SOUTH BEND, Ind. — With the final minutes of the second overtime counting down, Dawson McCartney hit a one-time effort with his left foot from 35-yards out past a diving Pitt defender and inside the post to give the Irish a huge ACC win over No. 7/8 Pitt on Saturday evening at Alumni Stadium.
McCartney’s 106th minute goal was the difference between the two sides, as the Irish came away with the 1-0 win, which places Notre Dame in first place in the ACC table.
The Irish defense put in an impressive shift, recording its third straight clean sheet. The shutout marked the first match all season that Pitt failed to score.
Notre Dame is now 8-4-1 on the season, including a record of 4-1-1 in ACC play. The Irish have 13 points in the ACC and sit atop the Coastal Division table following the win.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Pitt controlled possession in the opening stages of play but the Irish defense was able to put out all the fires in its defensive half to keep the contest scoreless.
Notre Dame’s attack managed to grow into the game, as it started to have more of the ball and create opportunities. The best scoring chance for the Irish in the opening 45 minutes of action came off a corner, as Mohamed Omar worked free in the box but was unable to put his header on frame.
The Irish came out of the second half on the front foot and looked the more likely side to score over the final 45 minutes of regulation. Notre Dame had two set piece chances that both ended just wide of the far post.
Then in the 87th minute Jack Lynn managed to beat his man to the end line and sent in a cross which connected with Matthew Roou but the freshman’s shot was blocked out of play by a sliding Panther defender.
It was all Irish in the two overtime sessions, as Notre Dame nearly grabbed the winner in the first minute of the first overtime period. Roou dispossessed a Pitt center back and saw his shot go just wide of the frame.
Notre Dame kept applying pressure and pouring forward, leading to McCartney’s golden goal which gave the Irish the victory and extended the winning streak to five matches.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the performance…
“Obviously thrilled to get a good result against a good team in Pitt. Again we were a little tentative to start the game but we grew into it throughout the first half. I still think we created some dangerous chances in the first half. In the second half and overtimes I thought we took over the game and were unfortunate not to win it in regulation.”
On the clean sheet…
“We are doing the little things right. The center backs, Philip [Quinton] and Josh [Ramsey] did tremendous and both full backs did a great job. Our goalkeeper was very effective with putting out little fires and it was a team performance. The amount of guys that came in and contributed was awesome and we are nothing if we are not a team.”
On attacking threats in the overtime sessions…
“I thought they were great. I thought Matt Roou was going to win it right away in the first overtime. He did a great job of stripping their center back and was a little unlucky not to put the ball in the back of the net.”