Oct. 29, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – No. 14 Notre Dame suffered a 2-0 setback to No. 25 West Virginia in BIG EAST men’s soccer action on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Stadium. The start of the match was delayed for an hour and a half due to inclement weather.
Notre Dame (8-4-4, 4-3-1) had two early chances hit the crossbar. The first attempt came in the fifth minute as a Chris Sutton shot from 20 yards away skimmed the bar. In the 11th minute, Mountaineer goalkeeper Pat Eavenson deflected a low-blast from Irish defender Aaron Maund and the ball hit the crossbar and bounced back into play before being cleared away.
West Virginia (10-6-1, 6-3-0) took a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute when Nick Claudio redirected an Uzi Tayou shot into the bottom right corner of the net from two yards away. The Mountaineers led 1-0 at halftime.
Fighting Irish junior forward Ryan Finley had a shot saved in the 49th minute and he threatened again in the 54th minute, but his header off a Brendan King free kick sailed high of the frame.
The Mountaineers went up 2-0 in the 71st minute when an Andy Bevin shot from 20 yards away was deflected into the goal by Irish defender Grant Van De Casteele for an own goal.
Notre Dame’s final chance of the match occurred with just over three minutes remaining as a Maund header off a corner kick was saved by Eavenson, who had five saves on the day.
The Fighting Irish held a 5-2 edge in shots on goal, while the Mountaineers had a 6-4 advantage in corner kicks.
“This was possibly the most disappointing game of the season so far,” said Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. “I’m not really sure what happened. I’ll have to sit down and look at the game tape. My first thought is that they (West Virginia) were hungrier for the game than we were. We came out and looked very good in the first 10 minutes. We moved the ball around well and hit the crossbar and had another one sail just over it. Maybe we thought it was going to be kind of easy today and then I thought we got outworked.”
Notre Dame will wrap up regular-season play on Tuesday with a home tilt against Seton Hall. Kickoff is slated for noon (ET) at Alumni Stadium and admission is free for all fans. Note the change in date since the match was scheduled for Monday, but was moved since Seton Hall’s game today versus Connecticut was postponed to tomorrow due to inclement weather in New Jersey.
Alumni Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
October 29, 2011
#25 West Virginia (10-6-1, 6-3-0) 1 1 – 2
#14 Notre Dame (8-4-4, 4-3-1) 0 0 – 0
Scoring: WV: Nick Claudio (Uzi Tayou) 23:52; WV: Own Goal 70:41
Shots: WV 6-4 – 10, ND 3-6 – 9
Corner Kicks: WV 4-2 – 6, ND 2-2 – 4
Goalkeepers: WV: Pat Eavenson – 5 SV, 0 GA, 90:00, W
ND: Will Walsh – 0 SV, 2 GA, 90:00, L
Fouls: WV 7, ND 7
Offsides: WV 1, ND 2
–ND–