Sept. 29, 2000
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s soccer team dropped its third straight BIG EAST home outing as the Irish dropped a 3-2 victory to 15th-ranked Pittsburgh in a come-from-behind second-half victory. Spencer Barton scored all three goals for the visitors for the Panthers in leading them to their eighth win in nine outings.
Notre Dame suffered its third straight setback at home (all in BIG EAST play) and lost for the fourth time in five home outings this season. With the loss, the Irish fall to 3-5-1 overall and 1-4 in BIG EAST play, while Pittsburgh improves to 8-1 and 4-1 in the conference.
Pittsburgh wasted little time getting on the scoreboard when Barton netted his first goal 5:39 into the contest as his 20-foot shot from the right side of the field drifted over Irish goalkeeper Greg Tait (Fayetteville, N.Y.).
Sophomore Erich Braun (Frankfurt, German) knotted the game at 1-1 7:22 into the second half then he scored his first goal of the season on an assist from Stephen Maio (Aurora, Ontario). Braun, who led the Irish in scoring last season with nine goals and six assists, was hampered at the start of the season with a hamstring injury.
The goal proved to give Notre Dame momentum. Just over a minute after Braun’s score, Griffin Howard (San Diego, Calif.) scored his fourth goal of the season when he blasted a shot from the top of the box off of an assist from freshman Chad Riley (Houston, Texas) at the 53:27 mark.
Pittsburgh countered 3:08 later when Barton maneuvered the ball from the right side of the box past a sliding Tate who had come out of the goal area to challenge the shot. Barton tallied the go-ahead goal at the 78:33 mark off assists from Chad Porter and Mark Sikora.
The three goals were the most allowed by the Irish. Notre Dame entered the contest having allowed just eight goals in the first eight games of the season.
The Irish conclude their five-game homestand on Tues., Oct. 3 at 7:00 p.m. when they play host to Northwestern in a non-conference test.
Connecticut (8-1-0, 4-1-0) 1 2 -- 3Notre Dame (3-5-1, 1-4-0) 0 2 -- 2
SCORING: Pittsburgh: Spencer Barton (Chad Porter), 5:39, Notre Dame: Erich Braun (Stephen Maio, 50:22, Notre Dame: Griffin Howard (Chad Riley), Pittsburgh: Spencer Barton, 56:35, Pittsburgh: Spencer Barton (Chad Porter, Mark Sikor), SHOTS: Notre Dame15, Pittsburgh 8, CORNER KICKS: Notre Dame 7, Pittsburgh 2, FOULS: Notre Dame 17, Pittsburgh 21, GOALIE SAVES: Notre Dame 2 (Greg Tait – 3), Pittsburgh 3 (Justin Gaul – 3)