Oct. 17, 1999
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s soccer team had its six-game unbeaten snapped at Alumni Field as the Irish dropped a 1-0 decision to 11th-ranked Rutgers. Dennis Ludwig scored his sixth goal of the season 27:58 into the contest to lift the Scarlet Knights to the win.
The 1-0 final marked the fifth straight meeting between the two schools in which the outcome was decided by a 1-0 score. With the loss, Notre Dame drops to 8-5-2 overall and 4-2-1 in the BIG EAST. The Irish entered the contest with a 5-0-1 record in their last six games. The Scarlet Knights, who tied Pittsburgh 0-0 on Friday night, improved to 8-3-3 on the season and remained unbeaten in league play with a 6-0-2 mark.
Ludwig scored the game-winning goal when, in a scramble in front of the net, he tipped in the ball from five yards out. The score was set up when Brian Plesner fed the ball to John Yousef from the left corner of the field. Yousef then tapped the ball to Ludwig who got a foot on it through two Irish defenders.
The Scarlet Knights also had another scoring opportunity at the 35:48 mark of the contest, but that apparent goal was disallowed because of an offsides call.
Notre Dame outshot the Rutgers in the game 16-8, but Jon Conway, who recorded his sixth shutout of the season, came up with six saves. Gerick Short (Mobile, Ala.) had three saves in the game.
Notre Dame is on the road for two straight games next week. The Irish return to action on Wednesday, October 20 when they travel to Rutgers for a 7:00 p.m. contest.
Rutgers (8-3-3, 6-0-2) 1 0 -- 1Notre Dame (8-5-2, 4-2-1) 0 0 -- 0
SCORING: Rutgers: Dennis Ludwig (Plesner, Youssef)
SHOTS: Notre Dame 16, Rutgers 8
CORNER KICKS: Notre Dame 1, Rutgers 0
FOULS: Notre Dame 12, Rutgers 9
GOALIE SAVES: Notre Dame – Gerick Short (3), Rutgers – Jon Conway (6)