Aug. 31, 2014
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A top-10 showdown between former conference foes ended deadlocked as the No. 1 University of Notre Dame men’s soccer team drew with No. 9 Georgetown, 0-0, on Sunday afternoon in the second and final day of the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
Notre Dame and Indiana finished as co-champions of the tournament after both teams posted 1-0-1 records and all tiebreakers were even. It’s the third straight IU Classic title for the Fighting Irish, who won the event outright each of the last two seasons. Georgetown finished third, while Marquette was fourth. Notre Dame topped No. 12 Marquette, 2-1, in Friday’s tournament opener, while Indiana and Georgetown played to a 1-1 draw in the second match of the evening. The Hoosiers topped Marquette, 1-0, in Sunday’s final game.
“This was a hard-fought game between two very, very good teams,” Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark said following Sunday’s affair with the Hoyas. “I knew we had to play very well to control the game and I thought we did. But as we talked about, you can’t keep a good team out of it the whole time.”
The game’s first shot on goal didn’t occur until the 34th minute when Irish midfielder Patrick Hodan weaved his way around the Georgetown defense and found forward Jon Gallagher who rifled an attempt from 17 yards out that Hoya goalkeeper Tomas Gomez saved.
Georgetown’s initial opportunity of the contest came in the 38th minute when Alex Muyl headed a corner kick that hit the left post.
Hodan placed a 20-yard shot on frame in the opening minutes of the second half that a diving Gomez sent away. Notre Dame goalkeeper Patrick Wall made a huge save in the 57th minute when he denied Georgetown’s Brandon Allen who sent a point-blank shot on goal from eight yards out after receiving a centering pass from Muyl.
Notre Dame (1-0-1) midfielder Connor Klekota had a good look on frame from near the top of the penalty box in the 69th minute but Gomez punched the shot away. Gomez had two key stops in the 88th minute. The first came off a Hodan shot and then he knocked out Klekota’s follow-up attempt.
It was Wall’s turn for heroics in overtime as he cleared away a close-range Hoya shot in the 96th minute and the rebound attempt from Austin Martz sailed wide right. A minute later, Wall saved a Brett Campbell header. The fifth-year senior finished with three saves on the day to collect the 14th shutout of his Fighting Irish career.
Notre Dame’s best chance of the second overtime period came off the foot of Klekota, who put his shot just wide of the far post in the 105th minute. That would be the last solid opportunity for either of the two squads that were in the BIG EAST Conference together from 1995-2012.
The Irish held a commanding 23-9 advantage in shots, including an 8-3 edge in shots on goal. Klekota and Hodan both had a game-high two shots on frame. Gomez had seven saves for the Hoyas and Georgetown also had one team stop. Notre Dame attempted nine corner kicks, while Georgetown (0-0-2) had eight.
“Their goalie had a lot of good saves,” Clark said. “I felt we dominated the majority of the game, but they could have won that game as well. The game could have easily been 3-3. It was very exciting and I thought it was a great example of what good college soccer is all about. That’s a compliment to Brian Wiese’s Georgetown team and also to our own players.”
The Fighting Irish will play host to the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament next weekend. Indiana will take on Kentucky in Friday’s first match (5 p.m. ET) followed by Notre Dame against Dartmouth at approximately 7:30 p.m. The tournament will conclude on Sunday with Indiana versus Dartmouth at 11:30 a.m. and Notre Dame versus Kentucky at 2 p.m.
adidas/IU Credit Union Classic
August 31, 2014
Bill Armstrong Stadium – Bloomington, Ind.
#9 Georgetown (0-0-2) 0 0 0 0 – 0
#1 Notre Dame (1-0-1) 0 0 0 0 – 0
2014 adidas/IU Credit Union Classic
Notre Dame/Indiana – Co-Champions (1-0-1)
Georgetown (0-0-2)
Marquette (0-2-0)
All-Tournament Team
Nick Besler – M – Notre Dame
Patrick Wall – GK – Notre Dame
Brandon Aubrey – D – Notre Dame
Patrick Hodan – M – Notre Dame
Colin Webb – GK – Indiana
Grant Lillard – D – Indiana
Tanner Thompson – M – Indiana
Femi Hollinger-Janzen – M – Indiana
Alex Muyl – F- Georgetown
Joshua Yaro – D – Georgetown
C. Nortey – F – Marquette
John Pothast – D – Marquette
— Sean Carroll, Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director
–ND–