[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith the No. 3 seed in this year’s NCAA Women’s College Cup tournament, Notre Dame hopes to add more hardware to the program’s historic soccer tradition.
The Fighting Irish (13-4-1) return to postseason action for the 23rd-straight year, with second-year coach Theresa Romagnolo leading the helm. Since 2000, the Irish have won two NCAA titles and have made numerous postseason runs.
Romagnolo expects more of the same this year, with the opening round beginning Friday evening against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies.
“I think there’s a lot of pride within the program when it comes to playoff time,” she said.
Notre Dame has been explosive throughout the 2015 campaign, outperforming opponents on the pitch with a heavy attack approach and overwhelming power on both sides. For example, Notre Dame has notched 32 goals on 317 shots. Opponents have tallied just 9 goals on 98 attempts.
A key figure for the Irish and their powerful offense is senior forward Anna Marie Gilbertson. She’s accumulated 11 goals and two assists with 94 shots on goal. To put that into perspective, the next leading goal scorer is freshman forward Natalie Jacobs with 4 goals off 48 shots.
“[Gilbertson’s] got so many different abilities and ways of shooting goals that just makes her difficult to defend against,” Romagnolo said. “She’s got great speed, great skill and knows how to use her foot.”
While Gilbertson has led offensive production for the Irish, they’ve had help across the board.
Junior goalkeeper Kaela Little has allowed just six goals all season with a record of 8-4. Little has posted a save percentage of 0.47 with 29 saves.
“The team is playing well and in different games, different players are stepping up and making big plays,” Romagnolo said. “It’s really been a team effort, I think, on both sides of the ball. We attack as a group and we defend as a group.”
Another key factor is that Notre Dame has lost just four matches in 2015 with a single loss at home. Opening the tournament with home-field advantage should play well into the Irish’s favor.
“It’s a nice reward to be able to host the first round game,” Romagnolo said.
The Golden Grizzlies enter the contest as the Horizon League champions with an 8-5-7 overall record. The biggest contest of the year for Oakland was perhaps the August 27 matchup with Michigan State that ended in a 2-2 draw after double-overtime.
Oakland is led by senior forward/midfielder Joan Sieja, who has tallied 3 goals and 8 assists this year. Sieja’s corner in the 95th minute of the Horizon League finale against Wright State led to Sarah Reynolds first goal of the year and the Golden Grizzlies’ first Horizon League title.
The Grizzlies have made some noise in the postseason before, upsetting No. 4 Ohio State in 2013 before falling to Texas A&M in the next round.
Romagnolo isn’t worried about the possible threat Oakland could pose as an unfamiliar foe.
“We approach it like any game this year,” Romagnolo said. “At the end of the day, we choose to focus on ourselves and what we need to do to be successful.”
No. 3 Notre Dame and Oakland are set to do battle Friday night with a 7 P.M. kickoff time.
