BERKELEY, Calif. — The Notre Dame men’s soccer team picked up three points on the road with a 2-0 win over Cal at Edwards Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The victory moves Notre Dame’s record to 7-3-5 on the season and 3-2-2 in ACC play.
Matthew Roou continued his impressive form, scoring his ACC-best 13th goal of the season and added an assist. Nolan Spicer also found the back of the net, scoring his third goal of the 2024 campaign.
The Irish defense appears to be finding its form, recording its second straight clean sheet. Goalkeeper Collin Travasos improves to 3-0-0 on the year, with this one extra meaningful coming against the team he spent his undergrad years playing for.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish and Bears exchanged half chances in the opening stages of play before Notre Dame found the breakthrough in the 32nd minute.
Bryce Boneau broke the Cal line with a ball down the right flank to KK Baffour, who won a duel and then slid a pass back to Roou, who buried his finish inside the far post to put the Irish up 1-0.
The Irish got into another dangerous position in the 43rd minute that ended with a shot from Boneau getting blocked, which was the last decent chance of the half as Notre Dame took the 1-0 lead into the break.
After getting stuck in on defense for the first 30 minutes of the second half the Irish doubled their lead in the 78th minute.
Roou collected a loose ball in the box and played a perfect pass between two Cal defenders to Spicer, who tapped into an open net for his third goal of the season to put the Irish on top 2-0.
The Irish defense locked down Cal for the remaining 12 minutes of play, not allowing the hosts to generate any real goal scoring threats en route to the 2-0 victory.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the match…
“Really proud of the team today. We talked about determination and they showed it. Cal is an excellent team that is very difficult to play against. They make you defend all game with their direct play and the guys were excellent in dealing with it. We put together some excellent attacks and it is nice to get the win and a shutout.”
UP NEXT
Notre Dame will close out the regular season on the road with a matchup against No. 10 Duke at Koskinen Stadium in Durham at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 11. The match will air on ACCNX.
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