Oct. 15, 2011
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The No. 11 Notre Dame men’s soccer team captured a 3-0 win over No. 20 Georgetown in BIG EAST Blue Division play on Saturday afternoon at a sunny North Kehoe Field.
Notre Dame (6-3-4, 2-2-1) received goals from junior forwards Danny O’Leary and Ryan Finley along with senior midfielder Michael Rose. Finley also had an assist in the match.
“It was great to get a win like this on the road,” said Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. “We really needed this. We’ve been playing so well, but we just haven’t been getting goals. Today we finished strongly. Getting a win like this will hopefully get the season back on track for us.”
The first shot of the game came in the ninth minute when Notre Dame’s Adam Mena sent a cross into O’Leary and he placed the ball high from seven yards out. Brendan King had his shot from distance sail just high of the frame in the 11th minute. Georgetown’s first shot came from Ben Slingerland in the 13th minute.
Mena had the first shot on goal in the match, but Hoya goalkeeper Tomas Gomez saved his attempt, which came from near the top of the 18-yard box in the 14th minute. Just over a minute later, Mena sent the ball wide left of the post.
The Fighting Irish broke through in the 21st minute as O’Leary scored his third goal of the season. The sequence began with sophomore forward Leon Brown playing the ball to junior midfielder Dillon Powers, who flicked it to O’Leary and he deposited the ball from 10 yards away.
Georgetown (8-3-3, 3-2-0) had its first shot on goal come in the 24th minute when a Steve Neumann header was saved by Irish goalkeeper Will Walsh. Neumann then banged a shot off the post in the 42nd minute. Both teams had seven shots in the first half.
The Hoyas’ Ian Christianson had the first shot of the second half as he sent his attempt wide left in the 48th minute. Walsh saved a 25-yard shot from Neumann in the 53rd minute.
On the other end of the pitch, Finley blasted a shot from 20 yards out that just missed the upper right corner of the frame. Finley kept the pressure on the Hoya defense and his next shot was deflected by Gomez and Rose deposited the rebound from 18 yards out to put the Irish up 2-0 in the 60th minute.
The score was Rose’s first goal of the season. The senior missed the first 10 matches of the campaign due to a knee injury. The two-goal advantage marked Georgetown’s first multiple-goal deficit of the season.
Walsh collected another save as he snagged a Neumann header in the 72nd minute. Walsh, a senior, had three saves on the day to record his fifth shutout of the season. Gomez also had three saves.
Finley gave the Irish a 3-0 lead in the 75th minute as he notched his team-leading fifth goal of the season. Senior defender Aaron Maund assisted on the play.
Notre Dame played a man-up for the final 11:33 of the match after Georgetown’s Jimmy Nealis received a red card for tripping Finley, who was streaking down the field with the ball.
The Hoyas had an 18-16 edge in shots for the match, yet the Irish held a 6-3 shot-on-goal advantage. Georgetown had six corner kicks, while Notre Dame had three. Notre Dame deposited three scores on a Georgetown defense that entered today’s contest allowing just 0.62 goals per game.
“I felt that we limited them (Georgetown) to shots that were mostly outside of the (penalty) box,” added Clark. “I thought that we had good looks today, we were dangerous. Danny O’Leary’s goal was one of the best that I’ve seen all season. To get a 3-0 win on the road is pretty impressive.”
The Fighting Irish return home to face Seton Hall on Wednesday. The BIG EAST Blue Division contest is slated for a 7:00 p.m. (ET) kickoff at Alumni Stadium.
North Kehoe Field – Washington, D.C.
October 15, 2011
#11 Notre Dame (6-3-4, 2-2-1) 1 2 – 3
#20 Georgetown (8-3-3, 3-2-0) 0 0 – 0
Scoring: ND: Danny O’Leary (Leon Brown, Dillon Powers) 20:37; ND: Michael Rose (Ryan Finley) 59:55; ND: Ryan Finley (Aaron Maund) 74:17
Shots: ND 7-9 – 16, GU 7-11 – 18
Corner Kicks: ND 1-2 – 3, GU 4-2 – 6
Goalkeepers: ND: Will Walsh – 3 SV, 0 GA, 90:00, W
GU: Tomas Gomez – 3 SV, 3 GA, 90:00, L
Fouls: ND 6, GU 11
Offsides: ND 2, GU 0
–ND–