SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The Irish continued their impressive run of form on Tuesday evening, winning their third straight game with a 4-0 victory over Purdue Fort Wayne at Alumni Stadium.
The Notre Dame goals were scored by Jack Lynn, Daniel Russo, Mohamed Omar and Philip Quinton in the commanding win.
Thomas Deslongchamps recorded his second clean sheet of the season, making two saves to preserve the shutout.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish have had a knack for scoring early goals this season and Tuesday’s contest was no different. Lynn found the back of the net in the fourth minute, running through the Mastodon back line before firing his effort past the keeper for the opener.
Notre Dame nearly doubled its advantage in the 33rd minute but Lynn’s headed goal off a throw-in was ruled out by a foul, giving the Irish a 1-0 lead at the halftime break.
Less than two minutes into the second half the Irish doubled their lead. Russo pounced on a ball in the box and smashed home his finish just inside the six-yard box to make the score 2-0 in favor of Notre Dame.
For the second straight outing Omar made an impact on a corner, rising highest to redirect Dawson McCartney’s excellent service inside the far post to extend the Irish lead to 3-0 in the 70th minute.
Less than 10 minutes later Quinton put the exclamation point on the evening with his second goal of the season off another corner kick for Notre Dame. Ethan O’Brien floated a ball to the back post which Reese Mayer sent back across the face of the goal. Quinton nodded it in to seal the match at 4-0.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the performance…
“Overall we are happy to get a shutout and a victory, that is always the objective. Watching Purdue Fort Wayne we knew it was going to be a tough game and the first half was certainly close. We did a good job of getting the first goal and were a little unfortunate to get the second goal called back. They really tested us at times in the first half.
“At halftime we regrouped well. Great job from our captains and our leaders in our group, we came out focused, determined and positive in the second half and put in a good performance.”
On scoring goals early this season…
“We just want to be aggressive right away. We know we have good attacking players and we want to put them in positions around the goal right away. We want to play the game in the opponent’s half and when you do that you get early goals.”
On scoring two goals off corners…
“We are constantly working on trying to figure out what is right. I think we scored on some second phases of set pieces earlier this season but we kind of hit a dry spell. Coach [Mike] Graczyk and Coach [Jeff] Rowland did a great job brainstorming a couple things to put people in good positions and guys are doing a great job finishing now.”
ND STAT OF THE MATCH
The Irish have won five of their last six matches and have outscored the opposition by a score of 24-4 over that stretch.
NOTES
- Lynn now leads the Irish in goals this season with six and has scored five times in his last five matches.
- The Irish have now scored three or more goals in four matches this season.
- The clean sheet was Notre Dame’s fourth of the season.
- Notre Dame has scored in the opening 10 minutes in five matches during the 2021 campaign.
- Omar’s goal was his third of the season and second in as many matches.
- The clean sheet was Deslongchamp’s second of his career and season.
UP NEXT
The Irish head to South Carolina to take on No. 9 Clemson in an ACC showdown at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 9. The match will air on ACCNX.
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