Aug. 28, 2005
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The No. 16 /19 Notre Dame men’s soccer team played its second straight overtime exhibition contest on Sunday as the Irish defeated Michigan 2-1 at the University of Michigan Soccer Field. Junior forward Ian Etherington (Temecula, Calif./Temecula) tallied the `golden goal’ off a pass from freshman Matt Besler (Overland Park, Kan./Blue Valley West) in the 94th minute to send the Irish home with the victory. Forward Nate Norman (Rochester, Mich./Rochester Adams), a junior, gave Notre Dame a 1-0 lead at the 23:06 mark of the contest.
The Irish, who played New Mexico to a 1-1 double-overtime tie on Monday, snapped a scoreless tie in the 24th minute when Norman gathered in a corner kick and took on two defenders and hammered the shot in from nearly 35 yards out. Norman also had a key role in Monday’s game as he collected the assist on the Irish’s lone goal.
Michigan countered in the 64th minute as Kevin Savitskie scored off of an Adam Bruh corner kick. The Wolverine goal came against junior goalkeeper Chris Cahill (Louisville, Ky./St. Francis DeSales), who played the final 62 minutes after replacing senior Justin Michaud (Austin, Texas/St. Stephens Episcopal). Michaud collected all three of the Irish saves on the day.
Each team could not find the back of the net during the final 26-plus minutes of regulation. However, it did not take long for the Irish to end the contest during the first overtime period. Besler sent a nice pass to Etherington, who dribbled past Michigan goalkeeper Patrick Sperry and sent the ball into the empty net for the game-winner.
“Nate (Norman) and Ian (Etherington) each had excellent games,” commented Irish head coach Bobby Clark following the contest. “It was fitting that they scored our goals and both of the goals were superb. I was also very pleased with (Matt) Besler. He played very well. He had a couple of defender-splitting passes and the one got through to Ian and he controlled the pass and dribbled it past the goalkeeper and put it in. It was a lovely pass from Besler.”
Notre Dame out-shot Michigan by a 17-13 margin. Sophomore Joe Lapira (Lake Charles, La./Saint Louis Catholic) led the Fighting Irish with five shots, while Etherington and Norman each fired three shots apiece.
“It was a hard fought game,” stated Clark. “I thought we played well and we played our game. We tried to move the ball up the field. We had a slight wind at our backs during the first half but then we had to play into a stiff breeze in the second half.”
The Fighting Irish, who are ranked 16th in the NSCAA/adidas preseason poll and 19th in the Soccer America preseason rankings, open the regular-season versus No. 7/8 SMU at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic on Friday, Sept. 2 in Bloomington, Indiana. They will take on No. 10/18 Wake Forest in their second game of the classic on Sunday, Sept. 4.
“We still have a lot of work to do before Friday’s game,” said Clark. “We will watch the video of today’s game on the bus ride home to find out some things that we need to work on before we practice later on in the week.”
To stay up to date on the 2005 Notre Dame men’s soccer season along with all of the Fighting Irish varsity sports, please log on to und.com or call the official Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
#16 Notre Dame 1 0 1 – 2
Michigan 0 1 0 – 1
ND: Nate Norman (corner kick) 23:06.
UM: Kevin Savitskie (Adam Bruh- corner kick) 63:25.
ND: Ian Etherington (Matt Besler) 93:37.
Shots: ND 9-6-2 – 17, UM 6-6-1 – 13
Corner Kicks: ND 3-3-0 – 6, UM 2-4-0 – 6
Saves: ND 3 (Justin Michaud 3, Chris Cahill 0), UM 10 (Patrick Sperry 8, Team 2)
Fouls: ND 13, UM 16
Offsides: ND 4, UM 1
-ND–