PITTSBURGH — The Fighting Irish men’s soccer team opened ACC play with a shutout 2-0 win on the road at Pitt to start 1-0 in league play. The clean sheet was Notre Dame’s third of the season.
The Irish goals were scored by their two starting strikers, as Luke Burton and Wyatt Borso each found the back of the net for the first time this season. Junior Nolan Spicer was involved in both goals, notching two assists in the victory.
Notre Dame’s defense was stifling the entire evening, allowing just one shot on target over the 90 minutes of play, allowing Blake Kelly to pick up his third clean sheet of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish got off to a great start, jumping out to an early lead courtesy of the first career goal from Burton in the 14th minute. A Notre Dame corner got headed out to the edge of the box and Nolan Spicer put his foot through the volley, which Burton redirected with his chest into the back of the net to put the Irish in front 1-0.
Burton nearly doubled the lead 11 minutes later. Wyatt Borso played a perfect pass into the path of the freshman, sending him through on goal but his low shot was saved by the Pitt keeper to keep the Notre Dame lead at one.
Notre Dame’s midfield and defense frustrated the Pitt attack for the rest of the half, not allowing the Panthers any good scoring chances and taking a 1-0 lead into the halftime break.
The Irish nearly scored a goal from an impossible angle in the opening minutes of the second stanza. KK Baffour darted to the endline and whipped a ball across that the Pitt keeper got a hand to and pushed off the near post.
After 20 minutes of great defending by the Irish they doubled their lead off the foot of Borso and it was once again Spicer who sparked the score. Spicer intercepted a pass just outside the Pitt box and immediately fed Borso, who calmly took a touch to get the ball to his right foot and then fired into the back of the net to put the Irish on top 2-0 in the 67th minute.
Less than a minute later it was Borso again putting the Pitt back line under attack, as he found space in the box and unleashed a left-footed shot just wide of the far post.
Notre Dame didn’t allow the Panthers to generate anything going forward over the final 20 minutes of action, getting stuck in when needed to leave Pittsburgh with the shutout victory.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the match…
“Really proud of the team. We were smart, tough, skillful and dangerous against a very good Pitt team. It is a tough place to win and I am most proud because it was a true team win.”
ND STAT OF THE MATCH
With the win, the Irish are unbeaten against Pitt over the last six meetings (4-0-2) and have outscored the Panthers by a combined score of 13-2 over the six matchups.
ND NOTES
- The Irish improve to 22-7-5 in the all-time series against Pitt and are now 10-2-3 when playing the Panthers in Pittsburgh
- The Notre Dame defense has allowed just two goals over five matches this season, recording three clean sheets
- Burton becomes the second Notre Dame player this year to score their first career Irish goal, joining graduate transfer Diego Ochoa
- The Irish have now scored three goals on set pieces this season
- Spicer’s assists were his first two of the season and he now has eight in his career
UP NEXT
The Irish return home to begin a seven-match homestand by welcoming Omaha to Alumni Stadium for a non-conference clash at 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday, Sept. 16. Admission to the match is free and it will air on ACCNX.
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