SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The No. 23 Fighting Irish men’s soccer team advanced to the ACC Championship Quarterfinals on Wednesday evening at Alumni Stadium, shutting out NC State in a 1-0 win.
The match’s only goal came from the spot, as Dawson McCartney made no mistake on his penalty after Tyler Shea was brought down in the box in the 53rd minute.
Bryan Dowd made three saves in goal for Notre Dame, including an impressive stop in the 60th minute to keep the clean sheet intact.
With the victory the Irish will play at Louisville in the quarterfinal matchup at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 7. The match will air on ACCN.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish and Wolfpack played to a scoreless standstill after the first 45 minutes of play. The best scoring chances came from the Irish in a span of a few minutes. Lynn played McCartney into acres of space on the left flank and the midfielder whipped in a dangerous ball that NC State managed to scramble out for a corner.
Just minutes later a ball fell to Ben Giacobello, who cleanly connected with a half volley but the effort went just wide of the far post, keeping the match at 0-0 heading into the halftime break.
Notre Dame wasted little time getting its attack going in the second half, scoring what turned out to be the winner in the 53rd minute. Shea made a run into the box and was taken down by a Wolfpack defender to set up a penalty. McCartney stepped up to the spot and unleashed a low drive just past the outstretched keeper into the bottom right corner to put the Irish on top 1-0.
The Irish nearly doubled their lead on two occasions in the 74th and 75th minutes. McCartney nearly scored his second, blazing a shot from just outside the box barely past the far post. One minute later Kyle Genenbacher played a great ball in from the right and Mo Omar’s initial shot and follow-up attempt were both saved from point-blank range.
Notre Dame’s defense made enough plays down the stretch to keep the visitors off the board and secure the 1-0 clean sheet victory.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the performance…
“Overall we are pleased. NC State is a very good team and they have had some unlucky bounces throughout the season. We knew it would take a really good effort and I am really proud with the way the group handled it. We would have liked to put away a couple more of our chances to get the cushion but the guys held strong and did a great job to get the shutout and the victory.”
On starting postseason play with a clean sheet…
“It is everything this time of year. You want one more goal than the other team but at the end of the day the teams that make runs are picking up clean sheets. That was a big goal of ours today.”
On carrying the performance to Louisville on Sunday…
“You take the experience of playing in the postseason and knowing that it is a knockout competition. There are some things we will learn from that you can’t really learn unless you are in knockout play. We will be very excited to play Louisville on Sunday.”
ND NOTES
- The Irish sweep the season matchup against NC State and improve to 4-2-1 against the Wolfpack in the all-time series.
- Notre Dame is now 11-6-2 all-time in the ACC Championship and has reached at least the quarterfinal round in all nine seasons in the league.
- The Irish improve to 9-1 in ACC Tournament home matches and have outscored opponents by an aggregate 20-5 goal count.
- McCartney’s goal is his fifth of the season and 14th of his collegiate career.
- McCartney is now one of three Irish players with 15 or more points on the year.
- Dowd registered his fifth clean sheet of the season and the Irish have eight during the 2021 campaign.
UP NEXT
The Irish move on to the ACC Championship Quarterfinals to take on Louisville at 6 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 7. The game will air on ACCN. The winner will take on the winner of Virginia Tech and Pitt on Wednesday, Nov. 10.
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