Oct. 14, 2011
Saturday, Oct. 15 – 1:00 p.m. (ET)
North Kehoe Field – Washington, D.C.
#11 NOTRE DAME (5-3-4, 1-2-1)
vs.
#20 GEORGETOWN (8-2-3, 2-1-0)
Notre Dame Leads Series 12-7-2
LIVE STATS:
Gametracker on UND.com
UPDATES:
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SETTING THE STAGE
– Notre Dame (5-3-4, 1-2-1) will travel to the nation’s capital to face Georgetown (8-2-3, 3-1-0) in a BIG EAST Blue Division clash on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. (ET) at North Kehoe Field. – Live stats via Gametracker will be available on UND.com. Fans can also sign up for `Irish Alert’ on UND.com to receive text message score updates.
IRISH ITEMS
– Notre Dame fell at Marquette, 1-0, on Wednesday night. The loss was Notre Dame’s first regulation setback of the season. The other two losses occurred in double-overtime. – The Fighting Irish are averaging 1.25 goals per game, while they are allowing 0.92 per contest. Notre Dame has posted four shutouts this season, while the Irish have been held without a goal three times. – Junior forward Ryan Finley has a team-high four goals, while senior midfielder Adam Mena leads the Irish in points (10) and assists (4). – Senior Will Walsh has played every minute in goal so far this season. He has four shutouts and boasts a 0.83 goals-against average to go along with a .814 save percentage. He has eight clean sheets in 19 career starts.
SERIES HISTORY AGAINST GEORGETOWN
– Saturday will be the 22nd meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Georgetown. The Fighting Irish own a 12-7-2 advantage in the series. Notre Dame and Georgetown have met 19 times as members of the BIG EAST Conference. The Irish are 11-7-1 in those contests. – Notre Dame has won the last three meetings against Georgetown and the Irish are 4-0-1 in the last five encounters with the Hoyas. – Georgetown’s last win against Notre Dame was a 1-0 decision during the 2005 campaign in Washington, D.C. – The Irish are 3-4-1 all-time at Georgetown. Notre Dame claimed a 2-1 overtime victory during the last showdown in Washington, D.C., which occurred during the 2009 campaign. – Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark is 8-3-1 against the Hoyas.
A LOOK AT THE HOYAS
– Georgetown is 8-2-3 this season. The Hoyas currently are in third place in the BIG EAST Blue Division with a 3-1-0 conference record. – Georgetown is averaging 1.54 goals per game, while allowing 0.62 per contest. The Hoyas have posted six shutouts, while they have been blanked three times. – Sophomore midfielder Steve Neumann leads the team in goals (7), assists (6) and points (20). Freshman Tomas Gomez is 8-2-2 in goal. Gomez has a 0.55 goals-against average and a .868 save percentage to go along with six shutouts. – Georgetown won the BIG EAST Blue Division last season with a 7-2-0 league record. The Hoyas were 12-6-2 overall last season. Georgetown was eliminated by North Carolina in the second round of the 2010 NCAA Championship in penalty kicks (5-4) following a scoreless draw. – Head coach Brian Wiese is in his sixth season at the helm of the Hoya program.
COACHING CONNECTION
– Georgetown head coach Brian Wiese spent five seasons (2001-05) at Notre Dame as an assistant coach for Bobby Clark before moving on to lead the Hoya program. Wiese also spent five years as an assistant under Clark at Stanford before the duo came to Notre Dame.
THE LAST TIME
– Notre Dame topped Georgetown, 3-0, in the 2010 regular-season finale at Alumni Stadium. Steven Perry gave the Irish a 2-0 lead with goals in the 55th and 57th minute. Dillon Powers netted the final Irish score in the 76th minute. Brendan King assisted on all three tallies, while Aaron Maund notched an assist on the Powers goal.
QUOTING CLARK
– Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark shares his thoughts on the Georgetown match … “It’ll take a solid performance from us to get a result against Georgetown. We’ll need to be focused and ready and I think we will be. Georgetown won the league last year and they are off to a very good start this season so this will certainly be a tough game, but as we know there are no easy games in the BIG EAST. We look forward to the challenge and hope to bring a positive result out of the game.”
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
– Seven of Notre Dame’s 12 games this season have been decided by one goal. The Fighting Irish are 4-3 in those contests. All but one Irish match this season has been decided by one goal or ended in a tie.
