Sept. 7, 2007
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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A dominating performance from the eighth-ranked Notre Dame men’s soccer team produced a 3-0 victory over Rhode Island on Friday night at Alumni Field. The match was part of the sixth annual Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament. The Irish, who used goals from three different players, improved to 2-1-0 on the young season, while the Rams fell to 1-2-0.
The Irish pressured early and it paid off as sophomore midfielder Dave Donohue (Reading, Mass./Cushing Academy) tallied the first goal of his Notre Dame career in the fourth minute. Ryan Miller (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) and Kyle Dagan (Westlake Village, Calif./Westlake) picked up the assists on the play.
Notre Dame kept the attack going late into the first half yet could not up its lead. The Rams nearly notched the equalizer with 14:40 left to play in the opening half as Matt Preyss blasted a shot and Irish goalkeeper Chris Cahill (Louisville, Ky./DeSales) dove to his right and punched the ball away.
The second goal of the night occurred in the 57th minute as Alex Yoshinaga (San Diego, Calif./Granite Hills) played the ball up to sophomore Justin Morrow (Cleveland, Ohio/St. Ignatius) and he took on a defender and blasted a shot into the lower right corner of the net. That was the first goal for Morrow in a Fighting Irish uniform. The match was salted away in the 65th minute when Kurt Martin (McAllen, Texas/Memorial) connected on a penalty kick to make it 3-0.
“This was a good win,” said Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. “We started the game well and then I felt we dropped the tempo a little bit. But we started the second half superbly. I thought we really controlled the game very well. They’re as big of a team as we’ve played against recently. They were very tall.”
It was a physical match that featured both teams receiving three yellow cards. Notre Dame junior defender Jack Traynor (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) picked up two yellow cards and was ejected from the game in the 66th minute.
Cahill, who made four saves, picked up his second win of the season. Junior Andrew Quinn (Silver Spring, Md./DeMatha) replaced Cahill with just over 15 minutes left to play. Quinn made one save. Chris Pennock received the loss for the Rams. He made two saves before being replaced by Peyton Warwick in the 81st minute. Notre Dame out shot Rhode Island 15-8 and held a 4-2 edge in corner kicks.
“I thought both of our center backs, Cory (Rellas) and (Matt) Besler, were great tonight,” stated Clark. “Both fullbacks did well, too. Kyle Dagan was making his first start and he picked up an assist. He played very well for us. It was also nice to see Morrow and Donohue get their first goals.”
No. 7 Indiana topped Northern Illinois, 1-0, in the first game of the evening.
The Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament will conclude on Sunday (Sept. 9). Indiana will take on Rhode Island at 11:30 a.m. (ET), followed by the Fighting Irish meeting Northern Illinois at 2:00 p.m.
To stay up to date on the 2007 Notre Dame men’s soccer season, log onto und.com or call the official Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
Rhode Island 0 0 – 0
#8 Notre Dame 1 2 – 3
ND: Dave Donohue (Ryan Miller, Kyle Dagan) 3:39, ND: Justin Morrow (Alex Yoshinaga) 56:56, ND: Kurt Martin (penalty kick) 64:53
Shots: RI 2-6 – 8, ND 7-8 – 15
Corner Kicks: RI 0-2 – 2, ND 1-3 – 4
Saves: RI 2 (Chris Pennock 2), ND 5 (Chris Cahill 4, Andrew Quinn 1)
Fouls: RI 9, ND 6
Offsides: RI 1, ND 4