 1-1 tie into the locker room at the half.
A few minutes into the second half, it appeared that the Irish jumped on the Tar Heels and secured a 2-1 lead. Maddie Mercado challenged the UNC goalie on a 50-50 ball and the deflection found Roy who put it in. However, the ref called a fall on Mercado and disallowed the goal.
From there it was a chippy back-and-forth battle, which saw the Irish possess the ball more in the Tar Heels side of the field. After 90 minutes, the Irish earned a hard-earned point inside the house of the No. 3 team in the country.
UP NEXT
The road gauntlet rolls on as the Irish stays in North Carolina and travels down the road to NC State. Notre Dame will take on the Wolfpack on Sunday. Oct. 22, at 1 p.m. ET on ACCNX.
– ND –