WORKING OVERTIME
– Notre Dame has played seven overtime games this season. The Irish are 1-2-4 in those matches. – Two of Notre Dame’s three losses have occurred in double-overtime. The Irish fell to Saint Louis (104th minute) and St. John’s (110th minute) by identical 2-1 scores.
STRONG STARTS
– Notre Dame holds an 8-2 scoring edge in the first half of play this season. – The Fighting Irish have scored the first goal in seven of their 12 matches this season (two of their games have been scoreless draws). – The Irish have only trailed once at halftime this season (Marquette, 1-0).
SUCCESS ON THE STAT SHEET
– The Irish have a 79-60 advantage in shots on goal over their opponents this season. – The Fighting Irish have gained 21 more corner kicks (75-54) than their opponents.
ROSE RETURNS
– Senior midfielder Michael Rose made his season debut in the Connecticut match last Saturday. Rose missed the first 10 games of the season as he was recovering from a knee injury suffered in the spring. – Rose has appeared in 35 career matches, totaling nine points on two goals and five assists.
UP NEXT
– Notre Dame returns home to face BIG EAST Blue Division foe Seton Hall on Wednesday. Kickoff between the Fighting Irish and Pirates is slated for 7:00 p.m. (ET) at Alumni Stadium.
BLANKING THE BEST
– Three of Notre Dame’s four shutouts this season have occurred against teams currently ranked in the top 15 of the Soccer America poll. The Irish blanked current No. 1 Connecticut, 0-0, last Saturday. Notre Dame posted a clean sheet against No. 9 Louisville in a 1-0 victory (Sept. 24). The Fighting Irish played No. 15 Indiana to a scoreless draw in the season opener (Aug. 27).
IRISH DEFENSE RECOGNIZED
– Notre Dame has produced two BIG EAST Defensive Players of the Week this season. Junior central defender Grant Van De Casteele earned the honor on Sept. 19, while senior left back Greg Klazura received the accolade on Sept. 26. Klazura also was named to the Soccer America national team of the week. – Central defender Aaron Maund was named to the Top Drawer Soccer national team of the week on Sept. 26, while senior goalkeeper Will Walsh has been selected to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll twice this season (Aug. 29 & Sept. 26).
GUARDING THE GOAL
– Notre Dame has allowed just 30 goals over the past two seasons, a span of 32 matches. The Fighting Irish allowed just 19 goals all of last season and they have given up 11 so far this season. – The Irish have not surrendered more than two goals in a single match since a 3-1 loss at Northwestern in the second round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament.
MENA ON A MISSION
– Senior midfielder Adam Mena has had a hand in six of Notre Dame’s last seven goals. Mena has a team-high 10 points on three goals and four assists. The point, goal and assists totals all are career-high figures.
SPREADING THE WEALTH
– Notre Dame’s 15 goals this season have come from eight different players. Junior forward Ryan Finley has a team-high four goals and senior midfielder Adam Mena has three tallies. Danny O’Leary (Jr./F) and Harrison Shipp (So./F) both have two goals, while four Irish players have one goal apiece.
NOTRE DAME IN BIG EAST PLAY
– Notre Dame owns an overall record of 98-57-19 (.618) in BIG EAST regular-season play since joining the conference in 1995. The Irish have posted 10 straight winning campaigns within the league, including last season’s 6-2-1 mark. – The most wins for Notre Dame in BIG EAST play is eight, which occurred in 2004 (8-1-1), 2006 (8-3) and 2009 (8-3). – The Irish have three regular-season BIG EAST titles. Notre Dame won the championship outright in 2004 and 2008 (Blue Division) and shared the Blue Division trophy with Connecticut in 2007. The Fighting Irish captured BIG EAST tournament crowns in 1996 and 2003.
HOME SWEET HOME
– Notre Dame is 11-2-5 at home over the past two seasons, including a 3-0-4 mark this season. The Irish are 7-0-1 in their last eight BIG EAST regular-season home matches. Notre Dame was 5-0-0 in league play at home last season.
KLAZURA A LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD FINALIST
– Greg Klazura has been named one of 10 finalists up for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in the men’s soccer division. – To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – community, classroom, character and competition. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. – Klazura graduated in May with a Bachelor of Science degree in pre-professional studies (pre-med). He finished his undergraduate career with a 3.583 cumulative grade-point average. He currently is taking courses that emphasize service and or medicine to boost his resume for medical school. Klazura was named to the 2010 National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) Scholar All-Region first team. He also is a two-time BIG EAST Academic All-Star (2009 & 2010).
