Sept. 9, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The 17th-ranked Notre Dame men’s soccer team improved to 2-1-0 on the season with a 1-0 victory over Boston University (1-2-0) in the Mike Berticelli Memorial on Friday night at Alumni Field. Junior midfielder Nate Norman (Rochester, Mich./Rochester Adams) tallied the game-winner in the 73rd minute on a feed from freshman forward Bright Dike (Edmond, Okla./Edmond North).
The first half was a struggle for both sides, as neither team could put together a sustained attack. The Irish came out strong in the second half and started to hammer the goal with shots that just could not find the back of the net. In the 31st minute, forward Justin McGeeney (Ames, Iowa/Ames) took a pass from Ian Etherington (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) inside the 18-yard box and aimed for the right side of the goal, yet Boston University goalkeeper, Chad Comroe, made a diving save.
“Boston University came to play today,” said Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. “They put us under a lot of pressure in the first half but our team came together and was relentless. We kept pushing forward and we had several close off-sides calls go against us.”
Another Irish scoring chance nearly came to fruition as forward Joe Lapira (Lake Charles, La./Saint Louis Catholic) sent a blast on goal, yet it would sail wide right with 29:13 left to play in the second half. In the 19th minute, Norman nailed a ball from 22-yards out that hit off the left post and the rebound could not be placed in the net and the score remained knotted at zero.
Notre Dame would finally breakthrough less than a minute later when Dike fed the ball to Norman, who dribbled around two defenders and sent the shot into the right side of the net past Comroe from 14-yards away. It was Norman’s second goal of the 2005 campaign and he now leads the team with four points, while the assist was the first point of Dike’s young Irish career.
Boston University nearly capitalized on a corner kick with just under two minutes left to play, yet a Terrier foul in the goalkeeper box put a halt to the sequence. Notre Dame junior goalkeeper Chris Cahill (Louisville, Ky./St. Francis DeSales) survived the close call and would go on to collect his first collegiate shutout as he turned away two Terrier shots on the night.
“I thought it was an excellent game,” Clark commented. “It was a good performance by both teams and you have to give a lot of credit to BU, they made us play until the last second. It was a phenomenal goal by Nate Norman from a good layoff by Bright Dike. And it was also nice to see Cahill get his first shutout.”
The top-ranked Indiana Hoosiers (2-0-1) played Saint Louis (1-1-1) to a 1-1 draw in Friday’s opener of the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament. Indiana will square off against Boston University Sunday at 11:30 a.m., while the Irish will take to the pitch at Alumni Field against the Billikens of Saint Louis at approximately 2:00 p.m.
Stay up-to-date on the Notre Dame men’s soccer team by logging on to und.com or by calling the Notre Dame Athletics Hotline at (574) 631-3000.
Boston University 0 0 – 0
#17 Notre Dame 0 1 – 1
ND: Nate Norman (Bright Dike) 72:39.
Shots: BU 5-4 – 9, ND 4-8 – 12
Corner Kicks: BU 2-2 – 4, ND 3-2 – 5
Saves: BU 3 (Chad Comroe 3), ND 2 (Chris Cahill 2)
Fouls: BU 11, ND 10
Offsides: BU 4, ND 7
-ND–