NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The No. 21-ranked Fighting Irish suffered a 1-0 defeat at the hands of No. 3 Virginia after Friday evening’s originally scheduled match was shifted to a late morning Saturday start.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish and Cavaliers played a fairly even opening 45 minutes, as neither side found the back of the net in the first half. Notre Dame had a few decent looks at goal, as both Tyler Shea and Jack Lynn had efforts from outside the box.
Notre Dame’s best chance of the day came in the 67th minute. After a nice buildup Aiden McFadden put a strike on goal but the Cavaliers’ goalkeeper was up to the task, making a diving save.
Just three minutes later Virginia score the game’s lone goal. The ref pointed to the spot after calling a foul on Notre Dame inside the area and Joe Bell converted the penalty to put the guests on top at 1-0.
The Irish tried to send numbers forward in the final 20 minutes but the Virginia defense held tight to secure the 1-0 victory.
STAT OF THE MATCH
The Irish defense did not allow a shot on frame in the run of play over the 90 minutes of action.
HEAD COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the team’s performance…
“I am proud of the group. Clearly Virginia is a good team but I honestly do feel like this was one of our better performances of the year. I don’t want to say we were unlucky in some of our attacking moments but we didn’t quite finish a couple of good chances we had. I haven’t seen the penalty but it is always unfortunate to give away a penalty and lose a game on a penalty kick.
“Overall the group has nothing to hang their heads about. We got better in this game and it was a good performance. Now we just have to put a good performance together and the result will be what we want it to be.”
UP NEXT
The Irish have a quick turnaround, hosting DePaul at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Oct. 1 at Alumni Stadium. The match will air on ACCNX.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For a behind the scenes look at the Notre Dame men’s soccer program follow the Irish on Twitter (@NDMenSoccer), Instagram (@ndmensoccer) and Facebook (/NDMenSoccer).