SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 20 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (4-1-2, 1-0-0) finished with a dominant 4-0 win over the Detroit Mercy Titans (1-6-1, 0-2-0) on Tuesday evening at Alumni Stadium. The Irish have now won four straight matches and remain undefeated at Alumni Stadium this season.
The Irish finished the night with four different goal scorers. Tristan Tropeano would put the Irish in front in just the first minute of play as the freshman forward scored his third goal of the season.
Senior Nico Bartlett and freshman Evan Lim would each score a goal in the win, which were their first goals of the season for the Irish. The win was capped off with a goal from fifth year defender Vlad Walent, who has now scored three goals this season.
Blake Kelly finished the night with a save and recorded his second clean sheet of the season.
The Irish wasted no time as they were on the board in just 41 seconds. Battling for possession, Tropeano recovered the ball and traveled through the middle of Notre Dame’s attacking third until he fired it past the keeper for an early 1-0 advantage in the 1st minute.
Michael Capretto had a great opportunity shortly after in the seventh minute as he fired from the right side of the box towards the far post, but was stopped by the Titans goalkeeper.
Notre Dame struck again in the 38th minute as Nate Zimmermann found Barlett on the left side of the box, where his right-footed strike found the back of the net to put the Irish up 2-0.
Notre Dame would soon extend their lead to 3-0 in the 47th minute as the Titans were looking to clear an Irish corner kick. The pass however, was stopped by the foot of Lim as it then soared past the Titans goalkeeper and found the back of the net for Lim’s first goal of the season.
In the 59th minute, the Irish would score goal number four on the night as a deflection from Stevie Dunphy gave Walent the opportunity on the left side of the box. Walent fired it between the near post and the diving goalkeeper for his third goal of the season.
Due to inclement weather in the area, play was suspended in the 71st minute, which resulted in an official final score of 4-0.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the match…
“I’m proud of the team tonight. While the scoreline might make the game look easy, it certainly wasn’t. Detroit is a well-coached team, and while we were able to score some goals, they made us earn every one of them. We’ve talked a lot as a team about sustaining excellence—not just throughout a game, but from game to game—and I thought we took another step in that direction tonight. I was especially pleased with the leadership we got from our captains and seniors. They did an excellent job setting the standard and keeping the group focused throughout the match.”
UP NEXT
The Irish resume ACC play this Sunday, Sept 20 as they take on the Stanford Cardinal on the west coast at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. PT).