Sept. 15, 2002
Notre Dame, Ind. – Junior Greg Martin’s (Plano, Texas) goal with 2:31 left in the second overtime session lifted the fifth-ranked Notre Dame men’s soccer team to a 2-1 victory over seventh-ranked Furman in the final game of the Mike Berticelli Memorial Soccer Tournament.
Martin scored from five yards out following Chad Riley (Houston, Texas) corner kick from the left corner of the net and Rafael Garcia’s (Palmdale, Calif.) right-footed flick back to Riley.
The win for the Irish avenged last year’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Paladins as the Irish improved to 3-0-2 on the season. With the loss, Furman fell to 3-1-1.
The final Irish score and ending to the game capped a rather bizarre series of events over the final 20 minutes of the contest. The game was scoreless up until the 88:30 mark of the contest when Riley’s direct kick into the corner of the net was the first score of the game and his first goal of the season.
Furman, playing a man-down when Sergei Raad was issued a red card in the 71st minute of the contest, came right back when Kenneth Penn knocked in a shot from the top of the box off of Ricardo Clark’s corner kick.
Notre Dame dominated the Paladins in the second half of play, limiting Furman to just three shot in the second half and none in the two overtime periods. The Irish had a 7-6 shot advantage in the first half and outshot the Paladins 20-9 for the game. Notre Dame shutdown Furman offensively and held them to just three shot in the second half and none in the two overtime sessions. The Irish were extremely aggressive offensively and had three shots in each of the two overtime periods. Notre Dame held a slim 8-7 advantage in corner kicks.
Furman goalkeeper John Hanley was outstanding in goal as he finished with 10 saves, while Chris Sawyer (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) made two stops.
In the afternoon’s first game of the tournament, 24th-ranked Bradley defeated Cornell 3-0 behind two goals from Ryan Radschke. The Braves did not allow a goal in the two contests over the weekend after battling Furman to a 0-0 deadlock on Friday night.
Bradley goalkeeper Chris Dunsheath was named the tournament’s MVP. Joining him on the all-tournament team were Tim Regan (Bradley), Ryan Radschke (Bradley), Ryan Halcrow (Bradley), Kevin Goldthwaite (Notre Dame), Justin Ratcliffe (Notre Dame), Devon Prescod (Notre Dame), Kenneth Penn (Furman), Gray Griffin (Furman), Doug Allan (Cornell) and Scott Palguta (Cornell).
Notre Dame returns to action on Thur., Sept. 19 at 7:00 p.m. when it travels to Peoria, Ill., to face the Bradley Braves.
SCORING: ND: Chad Riley, 88:30; FU: Kenneth Penn (Ricardo Clark), 89:26; ND: Greg Martin (Chad Riley, Rafael Garcia), 107:29.
GAME STATISTICS: Shots: Notre Dame 20, Furman 9; Saves: Notre Dame 2 (Chris Sawyer – 2), Furman 10 (John Hanley – 10); Fouls: Notre Dame 18, Furman 21; Corner Kicks: Notre Dame 8, Furman 7