Aug. 27, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s soccer team opened its 2011 regular season with a 0-0 draw against No. 15 Indiana on Saturday night at Alumni Stadium. A sellout crowd of over 3,000 fans, which is an Alumni Stadium record for an Irish men’s game, attended the match.
Notre Dame (0-0-1) out shot Indiana (0-0-1) 24-11 during the contest. Both teams had five shots on goal. The Fighting Irish had five corner kicks compared to three for the Hoosiers.
Senior goalkeeper Will Walsh made five saves for the Irish to pick up his fifth career shutout in just his eighth career start. His counterpart, Luis Soffner, had five stops for the Hoosiers.
The Irish dominated possession in the first half, but could not put the ball in the back of the net. Senior midfielder Brendan King had a shot hit off the right post with 11:25 remaining in the opening half. Minutes later, a Harrison Shipp header, which came off a Dillon Powers corner kick, was saved by Soffner.
With just over six minutes left in the first half, Notre Dame senior midfielder Adam Mena put a header past a charging Soffner at the top of the 18-yard box, but the ball trickled just to the right of the far post. Mena had a game-high eight shots. The Irish out shot the Hoosiers 9-5 in the first half.
“It was a very exciting game and we had a great crowd here tonight,” said Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. “We really out shot them and I felt we dominated the game, but we just couldn’t get the final finish. I was quite pleased with how we controlled the game, but we still need to score goals.”
The Irish held a 10-4 advantage in shots in the second half. Arguably the best of those chances came in the final seconds of regulation as junior forward Ryan Finley put a shot on frame that Soffner stopped. Finley had seven shots in the contest.
“I thought our back four looked really good and Will (Walsh) was very solid in goal,” added Clark. “We had periods of connecting passes that were superb. We did that well most of the first half and then there was a period towards the end of the second half that I felt we were great. I was a little disappointed in overtime because we kind of let it slip away. Maybe we were getting tired. It’s early in the season to be playing an overtime game.”
Notre Dame is now 21-10-4 all-time in season openers, including 6-3-2 during the Clark era.
The Fighting Irish return to action on Friday against Dayton at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic in Bloomington, Ind. Kickoff is slated for 5:00 p.m. (ET) at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Notre Dame will face Saint Louis at 11:30 a.m. (ET) on Sunday, Sept. 4 during the second day of the event.
Alumni Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
August 27, 2011
#15 Indiana 0 0 0 0 – 0
#9 Notre Dame 0 0 0 0 – 0
Scoring: None
Shots: IU 5-4-1-1 – 11, ND 9-10-2-3 – 24
Corner Kicks: IU 1-1-1-0 – 3, ND 3-2-0-0 – 5
Goalkeepers: IU: Luis Soffner – 5 SV, 0 GA, 100:00, T; ND: Will Walsh – 5 SV, 0 GA, 100:00, T
Fouls: IU 10, ND 12
Offsides: IU 4, ND 3
–ND–