Irish Fall At #10 Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Notre Dame Fighting Irish (6-5-3, 3-4-0) fell 2-1 on the road to the No. 10 Louisville Cardinals (12-2-1, 4-2-1) on Sunday afternoon.

While the Cardinals would strike first, the Irish countered with an equalizer in the 33rd minute. A late goal from the Cardinals in the 84th minute would ultimately give Louisville the 2-1 advantage.

Senior Nolan Spicer scored his second goal of the season with the assist from freshman Tristan Tropeano. Tropeano leads the Irish with 12 points (5 goals/2 assists) this season.

Holding possession for a majority of the first 20 minutes, the Cardinals would score first as they found the back of the net on their second shot of the day. Scoring on a far-post header, Louisville claimed a 1-0 lead in the 20th minute.

The Irish would have their first look of the day in the 31st minute as Michael Capretto played a beautiful ball into the left side of the box. The cross would find the feet of Brady Hilden, whose shot at the far post was cleared away by the Louisville defense at the last second. 

It wasn’t long, however, before Notre Dame would find the equalizer in the 33rd minute. Tropeano’s shifty footwork would give him an opportunity as he fired it from the right side of the box, but was stopped by the Louisville goalkeeper. The rebound fell to the feet of Spicer, whose open look would find the back of the net to level the score at 1-all.

It was a tied match at halftime, with each team registering three shots a piece.

In search of the go-ahead goal, Notre Dame started to have some chances midway through the second half. The Irish had one of their better chances in the 63rd minute as Spicer attacked into the right side of the box and sent a cutback to Capretto, but just couldn’t connect on the look for a shot opportunity.

Evan Lim had a look in the 67th minute and was followed by Karson Baquero, who won the battle for the ball at the top of the penalty box for a shot opportunity. His left-footed strike to the far post would miss just wide to keep it at an even 1-all in the 72nd minute.

Fighting through contact, Tropeano attacked all the way from the midfield until he was able to get the shot off from the penalty arc in the 76th minute. Firing it off the right foot, his low-driven shot to the center of the goal was saved by the Cardinal goalkeeper, resulting in a Notre Dame corner kick. Spicer would get another opportunity off the corner, but his shot landed high of the target.

On the counterattack in the 77th minute, the Cardinals would get a look in the box, but Will Schroeder would clear it off the line for a big stop.

In the 84th minute, the Cardinals attacked into the box and got another shot off to the near post. While senior goalkeeper Blake Kelly made the save, the rebound would fall to the far post where another the Cardinals were able to tap it in to reclaim the lead.

While the Irish battled for another chance to level the score, Notre Dame would fall 2-1 at No. 10 Louisville.

McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE

On the match…

“I’m pretty gutted for the team right now. I thought we deserved more from this game. Credit to Louisville, they are a very good team. I thought we started a bit timidly, and unfortunately conceded the first goal during that spell. But huge credit to our guys for responding like competitors and scoring a great goal to level the game. I thought we played well in the second half and were unfortunate not to convert a couple of our chances. Louisville found a way through in the 84th minute, and we just didn’t have enough time to respond. I’m proud of the way our guys competed, and I know we will regroup, learn from this, and get better this week.”

UP NEXT

The Irish will host the Duke Blue Devils (7-8-1, 1-5-1) on Friday, Oct. 30 at Alumni Stadium for their final regular season match of the year.