Sept. 29, 2012
STORRS, Conn. – The No. 8 Notre Dame men’s soccer team’s bid to knock off a second top-10 foe in four days came up short as the Irish fell to No. 2 Connecticut, 2-1, in BIG EAST Blue Division play on Saturday night in front of 5,100 fans at Morrone Stadium.
Connecticut (9-0-1, 2-0-0) opened the scoring in the 29th minute on a penalty kick from Carlos Alvarez. The attempt was awarded when Fighting Irish goalkeeper Will Walsh tripped up UConn’s Allando Matheson in the box.
The Huskies grabbed a 2-0 lead in the 36th minute on a tally from Flo Liu, who gained control of a loose ball at the top of the 18-yard box and sent a shot off the crossbar and into the netting. Alvarez assisted on the score.
Connecticut led 2-0 at the intermission. Both teams had four shots on goal and one corner kick in the opening half.
“We were very good tonight in many facets of the game,” said Irish head coach Bobby Clark. “We opened the game very well, but unfortunately we made a couple of errors and they capitalized. The penalty kick was tough because I thought their (Connecticut) guy was going away from the goal. I then thought we had a little bit of a lack of concentration after they scored that goal.”
Notre Dame’s Dillon Powers sliced the Connecticut lead in half less than four minutes into the second stanza. The senior midfielder tucked the ball into the lower left corner of the net for his third goal of the season, which halted Connecticut’s scoreless streak at 437:58. Junior right back Luke Mishu assisted on the tally to record his first point of the season.
Notre Dame (8-2-0, 0-2-0) out shot Connecticut 5-2 in the second half and 11-9 for the match. The Irish also gained two more corner kicks (6-4) than the Huskies. Walsh had four saves for the Irish, while Connecticut’s Andre Blake had six stops.
“I felt we completely controlled the game in the second half,” added Clark. “Full marks to our team for handling themselves well and getting a goal back right away in the second half. Playing games like these on the road in front of big crowds could be very useful to us later on in the season.”
Tonight concluded Notre Dame’s four-game road swing. The Irish went 2-2 during the stretch, which included a 1-0 win at No. 10 Indiana on Wednesday.
Notre Dame will play host to BIG EAST Blue Division foe Pittsburgh at 7 p.m. (ET) on Wednesday at Alumni Stadium.
Morrone Stadium – Storrs, Conn.
September 29, 2012
#8 Notre Dame (8-2-0, 0-2-0) 0 1 – 1
#2 Connecticut (9-0-1, 2-0-0) 2 0 – 2
Scoring: UC: Carlos Alvarez (penalty kick) 28:23; UC: Flo Liu (Carlos Alvarez) 35:25; ND: Dillon Powers (Luke Mishu) 48:26
Shots: ND 6-5 – 11, UC 7-2 – 9
Corner Kicks: ND 1-5 – 6, UC 1-3 – 4
Goalkeepers: ND: Will Walsh – 4 SV, 2 GA, 90:00, L
UC: Andre Blake – 6 SV, 1 GA, 90:00, W
Fouls: ND 8, UC 10
Offsides: ND 4, UC 2
–ND–