Senior goalkeeper Philip Tuttle made four saves against Northwestern on Wednesday. Tuttle returned to the Irish lineup after missing the first seven games of the season with a knee injury.

Irish Host Providence On Sunday On CBS College Sports

Oct. 1, 2010

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PROVIDENCE (5-2-1) at NOTRE DAME (3-2-3)
Sunday, Oct. 3 – 2:30 p.m. (ET)
Alumni Stadium – Notre Dame, Ind.
Notre Dame Leads Series 12-2-1

TV:â⒬ˆCBS College Sports (Live)
Live Audio: UND.com
Live Stats: Gametracker on UND.com
In-Game Blog: UND.com

SETTING THE STAGE … The Notre Dame men’s soccer team returns to BIG EAST action when they play host to Providence in a Blue Division battle at 2:30 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, Oct. 3. The game will be aired live on CBS College Sports. The Fighting Irish are 3-2-3 this season, while the Friars are 5-2-1. Notre Dame leads the all-time series against Providence, 12-2-1.

HOW TO FOLLOW … CBS College Sports will broadcast Sunday’s game … Brent Stover will handle play-by-play duties, while Richard Broad will serve as the color analyst … in addition to the television coverage, a live audio broadcast and live stats via Gametracker will be available on UND.com … fans can sign up for `Irish Alert’ on UND.com to receive text message score updates … updates and results can also be found on Twitter at UND_com.

DOUBLE HEADER … The Notre Dame-Providence match will be preceded by the Notre Dame-St. John’s women’s game at Alumni Stadium … that contest is slated for a noon (ET) kickoff and will also be aired on CBS College Sports.

IRISH AT A GLANCE … Notre Dame is 3-2-3 on the season … the Irish played Northwestern to a 1-1 draw on Wednesday night at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Ill. … senior forward Steven Perry netted the equalizer in the 79th minute … the Fighting Irish topped No. 12 St. John’s 1-0 last Saturday in the BIG EAST opener … Perry tallied the game winner in the 70th minute … Perry has a team-high four goals … the Irish are averaging 1.12 goals per game, while allowing 0.62 per contest … junior midfielder Michael Rose and sophomore midfielder Dillon Powers both have a team-best two assists … junior goalkeeper Will Walsh has made seven starts in goal and boasts a 3-2-2 record with four shutouts … Walsh has a 0.54 goals-against and a .875 save percentage … fifth-year senior Philip Tuttle, who is returning from a knee injury, played the entire Northwestern match in goal and made four saves … head coach Bobby Clark is in his 10th season with the Irish … he has a 120-55-29 (.659) record during his Notre Dame tenure … this is Clark’s 24th season as a college head coach … he has a combined record of 273-118-54 (.674) during his career, which included stops at Dartmouth and Stanford.

THE PROVIDENCE SERIES … Sunday will be the 16th meeting between Notre Dame and Providence … the Fighting Irish lead the series 12-2-1 … last season, the Irish topped the Friars 1-0 in overtime at Providence … Notre Dame has won eight of the last nine meetings … the only non-win was a tie in 2007 … the Friars are 0-6 all-time at Notre Dame … the Irish won the last meeting at Notre Dame, 3-1, during the 2008 campaign … the last Friar win over the Irish was a 3-1 decision in 2000 at Providence … the first encounter in the series came during the 1995 season, which was Notre Dame’s inaugural campaign in the BIG EAST Conference … the Irish prevailed 1-0 at home … the Fighting Irish have out scored the Friars 32-10 in the series.

SCOUTING THE FRIARS … Providence moved its record to 5-2-1 with a 2-1 win at Harvard on Wednesday … the Friars are 0-1 in BIG EAST play … Providence fell to Louisville, 2-1, in the league opener … the other Friar loss was a 4-0 setback at Michigan State … Providence has claimed wins over Rhode Island (2-1), Sacred Heart (3-1), Quinnipiac (1-0) and Northeastern (1-0) … the Friars tied Brown (0-0) … Providence is 2-1-1 on the road … the Friars are averaging 1.25 goals per game, while surrendering 1.12 per contest … Matt Marcin and Wilder Arboleda share the team lead in goals (3) and points (7) … Marc Cintron has a team-high three assists … Jhojan Obando has all eight decisions in goal … he carries a 1.11 goals-against average and a .780 save percentage with three shutouts … Providence posted a 10-7-3 record last season … the Friars went 5-4-2 in BIG EAST play and finished fifth in the Blue Division … Providence returned nine starters and 10 letter winners from last season’s squad … head coach Chaka Daley is in his 11th season at the helm of the Friar program.

