Oct. 7, 2014
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – A hat trick from Colin McAtee propelled Michigan to a 3-2 win over the sixth-ranked University of Notre Dame men’s soccer team on Tuesday evening at the U-M Soccer Stadium.
Notre Dame (5-3-2) fell behind 2-0 in the 22nd minute, but responded with goals from Jeffrey Farina and Patrick Hodan just over four minutes apart in the second half. McAtee completed his hat trick in the 83rd minute as he headed in Michigan’s 20th corner kick of the evening for the game winner.
“We showed a lot of character coming back after going down 2-0,” Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark said. “It was disappointing that we lost two goals within two minutes. That was a blow. I felt the team responded well in the second half. When we got it back to 2-2 I felt we had a great chance on a shot by Patrick Hodan. If that would have gone in I think we would have won the game. It was a battle and we struggled a bit handling their direct play. We must take a lot of heart out of how we played in the second period.”
Michigan (3-5-2) won the possession battle early in the match and that resulted in multiple corner kicks for the Wolverines. The set pieces paid off for the hosts in the 21st minute when a Tyler Anderson corner kick was headed in by McAtee. McAtee gave Michigan a 2-0 lead less than a minute later when he scored from eight yards out off of assists from Tyler Arnone and Will Mellors-Blair.
The Fighting Irish started to create some chances towards the later stages of the opening half. Irish forward Leon Brown had his deep blast sail just over the crossbar in the 30th minute and Notre Dame’s first attempt on goal came in the 36th minute when Hodan ripped a shot from the top of the penalty box that was saved by a diving Evan Louro.
Notre Dame goalkeeper Patrick Wall saved a James Murphy shot in the final minutes of the first half. Wall finished with four saves on the night, while his counterpart Louro had three stops.
The Irish had an excellent chance in the 55th minute when Brandon Aubrey headed a Connor Klekota corner kick on frame, but Louro was there for the stop. On the opposite end of the pitch, Wall was called upon to save a long-range attempt from Rylee Woods in the 60th minute.
Farina, a freshman forward, sliced the Fighting Irish deficit to one in the 64th minute when he received a pass from his classmate Jon Gallagher inside the penalty box and buried his attempt from 10 yards out. Hodan delivered the equalizer in the 68th minute as he blasted the ball just inside the far post from 20 yards away.
Wall made two key saves just over a minute apart near the 70-minute mark of the match. Louro punched away a deep attempt from Klekota in the 78th minute and the Irish midfielder nearly got a touch on the rebound.
Both teams had 18 shots and Michigan earned 21 corner kicks, while Notre Dame had four.
The Fighting Irish return to Atlantic Coast Conference play Friday when they play host to No. 18 Louisville at Alumni Stadium. The match is slated for 7 p.m. (ET) and can be seen live on WatchND.tv.
Oct. 7, 2014
U-M Soccer Stadium – Ann Arbor, Mich.
#6 Notre Dame (5-3-2) 0 2 – 2
Michigan (3-5-2) 2 1 – 3
Scoring: UM: Colin McAtee (Tyler Anderson) 20:27; UM: Colin McAtee (Tyler Arnone, Will Mellors-Blair) 21:04; ND: Jeffrey Farina (Jon Gallagher) 63:05; ND: Patrick Hodan (unassisted) 67:40; UM: Colin McAtee (Tyler Anderson) 82:45
— Sean Carroll, Assistant Athletic Media Relations Director
–ND–