The College Cup title was within reach. A Monday night game against a Clemson team that had beaten Notre Dame in September could have given the Irish a second national title.

But the Tigers won 2-1, and the Notre Dame men’s soccer team suffered a heartbreaking College Cup defeat for the second time in three years.

Still, 2023 remained a fairytale season for the Irish. Notre Dame posted a 13-3-6 record and didn’t lose a single game in the ACC regular season. As a result, the Irish secured the conference’s first seed and home-court advantage throughout the NCAA tournament. And they used that home-court advantage to score two dramatic penalty-kick victories that made the College Cup possible.

Now Chad Riley, who has been in his seventh year as head coach, and the Irish have opened the 2024 chapter with a 1-1 tie at home against Akron to start the season.

“I think right now you look at the performance as closely as you can,” Riley said after the August 22 draw. “I think in many ways it feels like we dropped three points because we had some good moments – obviously we were in the lead. You want to finish something like that. But I think overall there are definitely a lot more positives than negatives.”

More than any other player, Notre Dame has a lot of positives to replace in goal and on offense this season. The Irish produced a class of extremely experienced players last year, none of whom were as important to the team’s success as goalkeeper Bryan Dowd. The player named TopDrawerSoccer’s 2023 National Player of the Year joined the Chicago Fire in December as the sixth overall pick in the MLS SuperDraft.

To replace Dowd between the posts, the Irish first made a move that has been foreign to Notre Dame teams for the past three decades. They went with a true freshman right from the start. First-year goalie Blake Kelly, a product of the Real Salt Lake Academy club, started against Akron. The Michigan native allowed a goal on the only shot on goal, but that goal by the Zips was directly attributed to a defensive error.

Fortunately for Kelly, there are unlikely to be any mishaps as the season progresses. Notre Dame’s greatest successes have come on the defensive line, where junior Mitch Ferguson, senior Kyle Genenbacher and senior Josh Ramsey combined to start 57 games last year. Such an experienced presence could accelerate Kelly’s development as a goalie, but whether that actually happens remains to be seen.

Notre Dame also brought back a handful of key midfielders for 2024. Senior Bryce Boneau, who takes a massive step forward in 2023, tops the list. Boneau, an All-ACC Third Team candidate who turned down a third-round SuperDraft pick from Nashville SC, is a captain for the first time in his career. He and another third-year starter, junior KK Baffour, bring stability to the center at Alumni Stadium. On the wings, junior Sebastian Green and sophomore Nolan Spicer have an immediate chance to move up from backups to starters.

Their contributions, especially on offense, would be warmly welcomed by the Irish. Notre Dame does not have the problem of replacing a single, all-around scorer this year. Losing Dowd is the equivalent of losing them in goal. The 2023 Irish offense was more successful overall, but a clear top trio of scorers emerged in Eno Nto, Matthew Rouu and Daniel Russo.

Nto and Russo, Notre Dame’s best forwards in last year’s postseason, are gone. Rouu is still a senior with 21 college goals to his name, including 10 from last season’s First Team All-ACC campaign. However, Rouu went pointless in five NCAA Tournament games. His consistency and timing throughout the season will be a major dictator of Notre Dame’s offensive season.

Rouu got off to a solid start against Akron, opening the scoring with a penalty goal in the second half.

“You want strikers to score goals and I think that’s a great feeling for him,” Riley said. “You can see it – just the way he moves around the field. I think on another night he might have scored a few more – he was in some really good situations.”

With the realignment of the conferences, every power league in every sport has strengthened. Few, if any, have improved as much as the ACC has in men’s soccer. Stanford (No. 5) and SMU (No. 10) enter the United Soccer Coaches Poll as preseason top-10 teams, joining seven already ranked teams in the conference. The Irish trail only Clemson for second place in the ACC’s preseason poll.

Notre Dame hosts Clemson on Sept. 27 for a key championship rematch. Before that, the Irish will visit No. 24 Louisville (Sept. 6) and welcome Stanford to South Bend (Sept. 14). In October, they will face No. 25 Syracuse (Oct. 8) and No. 6 North Carolina (Oct. 11) before heading to No. 20 Duke on Nov. 1 for a crucial season finale.

Three hours south, Notre Dame’s biggest nonconference test awaits on Thursday. Indiana, which fought the Irish to a tie and a shootout in the season opener in last year’s Elite Eight, is currently the best team Notre Dame will face on the road this season.

Riley and the Irish are looking forward to the opportunity that a short trip to Bloomington offers them.

“It’s just always a really good game. It’s as healthy as a rivalry can be when you play as often as we do,” Riley said. “And I think it’s one of those games – the reason you come to Notre Dame is to play big games. So when you go there, the guys are competitive and they’re excited.”

Notre Dame’s top-10 game against the Hoosiers is scheduled for Thursday, August 29th at 8 p.m.