Aug 26, 2013
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – On Notre Dame’s 22nd shot of the evening senior forward Alex Priede delivered the game’s lone goal as the seventh-ranked Fighting Irish bested Ohio State, 1-0, Monday evening in exhibition men’s soccer action in front of 1,856 fans at a warm Alumni Stadium.
Notre Dame owned the stat sheet, outshooting Ohio State 25-6, including a 12-2 margin in shots on goal. The Irish also produced eight corner kicks compared to three for the Buckeyes. The Fighting Irish played most of their first unit for the first 60 minutes of the match, which was the exhibition finale for the squad.
The Irish peppered the Buckeye goal with several shots in the first half. Sophomore midfielder Patrick Hodan put two shots on goal and had another one hit the right post in a span of 15 minutes during the middle portion of the opening stanza. Senior forward Harrison Shipp had two shots saved late in the half and junior midfielder Nick Besler had his close-range header headed back out by an Ohio State defender. The Irish outshot the Buckeyes 13-1 in the first half.
Notre Dame junior forward Vince Cicciarelli had a game-high six shots, including two on goal. Four of Hodan’s five shots on the night were on frame and Shipp had three attempts saved.
“Up to that point (Priede’s goal) we had a lot of chances,” Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark said. “We should have put some more away. The starting squad conjured up a multitude of chances.”
The goal sequence began with a deep blast from freshman midfielder Brandon Aubrey that ricocheted off the crossbar and senior forward Leon Brown gathered the ball and sent it to the far post and Priede tapped it in.
“The team was doing very, very well prior to me coming in and I thought there were so many chances we could have had and one was bound to go in,” Priede said. “I just tried to slide and keep the ball from going out of bounds and it got in the goal.”
Priede nearly scored again minutes later, but his attempt on a breakaway went just wide of the post. The senior duo of Priede and Brown came on during the second half, but both have played major minutes for the Irish during their careers and they give the Irish a good amount of depth in the attack.
“Leon (Brown) did a really good job of getting the ball there and then it came to Alex (Priede),” Clark said about the goal. “Alex is good around the box and he should have had another goal soon after that. Alex is a goal scorer and that’s what he lives on.”
Senior goalkeeper Patrick Wall played the opening 61:40 for the Irish and did not have to make a save. Sophomore Brian Talcott was in goal for the remainder of the contest and he made two stops, including one off a free kick with just over two minutes left to play. Ohio State’s Alex Ivanov made seven saves in the first half, while Andrian McAdams had three in the second half.
“I thought both of our goalkeepers played very well,” Clark said. “(Central defender) Andrew O’Malley really marshaled the defense. I thought the whole defense was good.”
All proceeds from tonight’s match benefitted Grassroot Soccer, an international non-governmental organization that uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire and mobilize communities against the spread of HIV in Africa. Clark’s eldest son, Tommy, is the founder and CEO of Grassroot Soccer and he was in attendance Monday night. Bobby Clark and the Notre Dame men’s soccer camp matched the donations dollar-for-dollar.
Notre Dame will begin regular-season play Friday against No. 9 UCLA at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. The game is slated for 5 p.m. (ET) at Bill Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington, Ind.
Alumni Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
August 26, 2013 (Exhibition)
Ohio State 0 0 – 0
#7 Notre Dame 0 1 – 1
Scoring: ND: Alex Priede (Leon Brown) 65:19
Shots: OSU 1-5 – 6, ND 13-12 – 25
Corner Kicks: OSU 1-2 – 3, ND 5-3 – 8
Goalkeepers: OSU: Alex Ivanov – 7 SV, 0 GA, 45:00, L; Andrian McAdams – 3 SV, 1 GA, 45:00
ND: Patrick Wall – 0 SV, 0 GA, 61:40, W; Brian Talcott – 2 SV, 0 GA, 28:20
Offsides: OSU 2, ND 4
–ND–