Open Announce
Open Search
Women's Soccer

Nate Norman 2023-24 Women's Soccer Staff

Doug and Lisa Jones Family Head Women’s Soccer Coach

phone 631-3383
Nate Norman
Bio

Doug and Lisa Jones Family Head Women’s Soccer Coach Nate Norman will begin his seventh season at the helm for the 2024 fall season.

Coach Norman continued to ascend in the ACC and make noise nationally in 2023. Case in point – second straight year the Irish reached the semifinal round of the ACC Tournament; third straight year in which Notre Dame achieved at least 7 wins in ACC play; third straight year of earning a top-3 seed in the NCAA Tournament; 82.9 winning percentage at home over the last three seasons. Other highlights of the year include:

  • Production from all over: 8 players with double-digit points. Only BYU had more with 9 players with double-digit points
    • 11 different goal scorers – 4 of which were freshmen
  • 6 Irish earned end of the season ACC awards
  • 2 Irish selected in the 2024 NWSL Draft for the second consecutive year: Maddie Mercado and Kiki Van Zanten
  • Eva Gaetino became a two-time Mac Herman Trophy Semifinalist, two-time First Team All-American and two-time ACC Defender of the Year. Gaetino then signed with PSG on Feb. 1, 2024
  • The Irish were ranked in the top-10, with an RPI in the top-12, for the latter half of the 2023 season. After the NCAA Tournament, the Irish finished with a final ranking of 16th with a final RPI of 15
  • The Irish recorded a 2-2-1 record against ranked opposition, which included wins against No. 8 Clemson and No. 16 Duke, with ties against No. 3 North Carolina and No. 10 Arkansas.
  • Irish finished in 2nd place in the ACC with a 7-1-2 record, outscoring its league foes 24-11
  • Signed a top-3 ranked recruiting class in the country

The 2022 season saw Coach Norman and the Irish put the program name back in the national conversation. Below is a long list of accomplishments ND achieved along the way.

  • Norman – ACC Coach of the Year
  • Norman – a career-best 17 wins during the season. Finished 17-3-3.
  • Led Irish to their First Elite 8 appearance since 2012
    • Only team to make the Elite 8 round without surrendering a single goal
  • First No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed since 2008
  • Reached a national ranking as high as No. 4. Finished the season at No. 5.
  • Biggest win over a top-3 team since 2000 when they defeated No. 3 FSU, 4-0.
  • Knocked off two top-three teams during the regular season for the first time in program history – No. 2 Virginia and No. 3 Florida State
  • Olivia Wingate was selected No. 6 overall by the North Carolina Courage. Brianna Martinez was picked 17th overall (2nd round, pick 5) by Racing Louisville FC. It marked the second time since the league formed in 2012 in which the Irish had two drafted.
  • Soon after, Korbin Albert signed with international power PSG. She became the first American to leave college early to sign with PSG.
  • Went 6-2-3 against the top-25
  • Coached the ACC Midfielder of the Year in Korbin Albert and ACC Defender of the Year in Eva Gaetino.
  • Albert was a Mac Hermann Finalist – first since 2010. Gaetino was Mac Hermann Semifinalist.
  • Three All-Americans – Albert, Gaetino and Olivia Wingate
  • Notre Dame tied its most-ever All-ACC selections with five (Albert, Gaetino, Wingate, Maddie Mercado and Mackenzie Wood)
  • The offense ranked 12th in the country, averaging 2.43 goals per game. Ranked 3rd in the country in shots on goal per game (9.4). Ranked 8th in shutout percentage (.609)
  • Notre Dame’s defensive/goalie crew completed 14 shutouts on the year – their most since 2016 (15).
  • Notre Dame was unbeaten in its last 12 matches before the NCAA Elite Eight loss to North Carolina. During that 12-game stretch, the Irish outscored the opposition 33-6.
  • Signed the nationally ranked 6th best recruiting class according to Top Drawer Soccer

The 2021 campaign really started to see the Irish push through and gain some momentum, finishing 14-5-2. Notre Dame drew a national seed (No. 3) in the NCAA Tournament, where they advanced to the Sweet 16. The list below are his top highlights and notes from 2021:

  • Irish made history with their 6-0-0 start in league play (best ever start in ACC play) before finishing 7-3-0 in the No. 1 rated RPI league. Notre Dame finished fourth in the ACC standings.
  • Irish went 6-5-2 against the RPI top-50, including two victories against the RPI top-25.
  • ND ended the year ranked No. 16 in the nation with an RPI of No. 20
  • Reached the Sweet 16 after a 4-0 win over SIUE and advancing past Purdue in penalties (4-3). The Irish gave No. 7 nationally-ranked Arkansas a battle, equalizing twice, before falling 3-2.
  • Notre Dame scored 52 goals which ranked third in the ACC and 16th in the country. The 52 goals were the most in a season since 2010.
  • Notre Dame’s scoring offense of 2.36 ranked 20th in the nation and fourth in the ACC. Meanwhile, ND’s 140 total points ranked 22nd in the country and fourth in the league as well.
  • Created quite the home-field advantage – posting a 10-1-1 record at Alumni Stadium in 2021
  • Defensively, the Irish allowed just 22 goals as opponents averaged 9.6 shots per game. The 22 were the fewest goals allowed since 2016. In addition, the defense/goalkeeping helped notch a 0.96 goals against average
  • Continued to cultivate the young talent in South Bend, including the breakout seasons of Sammi Fisher and Olivia Wingate and the emergence of super-freshman Korbin Albert.
  • Fisher, who earned First Team All-ACC honors along with United Soccer Coaches First Team All-Region, led the Irish with 13 goals, which ranked 18th nationally in Division-I. Fisher’s accomplishments were recognized in the NWSL Draft where she was drafted 19th overall by the Chicago Red Stars and later signed to the roster.
  • Meanwhile, Albert earned Third Team All-ACC, ACC All-Freshman Team, United Soccer Coaches Second Team All-Region and Top-Drawer Soccer Freshman Best XI. Albert poured in 12 goals, which ranked second amongst all Division-I freshmen. She was also hot down the stretch, scoring eight of her goals over the final 11 games.
  • Wingate then rounded out the trio of Irish who earned All-ACC (Third Team) and United Soccer Coaches All-Region (Third Team) honors. The senior finished with the third most goals on the team with seven, recording a .650 shot accuracy which ranked 17th in the nation.