IRISH HAVE A MAINSTAY IN MAUND
– Senior defender Aaron Maund has started all 71 matches in which he has played during his Notre Dame career. The only five games he has missed was during his sophomore campaign in 2009 when he was with the United States Under-20 National Team at the U-20 World Cup in Egypt. He has started all 45 matches with the Irish since returning from the international competition. He played every possible minute on the pitch during the 2008 and 2010 campaigns and he has not left a match this season.
CLARK MOVES TO TOP OF PROGRAM WINS LIST
– Notre Dame’s 2-1 victory over Bucknell on Sept. 11 gave Irish head coach Bobby Clark the most wins in program history. Clark, who is in his 11th season on the Notre Dame sidelines, has a 132-62-34 (.654) record with the Irish. He moved past Rich Hunter, who was Notre Dame’s first varsity head coach from 1977-83.
QUITE A CROWD
– A sellout crowd of over 3,000 fans attended Notre Dame’s season opener against Indiana on Aug. 27. That is a record attendance for a men’s contest at Alumni Stadium, which opened in 2009. It was Notre Dame’s largest crowd for a regular-season match since Sept. 22, 1995 when 3,339 fans came to see the Irish and Hoosiers at old Alumni Field. – The Fighting Irish are averaging 1,750 fans per home game this season.
SUSTAINED SUCCESS
– Since Bobby Clark took over the reins of the Notre Dame program in 2001, the Irish have won at least 10 matches during all 10 seasons of the Clark era. The Fighting Irish have qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each of the past 10 seasons. That streak ranks in a tie for fifth nationally. – Notre Dame is the only team in the BIG EAST to finish in the top two of either division standings in each of the past four seasons. The Fighting Irish also are the only BIG EAST squad to qualify for the semifinals in each of the past four league tournaments.
TRIO OF IRISH PLAYERS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS
– Ryan Finley (Jr./F), Aaron Maund (Sr./D) and Dillon Powers (Jr./M) all received preseason All-America honors. Finley and Maund copped the accolades from College Soccer News, while Maund and Powers were tabbed by Soccer America.
CAPTAINS
– Greg Klazura (Sr./D), Aaron Maund (Sr./D) and Dillon Powers (Jr./M) are serving as first-time team captains for the Fighting Irish during the 2011 campaign.
ROOKIE RANKINGS
– Notre Dame’s 2011 freshman class was selected as the 14th best rookie class in the nation according to College Soccer News. The five-man class features four high school All-Americans. Comprising the class are: midfielder/defender Nick Besler (Overland Park, Kan.), forward Vince Cicciarelli (Peoria, Ill.), midfielder Robby Gallegos (Aptos, Calif.), midfielder/forward Max Lachowecki (Evansville, Ind.) and midfielder Brendan Lesch (Westport, Conn.).
A GREAT NIGHT FOR GRASSROOT
– Notre Dame held its annual exhibition game to benefit Grassroot Soccer on Aug. 22. A total of 2,444 fans packed into Alumni Stadium to watch the Irish play Creighton to a 2-2 draw. All of the proceeds from the match went to Grassroot Soccer, an international AIDS awareness and education organization that reaches youth in Africa through soccer clinics. Dr. Tommy Clark, the eldest son of Irish head coach Bobby Clark, is the founder and CEO of Grassroot Soccer. Notre Dame has held a match to benefit Grassroot Soccer in each of the past eight seasons.
FOLLOW THE IRISH ON UND.COM
– All 2011 Notre Dame home matches that are not televised can be seen live on UND.com. The streaming broadcasts are free of charge. Log on to UND.com to stay up to date on the Fighting Irish men’s soccer team throughout the 2011 campaign.
PURCHASE YOUR IRISH SOCCER TICKETS
– To purchase a season pass or single-game tickets for Fighting Irish soccer, call the Murnane Family Athletics Ticket Office at (574) 631-7356, visit the tickets page at the official Notre Dame athletics web site, UND.com (UND.com/tickets) or stop by the Murnane Family Athletics Ticket Office windows inside the new Rosenthal Atrium at Purcell Pavilion (entrance via Gate 9). Tickets also can be purchased at Alumni Stadium on gamedays. For group discount pricing information call Rita Baxter in the Notre Dame Ticket Office at (574) 631-4165.