Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1541184
BLUEGOLDONLINE.COM NOV. 15, 2025 49 BY TODD D. BURLAGE F amily and faith mean everything to Notre Dame all-everything soccer star Izzy Engle. So when the gifted sophomore mid- fielder/forward found herself in a tough mental rut last season, she leaned on both to pull her out. A victim of her own success, everything came almost too easily for Engle to start her rookie season. In her first seven career games for the Irish, Engle scored 10 goals, which ranked among the most nationally and led all freshmen in the country. But like an on-off switch, Engle hit a "scoring drought" midseason and went six consecutive games without a goal. "It was hard," Engle shared. "I just became so focused on, 'I need to score, I need to score.' And when you hyper- focus on something, it's not going to happen." On some encouraging perspective from her younger brother, Andreas, Izzy adjusted her outlook, regained her con- fidence, and regained her form. Andreas helped his big sister realize that scoring goals wasn't her only con- tribution to team success, and the best was yet to come. "I need to give him some credit for helping me out," Izzy said. "So that was kind of my mentality the rest of the season." Andreas reminded Izzy that the ex- tra defensive attention she was pull- ing from her teammates was part of the reason the Irish went undefeated during her scoreless stretch. "I really had to focus on, 'If I don't score, it's OK,'" Izzy recalled. "And the first game that I truly felt that way, that ended up being the game that I scored, broke the drought, and we kept it going from there." And then some. Engle scored 9 goals in Notre Dame's final nine games last season in helping the Irish to an appearance in the quar- terfinals of the NCAA Championship. Her 19 total goals last season tied for second most in the country and were the most scored by an NCAA freshman in 13 years, which earned her second- team All-America and ACC Freshman of the Year honors. "Izzy has a combination of a few things," Irish head coach Nate Norman explained of Engle's quick ascent. "She obviously has a lot of raw natural ability. But she combines it with a relentless work ethic and a tremendous amount of humility that pushes her to get better." But Engle admitted that her quick and surprising success as a freshman brought heavy expectations and inevi- table comparisons with her as a sopho- more. Thoughts of, "You did great last year, you gotta keep it up this year, don't mess it up," filled her head. That's when Engle realized that she needed to stop comparing her statistical pace from this year to last year. "That was another way I was putting unneeded pressure on myself," she said. So, if Engle isn't willing to check her stats this season, we'll do it for her. The Edina, Minn., native led the ACC during regular-season play with 17 goals, and her 2.67 points per game easily led the league and the country. No scoring slumps this season. Engle scored in 12 of Notre Dame's 16 regu- lar-season matches and never went two consecutive games without a goal. "The pace of Izzy's success, now just in her sophomore year, has been pretty remarkable," Norman added. "It has been very impressive to watch." Notre Dame, too, will be impressive to watch when it becomes a high seed and one of the favorites later this month to win the national championship. ✦ No Sophomore Slumps For Irish Soccer Star Izzy Engle NOTRE DAME SPORTS Engle earned second-team All-America and ACC Freshman of the Year honors after scoring 19 goals last season, the most for an NCAA fresh- man in 13 years. PHOTO COURTESY NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS Irish Roundup HOCKEY (3-4-1 OVERALL, 0-2-0 BIG TEN) Dropped a pair of home games against Michigan, losing 5-3 Oct. 31 and 2-1 in overtime Nov. 1. MEN'S SOCCER (8-6-4 OVERALL, 3-3-2 ACC) Suffered a 3-0 loss in the regular-season finale at Wake Forest Oct. 31 … Earned the No. 8 seed in the ACC Tournament and took on No. 9 seed North Carolina in the first round Nov. 5, falling 3-1 to the Tar Heels in South Bend … Must now wait until Nov. 17 to see if they will get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. WOMEN'S SOCCER (14-1-2 OVERALL, 8-1-1 ACC) After being tagged with their first loss of the season in their regular-season finale, the No. 2 Irish finished second in the ACC behind Stanford and earned a bye to the semifinals of the league tournament … Defeated No. 3 seed Duke 2-1 Nov. 6 in Cary, N.C. … Advanced to face No. 1-seeded Stanford in the championship game Nov. 9 in Cary, N.C. VOLLEYBALL (8-12 OVERALL, 5-7 ACC) Lost 3-0 at No. 8 Louisville Nov. 1.