DEKALB, Ill. — The Notre Dame men’s soccer team suffered a 2-1 defeat against NIU on Tuesday evening at the NIU Soccer and Track & Field Stadium. The loss drops Notre Dame’s record to 7-4-4 on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish nearly found the back of the net in the opening 10 minutes of play, as Ian Shaul fired a shot from the edge of the area just wide of the post in the eighth minute.
Five minutes later, the Irish scored the opener. Notre Dame had nice buildup on the right flank before Wyatt Lewis’ pass was redirected into the path of Nolan Spicer, who calmly slotted inside the far post to give the Irish a 1-0 lead.
Unfortunately for Notre Dame, the hosts leveled in the 27th minute after intercepting a pass in the final third and converting on a shot from just outside the box from Vance Sheffield to make the score 1-1.
Neither team found the back of the net for the remainder of the half as the teams went into the break deadlocked at 1-1.
Twelve minutes into the second half the NIU goalkeeper was sent off with a straight red card for verbal abuse, giving the Irish a man advantage for the remainder of the contest.
The Irish sent numbers forward on a throw-in in the final third but the hosts managed to spring a counterattack off it and scored their second of the match to go on top 2-1.
Notre Dame poured forward at every opportunity but were not able to find the equalizer and fell to the Huskies by a score of 2-1.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the match…
“Obviously we are disappointed in the result, but our disappointment is NIU’s great night. They deserve a lot of credit for what they did to get the result tonight. Clearly it wasn’t our night, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort on our team’s part. I am proud of the team as they kept going to the end, now we just have to pick ourselves up and fight for everything.”
UP NEXT
Notre Dame heads to the east coast for an ACC clash with Boston College at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 24. The match will air on ACCNX.
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