Norman’s third season with the Irish was split up over the two semesters due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Irish played all their ACC games in the fall and then the non-conference slate in the spring.

In Norman’s second season in 2019, he got the Irish off to a blazing start, winning their first six games. It was the first six-game win streak since 2014 and the best start to a season since 2015. In the first six games, the Irish outscored opponents 13-1 in those games.

Norman oversaw offensive breakout seasons from juniors Sammi Fisher & Eva Hurm along with sophomore Luisa Delgado. Fisher led the team in goals (6), assists (5) and points (17) while Hurm was second in goals (5) and points (13). Both Fisher and Hurm earned third team All-ACC honors along with United Soccer Coaches All Region second team recognition. Delgado missed the entire season but was an instant impact in 2019, scoring her first career brace in the 4-0 win over Northwestern. Delgado ranked second on the team in assists (4), and third in goals (4) and points (13) in her first true collegiate season.

The Irish defense was much improved thanks to consistency on the back line. With the addition of graduate transfer Autumn Smithers, the line of Smithers, Shannon Hendricks, Jenna Winebrenner and Jade Gosar started all but two games together. The Irish totaled 10 shutouts on the season, the most since the 2016 season. The Notre Dame defense held two opponents (Oakland & Pitt) without any shots for the entire game and limited St. John’s to zero shots on goal.

The Irish returned to the ACC Championship and NCAA Championship in 2019 thanks to the strong start to the season and balanced play during conference play. The Irish knocked off Wake Forest 3-2 in 2OT in the season finale to clinch a berth in the ACC Championship. The Irish were selected to host the first round of the NCAA Tournament and knocked off Saint Louis for the second time in the season, 1-0, thanks to freshman Kiki Van Zanten’s goal in the 41st minute.

In his first season as head coach with the Irish, he inherited a very young team that added 10 newcomers for the second straight season. The freshmen made instant impacts for Norman and the Irish as local product Brooke VanDyck earned the start in the season opener and scored the game-winning goal in the 3-1 win over Central Michigan. Norman had six of the 10 freshmen start during their first season with the Irish and a majority of the class made an impact throughout the season.

The Irish had a strong senior class and group of graduate students to help guide the underclassmen through one of the toughest conferences in women’s college soccer. Norman oversaw Karin Muya return from injury and have her most productive season of her career. She led the Irish in goals with seven and points with 15. Fellow graduate student Sabrina Flores started all 18 games and led the Irish in assists (five) and minutes played (1,522). Seniors Rachel Heard and Shannon Hendricks locked down the back line for the Irish. Hendricks started all 18 games while Heard started 15, missing two games due to injury.

Nate Norman was named Notre Dame women’s soccer head coach in February 2018 after serving as an assistant on the Irish coaching staff for one season. Norman, who graduated from the University in 2007, is the fifth head coach in women’s soccer program history.

Norman joined the Irish coaching staff in January 2017 after one season at the helm of the Liberty program, where he led the Flames to a 14-8 record and a Big South Tournament Championship in 2016. He saw five student-athletes named to the All-Big South first and second teams, four selected for the conference all-tournament team and two picked for the NSCAA all-region squad.

Prior to his time at Liberty, Norman spent four seasons as head coach at Western Michigan, where he led the Broncos to a 44-27-14 record. He guided the program to two Mid-American Conference tournament titles in 2013 and 2015, and he was named the MAC Coach of the Year and the NSCAA Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year in 2015. Additionally, he saw 16 players named to all-conference squads during his tenure and placed a league-best 17 players on the MAC All-Academic Team in 2015.

The former midfielder was a four-year Monogram winner for Notre Dame men’s soccer head coach Bobby Clark from 2003-06, helping the Irish to the 2003 BIG EAST Tournament title, the 2004 BIG EAST regular-season championship and the 2006 NCAA Championship quarterfinals.

Norman was selected 21st overall by the Chicago Fire in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft and spent one season in Chicago before one-year stints with the United Soccer League’s (USL) Charleston Battery (2008) and Carolina RailHawks (2009). It was during this time that Norman began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant with the Irish men’s program for the 2007-08 season.

In 2009, Norman began as the assistant coach for the men’s program at Division III Covenant College. He also spent one season each as the women’s assistant at Western Michigan (2010) and Miami (Fla.; 2011) before taking the head coaching position with the Broncos.

Norman is a native of Rochester, Michigan, and is married to Rachel Norman.