SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Fighting Irish men’s soccer team had to play almost the entire second half with 10 men against No. 6 NC State and fell by a score of 3-0, with all three goals coming in the final 45 minutes of play.
Notre Dame is now 7-3-4 on the season and 2-2-2 in ACC play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish created the first chance of the evening, as Nolan Spicer played Jack Flanagan down the flank in the opening minute of play but the junior’s effort rolled wide of the far post.
In the 19th minute Notre Dame earned a free kick in the attacking half and KK Baffour played a dangerous ball into the area, falling to Diego Ochoa’s feet. The grad student’s shot was right at the Wolfpack keeper.
The visitors created a number of half chances throughout the opening 45 minutes of play but were held in check by the Irish defense, as the match was scoreless at the half.
The pivotal moment of the contest came just 27 seconds after the intermission, as the Irish received a red card and were forced to play with 10 men for the remainder of the evening.
Notre Dame defended admirably for 20 minutes of action before an NC State shot took a deflection and redirected into the back of the net to put the Wolfpack on top 1-0 in the 67th minute.
Ten minutes later the visitors doubled their lead, as Notre Dame goalkeeper Blake Kelly made a save but the rebound was scored by Aidan Payne, his second of the evening, to make it 2-0.
NC State went on to add one more in the final 11 minutes of play to leave with a 3-0 win.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the match…
“Obviously disappointed in the way the game turned out. We knew NC State was a good team and they caused us some problems in the first half and we caused some of our own problems connecting passes in the first half.
“Our team usually responds well in the second half so we felt there was a lot of energy coming out in the second half. Disappointed to get a red card 30 seconds in because that changed the whole complexion of the game. To be fair, down to 10 men, 20 minutes before they scored off a deflected goal we were in a good spot and defending well.
After that we tried to chase the tying goal a man down and they got a couple at the end. But proud of the group. They kept going until the final whistle and kept their composure. We just have to take it on the chin and get back to work.”
UP NEXT
Notre Dame wraps up the regular season with three straight road matches, starting off with a contest at NIU at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. local) on Tuesday, Oct. 17 in DeKalb, Illinois at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Complex.
FOLLOW THE IRISH 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), Facebook (/NDMenSoccer) and TikTok (@ndmensoccer).