THE LAST TIME … The Irish notched a 1-0 overtime victory against the Friars last season at Providence … Bright Dike tallied the golden goal with just 51 seconds remaining in the second overtime period … the Irish out shot the Friars 18-14, while Providence earned one more corner kick (6-5) … Notre Dame goalkeeper Philip Tuttle earned the win by making two saves and not surrendering a goal.

NOTRE DAME IN BIG EAST PLAY … Notre Dame owns an overall record of 92-53-17 (.620) in BIG EAST regular-season play since joining the conference in 1995 … the Irish have posted nine straight winning seasons within the conference, including last season’s 8-3-0 mark … the eight wins in BIG EAST play in 2009 tied for the most ever for the Fighting Irish … Notre Dame also won eight BIG EAST matches in 2004 (8-1-1) and 2006 (8-3) … the Irish have three regular-season BIG EAST titles … Notre Dame won the championship outright in 2004 and 2008 (Blue Division) and shared the Blue Division trophy with Connecticut in 2007 … the Fighting Irish captured BIG EAST tournament crowns in 1996 and 2003.

CLARK IN THE CONFERENCE … Head coach Bobby Clark has steered the Irish to a winning record within BIG EAST Conference play during all nine of his seasons at Notre Dame … Clark has a 64-22-10 (.719) BIG EAST mark during his Notre Dame tenure, which began in 2001 … his Irish teams have captured three regular-season BIG EAST titles and two BIG EAST tournament championships.

QUOTING CLARK … Irish head coach Bobby Clark shares his thoughts on the upcoming match against Providence …

“Providence is off to a terrific start this season. They are coming off a great result midweek at Harvard. They are a good team with a lot of returning players from last season. We are expecting a very tough match on Sunday.”

COMING BACK … Despite surrendering a goal to Northwestern in the 48th minute of Wednesday’s match, Notre Dame came back to tie the contest on Steven Perry’s goal in the 79th minute … the Fighting Irish are 0-2-1 this season when their opponent scores first … the Irish are 3-0-0 this season whey they score first.

PERRY PERFORMING … Senior forward Steven Perry has a team-best four goals this season … that is a single-season career-high total for the Oklahoma native … Perry netted the equalizer against Northwestern in the 79th minute during Wednesday’s match … the senior tallied the game winner in Notre Dame’s 1-0 triumph of St. John’s in the BIG EAST opener on Sept. 25 … that was his third career game-winning goal … Perry deposited a career-high two goals in a 2-0 victory over Drake on Sept. 10.

TUTTLE RETURNS … Fifth-year senior goalkeeper Philip Tuttle returned to the Fighting Irish lineup on Wednesday against Northwestern … he played all 110 minutes and made four saves … Tuttle missed the first seven games of the campaign after suffering a knee injury while training during the summer … in addition to missing the first seven matches of this season, Tuttle did not play in Notre Dame’s final three contests last year after breaking his thumb against Louisville in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship … Tuttle remained in that match despite the injury and helped the Irish advance in a penalty kick shootout.

SHUTTING DOWN ST. JOHN’S … Notre Dame did not surrender a shot on goal in the 1-0 win over No. 12 St. John’s on Sept. 25 … the Irish blanked the Red Storm, who entered the match averaging 2.8 goals per game and 8.2 shots on goal per game.

NO SAVES, NO PROBLEM … Junior goalkeeper Will Walsh did not need to make a save to notch his fourth shutout of the season in the 1-0 win over St. John’s … the Fighting Irish defense limited St. John’s to seven shots and no shots on goal.

MAUND EARNS CONFERENCE HONOR … Junior central defender Aaron Maund was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 20-26 … Maund and the Fighting Irish defense shut out No. 12 St. John’s 1-0 in the conference opener on Sept. 25 … the Irish defense did not allow a shot on goal in the match … that was Maund’s first BIGâ⒬ˆEASTâ⒬ˆplayer of the week accolade.

LOSE THE SHOES … At halftime of Sunday’s Notre Dame-Providence match, the championship game of Notre Dame’s `Lose the Shoes’ tournament will be held … the proceeds from the 3-on-3 barefoot soccer tournament will benefit Grassroot Soccer, a South Africa-based non-governmental organization that integrates the cross-cultural appeal of soccer with evidence-based HIV prevention and life skills programs that arm African youth with the knowledge, skills, and support to live HIV free … Tommy Clark, the eldest son of Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark, is a cofounder of Grassroot Soccer … in the fall of 2006, Dartmouth College held the first ever `Lose the Shoes’ tournament and since then, over 80 `Lose the Shoes’ tournaments have raised almost $150,000 … Notre Dame held its first `Lose the Shoes’ tournament last year … the semifinals of this year’s tournament will be held at halftime of Sunday’s Notre Dame-St. John’s women’s game … the preliminary games of the tournament will take place at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, Oct. 2 on Notre Dame’s South Quad.

