Oct. 16, 2008
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The ninth-ranked Notre Dame men’s soccer team suffered a 3-1 setback at No. 22 Indiana on Thursday night in front of 1,723 fans at Bill Armstrong Stadium. Junior midfielder Michael Thomas (Olathe, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas) netted the lone goal for the Fighting Irish.
Indiana (7-4-2) grabbed the lead in the 24th minute as Kevin Alston scored from 25-yards out. The Hoosiers made it a two-goal advantage three minutes later as Kevin Noschang connected on a 12-yard shot.
Notre Dame (8-4-1) cracked the scoring column in the 38th minute when freshman Brendan King (Naperville, Ill./Edison Academic Center (Fla.)) served the ball into Thomas and the junior midfielder deposited it for his seventh goal of the season. Thomas has notched a point in nine of 13 games on the campaign.
The Hoosiers answered back four minutes later as Andy Adlard scored on an assist from Neil Wilmarth. The Fighting Irish controlled the stat sheet in the first half by out shooting the Hoosiers, 7-6, along with gaining three more corner kicks (5-2).
“I felt like it was a very close game,” said Irish head coach Bobby Clark. “I thought we opened the game as well as we’ve ever opened a game down here at Indiana. All three of their goals were very good. The first one was a heck of a hit and then they came back with another one. Michael Thomas had a fabulous goal to make it 2-1, but before we knew what happened they made it 3-1.”
The Irish nearly sliced into the Hoosier lead in the 64th minute when a Jack Traynor (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) shot hit the crossbar. Notre Dame was never able to cut into the deficit and fell by the 3-1 margin.
“I thought the second half was very even,” added Clark. “We just couldn’t get another goal to make them nervous. There are some positives to take out of this game. I think the experience of playing in front of an atmosphere like this will help us since we have a lot of key road games coming up.”
For the match, Indiana held a slim 15-14 edge in shots, while Notre Dame had a 7-2 advantage in corner kicks. Irish senior Andrew Quinn (Silver Spring, Md./DeMatha) played all 90 minutes in goal and made four saves. Indiana’s Chay Cain picked up the win by collecting two stops.
Both teams were whistled for 18 fouls on the night. A total of five yellow cards were issued.
Notre Dame returns home for a BIG EAST Blue Division showdown with Providence on Sunday, Oct. 19 at 1:00 p.m. (ET) at Alumni Field. The Irish are currently in first place in the Blue Division, while the Friars are tied for second.
#9 Notre Dame (8-4-1) 1 0 – 1
#22 Indiana (7-4-2) 3 0 – 3
IU: Kevin Alston (unassisted) 23:29; IU: Kevin Noschang (unassisted) 26:08; ND: Michael Thomas (Brendan King) 37:10; IU: Andy Adlard (Neil Wilmarth) 41:32
Shots: ND 7-7 – 14, IU 6-9 – 15
Corner Kicks: ND 5-2 – 7, IU 2-0 – 2
Saves: ND 4 (Andrew Quinn 4); IU 2 (Chay Cain 2)
Fouls: ND 18, IU 18
Offsides: ND 1, IU 1