Despite a gut-wrenching double-overtime defeat at the hands of Ohio State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Notre Dame women’s soccer authored arguably the greatest season in program history this past fall. Spearheaded by a mix of savvy veterans and talented underclassmen, eighth-year head coach Nate Norman’s Irish navigated a grueling schedule nearly unscathed, all while earning numerous program and individual accolades.
Norman has overseen staggering success in South Bend, both on the pitch and on the recruiting trail, but perhaps his best work came in identifying and developing the recruiting class of 2024, this past season‘s sophomores. As freshmen, the core of forwards Izzy Engle, Annabelle Chukwu and Ellie Hodsden; midfielder Grace Restovich and goalkeeper Sonoma Kasica steered Notre Dame to the Elite Eight.
That early success, coupled with the consistent presence of seniors Carolyn Calzada, Leah Klenke and Laney Matriano, manifested into sky-high expectations for 2026. In lieu of this, Norman and his staff tried to break down the season to minimize pressure on his group.
“We try to split the season up into miniature seasons with goals. As soon as you start looking at the broad spectrum, you’re like, ‘man, how are we gonna beat Stanford, and Florida State, and Virginia, and North Carolina?’ It can feel overwhelming, but with smaller ‘seasons’ it is easier to navigate,” he said.
Notre Dame started that first “season” with a bang, blitzing through the nonconference portion of its schedule. Aside from a competitive 2-2 draw at No. 6 Arkansas, the Irish outscored their opponents 20-1 across the first six matches of the season. The ACC, consistently the nation’s deepest and strongest soccer league, didn’t seem to provide much resistance either. Notre Dame’s relentless attack and sound backline ran through opponents big and small, including victories over No. 3 Duke, No. 22 North Carolina, No. 23 Louisville and No. 5 Florida State.
When asked how his team was able to maintain elite form throughout the weekly gauntlet, Norman was blunt, saying, “The reality is we have good players. We have talented players that can win us games and score goals. It‘s having this ruthless mentality where every team you play, you want to impose your will.”
He was especially complimentary of the aforementioned seniors. Matriano was a staple in the midfield, with her keen playmaking ability leading to 3 goals and 8 assists across her final collegiate campaign. “Laney was one of the unsung heroes of our team for the last four years. She always had players around her who would get more of the publicity, but if you look at each game, she kept our rhythm, helped our tempo, almost like a quarterback for us. She essentially played almost every minute of every game for four years,” Norman said.
His review of Calzada was equally glowing. “We only had Carolyn for a season, but she did a great job bringing stability to the center back. She brought a great energy. Very resilient kid. If we had a tough game, she was always very positive, re-motivating people.”
Despite unassuming statistics, Klenke’s storied career ranks among the all-time best in South Bend. The MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist and consensus All-American earned All-ACC first team honors for the second straight year to accentuate her legacy. “Leah was very similar to Laney by playing almost every minute of every game. They were both the model of consistency. We moved her all around the field and used her as a versatile player that could do a lot of different things,” Norman stated.
Looking ahead to 2026, Norman believes that “The biggest thing we have to replace is their leadership.”
At the same time, he is optimistic that the rising junior will carry that mantle forward. “They’ve been good peripheral leaders, but helping them now define what it means when it becomes their team now and they are the vocal leaders. In some ways, they do feel like seniors because they’ve been playing so much from day one,” Norman assessed.
He also noted that Notre Dame can be insulated from the rapid changes occurring throughout college soccer, namely the transfer portal. While not taking a single undergraduate transfer during his tenure, he concurrently sees a significant benefit in roster stability year-over-year. “This is the advantage of not being in the transfer portal. We’re talking about players that really know our program, know the culture of our program, and the model of how we play. You’re not re-teaching things, but you’re tweaking things. You’re optimizing the way you play instead of retooling every single year,” Norman said.
That next wave of Irish leaders is headlined by Engle, whose two-year accolades include ACC Freshman of the Year, ACC Offensive Player of the Year and Mac Hermann Trophy finalist. The Minnesota native led the ACC and ranked second nationally with 19 goals en route to consensus All-American recognition.
Her partner-in-crime up top was the Canadian, Chukwu, who finished her breakout sophomore campaign with 12 goals and 3 assists to earn an All-ACC first team selection. Along with rising senior Morgan Roy, the backline will be piloted by Kasica and rising junior defender Abby Mills. “Those two are absolutely crucial to our success. They’re the foundation of our team. Abby and Sonoma have been consistent, solid players back there. I think they can become leaders on and off the field to make our team stronger because they are the main communicators and organizers back there,” Norman said of Kasica and Mills.
So as Norman and the Irish turn the page to 2026, he hopes that his talented core of returners can grow from the crushing conclusion to 2025 that late November night against the Buckeyes. “I think the goal is hopefully we learned a lot of lessons from it and grew from it. We did lose some very good players, but we did return a good chunk of our team.”
Norman knows that this group has the makeup of a champion, but that the requisite mindset and leadership are still to be enhanced. “You start doing those things and getting close to those goals and you should set yourself up for a very high seed in the NCAA Tournament. Then, you’re going after that ultimate goal of a national championship,” he concluded.
