Oct. 5, 2005
Milwaukee, Wis. – The Fighting Irish men’s soccer team claimed a 1-0 victory over Marquette in BIG EAST play on Wednesday night at Valley Fields. A goal in the 40th minute from junior forward Justin McGeeney (Ames, Iowa/Ames) and a solid defensive effort, which kept Marquette off the scoreboard, gave Notre Dame the victory. Irish goalkeeper Chris Cahill (Louisville, Ky./DeSales) stopped two shots to earn his fifth shutout of the season.
Notre Dame (7-3-1, 3-2-1 BIG EAST) held a 10-7 advantage on shots over the Golden Eagles. With Marquette playing a solid defensive match, the Irish capitalized on one of their few quality chances. Junior midfielder Ian Etherington (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) took the ball in the corner and played with it until finding a seam between a pair of Marquette defenders before placing the ball in front of the goal and McGeeney landed a head on it and sent it into the net. That was the junior’s third goal of the season.
“I’m very happy with how we played,” stated Irish head coach Bobby Clark. “Our central defenders, Benny (Crouse) and Dale (Rellas), played a fantastic game. It was a good goal. Ian (Etherington) sent a great, fast, hard cross to Justin (McGeeney), who got a head on it and sent it to the top corner.”
McGeeney and Etherington now have six points apiece, which ties them for third on the team. Cahill’s shutout lowers his season’s goals-against-average to 0.87. Marquette (4-5-1, 1-4-1 BIG EAST) goalkeeper Andy Kroll collected three saves on the night.
Play throughout the contest was relatively consistent from both sides until the final few minutes of the contest, when Marquette had to press forward. Notre Dame created some counter attacks, but the Golden Eagles kept the contest within one goal.
“We did a lot of things well, but it still wasn’t perfect,” Clark stated following the match. “Marquette is a very well organized and competitive team. They don’t lose a lot of goals. But we handled the end of the game better than we have over the past couple of matches. This sets up things well for our game with UConn.”
The Fighting Irish will now have a home showdown with conference-rival Connecticut this Saturday, Oct. 8 at 7:00 p.m. (CT) at Alumni Field. Stay up-to-date on the Notre Dame men’s soccer team by logging on to und.com or by calling the Notre Dame Athletics Hotline at (574) 631-3000.
Notre Dame 1 0 – 1
Marquette 0 0 – 0
ND: Justin McGeeney (Ian Etherington) 39:29
Shots: ND 4-6 – 10, MU 3-4 – 7
Corner Kicks: ND 1-5 – 6, MU 1-2 – 3
Saves: ND 2 (Chris Cahill 2), MU 3 (Andy Kroll 3)
Fouls: ND 8, MU 12
Offsides: ND 0, MU 3
-ND–