Oct. 11, 2005
EAST LANSING, Mich. – Notre Dame and Michigan State played 110 minutes of men’s soccer action on Tuesday afternoon, yet neither team could produce a goal at Old College Field. Both the Irish and the Spartans had scoring opportunities but in the end the defense of both teams held strong. Notre Dame out-shot Michigan State 18-11 on the afternoon and the Irish also held a 6-2 advantage in corner kicks. With the tie, the Fighting Irish move to 7-4-2 overall while the Spartans are now 4-3-5.
“It was a tough game to go grind it out for a 0-0 tie,” commented Irish head coach Bobby Clark following the match. “It was a hard game. The stats looked good from our end and it really could have been a 2-2 game. Both teams missed chances.”
Michigan State had one of the few scoring opportunities in the first half. With 28:30 remaining in the opening half, the ball slipped by the Irish defense and presented a one-on-one chance for the Spartans but a diving save by Irish goalkeeper Chris Cahill (Louisville, Ky./DeSales) put a halt to the chance. Notre Dame would out-shoot Michigan State 6-3 in the half.
The Spartans came out of the intermission with some energy that nearly put them on the board eight minutes into the second half. A shot from the right side was blocked away by a diving Cahill and the dribbling ball would hit the left post before getting cleared out by the Irish.
Possibly Cahill’s best save of the night came with 22:50 left in regulation as Michigan State’s Ryan McMahen sent a shot at a running Cahill, who blocked it, but McMahen gathered the rebound and sent the shot wide left. Cahill, a junior, stopped four shots on the afternoon while Michigan State’s Jason Tillman collected seven saves. Sophomore forward Joe Lapira (Lake Charles, La./Saint Louis Catholic) led the Irish with six shots.
The Irish nearly put themselves on the board with just over five minutes left in the second half. Midfielder John Stephens (Woodbridge, Ill./Benet Academy) sent a nice short ball to Tony Megna (Middleton, Wis./Middleton) who sent it on goal but was saved by Tillman and regulation would end scoreless.
In the first overtime, Irish midfielder Alex Yoshinaga (San Diego, Calif./Granite Hills) gathered a nice pass from Ian Etherington (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) and blasted a shot at the goal but Tillman was there yet again. Later, the Fighting Irish would have the ball hit the left post but no one could get a good foot on the rebound.
“I just wish that we could have gotten one goal because it would have been a great game to win,” Clark said. “But Michigan State is a good team. They won the Big Ten last year and that is saying a lot.”
The Fighting Irish return to BIG EAST play this Saturday as they travel to Georgetown for a 1:00 p.m. (ET) kick. Stay up-to-date on the 2005 Notre Dame men’s soccer season by logging on to und.com or by calling the Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
Notre Dame 0 0 0 0- 0
Michigan State 0 0 0 0 – 0
Shots: ND 6-9-3-0 – 18, MSU 3-7-1-0 – 11
Corner Kicks: ND 3-3-0-0 – 6, MSU 1-1-0-0 – 2
Saves: ND 4 (Chris Cahill 4), MSU 7 (Jason Tillman 7)
Fouls: ND 12, MSU 8
Offsides: ND 1, MSU 2
-ND–