NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The No. 11-ranked Fighting Irish put in a dominating attacking shift in the opening evening of the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament in Alumni Stadium on Friday, defeating Seattle 4-2 to improve to 2-0-0 on the season.
All four goals came from different Notre Dame players in the victory, as Jack Lynn (6’), Felicien Dumas (47’), Mohamed Omar (61’) and Aiden McFadden (66’) each found the back of the net.
HOW IT HAPPENED
For the second time in as many matches this season, the Irish got off on the front foot to open the contest by scoring in the first 10 minutes of play. Ian Aschieris astutely took a quick throw-in and played Lynn in on goal, who finished near post to put the Irish in front 1-0.
After gaining the early lead the Irish settled in and snuffed out any potential threats through the remainder of the first half. Just before the break Notre Dame’s Tyler Shea nearly doubled the lead, as the sophomore had a shot go just wide of the near post.
Notre Dame came out of the break and quickly made the score 2-0, courtesy of a brilliant free kick from Dumas, the set-piece specialist. Dumas tucked a low drive just inside the far post for his first goal of the season in the 47th minute.
The Irish tacked on a third goal in the 61st minute off a Dumas corner kick, as Omar scrambled the ball over the line in a scrum in front of goal to score the first goal of his career. The goal wasn’t initially given but after a VAR review the official concluded that the ball was over the line to put the Irish up 3-0.
Less than one minute later Seattle got on the scoreboard with a goal from Noe Meza to cut the Notre Dame lead back to two at 3-1. However, the Irish quickly responded by scoring their fourth goal of the evening. Aschieris found McFadden in space at the top of the box and then the junior took a touch and hit a rocket into the top right corner of the goal to make the score 4-1.
The Redhawks managed to score one more goal in the 77th minute to make the final score 4-2 in favor of the Irish.
STAT OF THE MATCH
With the win, the Irish improve to 31-8-4 in home openers in program history.
HEAD COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the team’s performance…
“I thought that was a great game. I’m really proud of our team for getting a result against a very good Seattle team. I think that’s clearly an NCAA Tournament team in Seattle. I thought they were dangerous. For the most part I thought we held up well. We gave up a couple of goals that may have been a little fluky, as it was a fast night, but I thought in the attack and set pieces we were great.
“I am so proud of our guys for keeping their focus throughout the game. They didn’t get distracted by calls that didn’t go their way. They were a very tuned in group.”
On the attack scoring seven goals over the first two games…
“It’s great. We have scored from a variety of ways which is we want. We want to be dangerous in set pieces, in transition and building. I think we are continuing to improve.”
NOTES OF THE MATCH
- The Irish improve to 31-8-4 in home openers in program history.
- Notre Dame has scored a combined seven goals over its first two matches of the season.
- Omar’s goal was the first of the sophomore’s career.
- Lynn and McFadden’s goals were the fifth of each of their careers.
- Dumas now has five goals in his career after scoring the first of the season in the win over Seattle.
- Aschieris set a career high for assists in a match with two in the victory. The grad student now has a team-high three on the season and four in his career.
- With the assist, Dumas has 16 in his Notre Dame career, the most by any active player.
UP NEXT
The Irish wrap up the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament at Alumni Stadium later this weekend. Notre Dame takes on Denver at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 8. The match will air on ACCNX.
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