SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The No. 2 Notre Dame men’s soccer team opened up the 2024 campaign with a 1-1 draw against Akron on Thursday evening at Alumni Stadium.
The Fighting Irish goal came from Matthew Roou, who buried his penalty, which was set up by Bryce Boneau in the 51st minute.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams used the opening 20 minutes to settle into the new season, with each side tidy at the back. The Irish earned their first corner of the evening in the 29th minute and then started to create chances in the final third.
Mitch Ferguson flicked an effort on frame off a long throw from Kyle Genenbacher and then Boneau curled an effort towards the far post but both attempts were saved by the Zips goalkeeper.
The best scoring chance in the opening 45 minutes of play came off the boot of Nolan Spicer. The sophomore broke into the box and cut onto his left foot, firing a shot off the far post in the 41st minute, but the game went to the half scoreless.
The Irish came out of the half on the front foot and found the opener in the 51st minute of play. Boneau was brought down in the box by an Akron defender, setting up a penalty for the hosts. Roou stepped up to the spot and rifled his effort past the diving keeper and into the left side of the goal to give Notre Dame the 1-0 advantage.
Unfortunately for the Irish, the lead was short lived. The Zips managed to level the score at 1-1 in the 61st minute off a goal from Wan Kuzri Wan Kamal.
Notre Dame created a few half chances in the final 30 minutes of play but couldn’t find the final ball to retake the lead, as the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the match…
“Looking at it I think we will see a lot more positives than negatives but we have a little bit of a bad taste in our mouth after going up a goal and putting in a pretty good performance to not get three points.”
On Roou getting on the score sheet…
“It’s great. Strikers need to get goals and get that taste in their mouth and Roou has scored a lot in the preseason and now transitioning that into the regular season is huge and it will only make him hungrier.”
On the debut of the four freshmen…
“Overall I thought it was really good. It’s one of those things that good players are good players but every once in a while you have to remember it’s their first night out there at this level. It’s such a special night and it’s nice to share that with them.”
ND STAT OF THE MATCH
Notre Dame outshot Akron by a margin of 11-5 on the evening.
ND NOTES
- With the goal, Roou now has 22 in his Notre Dame career and 54 points.
- Blake Kelly and Jacob Bartlett both started in their collegiate debuts as freshmen on Thursday evening.
- Kelly is the first true freshman goalie to start the season opener in his debut season in the last 30 years for the Notre Dame men’s soccer program.
- Freshmen Stevie Dunphy and Will Schroeder also both made their Fighting Irish debuts on Thursday in substitute appearances.
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