CORNERING THE MARKET … Notre Dame has gained 31 more corner kicks (68-37) than its opponents this season … the Irish have had more corner kicks than their opponents in seven of eight matches this season … Notre Dame’s high-water mark for corner kicks in a game this season was 13 versus California.

SHOOTING DOWN THE COMPETITION … The Fighting Irish have out shot their competition 188-106 this season, including a 68-37 advantage in shots on goal … Notre Dame leads all BIG EAST teams in shots and shots per game (23.5).

MAUND MAKING A DIFFERENCE … Junior central defender Aaron Maund is the only Notre Dame player to have played every minute on the pitch so far this season … he has anchored the backline and has helped the Irish produce a 0.62 goals-against average and limit opponents to 4.6 shots on goal per game … in addition, he has scored one goal this season … Maund was named the BIGâ⒬ˆEASTâ⒬ˆDefensive Player of the Week on Sept. 27 and was selected to the league’s weekly honor roll on Sept. 13 … Maund has started all 47 matches in which he has played during his Irish career.

THREE AMONG TOPDRAWER TOP 100 … Three Notre Dame players are ranked among the National Top 100 players according to TopDrawerSoccer.com … Dillon Powers (So./M) is ranked fourth, while Aaron Maund (Jr./D) is 32nd and Jeb Brovsky (Sr./F) is 90th..

CLEAN SHEETS … Junior goalkeeper Will Walsh has posted four shutouts this season … Walsh saw a career-best scoreless streak of 357 minutes come to an end when Cal Poly scored with six seconds remaining in the 5-1 Irish victory on Sept. 12 … Walsh had not seen game action prior to this season.

TOUGH SLATE … The Irish have another challenging schedule this season … Notre Dame has seven teams on its 2010 slate that are ranked in the latest NSCAA top-25 poll … Connecticut (3), Louisville (6), Michigan State (11), California (16), St. John’s (18), UCLA (20) and West Virginia (21) are the Irish opponents that appear in the poll.

EARLY SEASON OFFENSE … The five goals scored in the 5-1 win over Cal Poly (Sept. 12) marked the fourth time in the past five seasons that Notre Dame has tallied five goals in one of its first four matches of the season … last year, the Irish bested Michigan 5-0 in the season opener … in 2008, Notre Dame topped USF 5-0 in the fourth game of the campaign … in the fourth contest of the 2006 season, the Fighting Irish bested Indiana 5-4 in overtime.

IRISH EXPLOSION … The five goals scored in the second half against Cal Poly on Sept. 12 were the most goals scored in a single period by the Fighting Irish since they netted five in the first half during a 5-0 win over Villanova on Oct. 23, 2002 … it marked the most goals scored in a second half since depositing seven in a 7-1 triumph of Western Michigan on Oct. 14, 1997.

A DAY OF FIRSTS FOR THE IRISH … Notre Dame used five different goal scorers in the 5-1 win over Cal Poly on Sept. 12 … it marked the first career goal for three Fighting Irish players, Greg Klazura (Sr./D), Dillon Powers (So./M) and Grant Van De Casteele (So./D).

ALL OVER THE MAP … Notre Dame’s 29-man roster boasts student-athletes from 18 different states … the state represented the most on the Irish roster is Illinois, which is home to six Notre Dame players … Brendan King (Naperville), Greg Klazura (Rockford), Craig Krzyskowski (Western Springs), Bob Novak (Homer Glen), Danny O’Leary (Naperville) and Harrison Shipp (Lake Forest) all hail from the Prairie State … next in line is Texas, which has supplied the Irish with four players on this year’s squad.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES … Aaron Maund (Jr./D) and Dillon Powers (So./M) were named Soccer America Preseason All-Americans … Notre Dame was one of five schools with multiple representatives on the 25-man Soccer America Preseason All-America Team … Akron had four players on the squad, while Virginia, North Carolina and Tulsa joined the Irish with two apiece.

MORE HONORS FOR MAUND AND POWERS … Fighting Irish junior Aaron Maund, a central defender, was named the 2010 BIG EAST Preseason Defensive Player of the Year in a vote by the league’s head coaches … Irish sophomore Dillon Powers, a midfielder, joined Maund on the All-BIG EAST Preseason Team.

IRISH PICKED TO FINISH SECOND IN DIVISION … Notre Dame was picked to finish second in the BIG EAST Blue Division, while Connecticut was tabbed to win the division … the Huskies received 12 first-place votes among the eight Blue Division squads, while the Irish garnered four … St. John’s was picked to win the Red Division … the league’s 16 head coaches were not permitted to vote for their own teams.

BROVSKY A LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD CANDIDATE … Forward Jeb Brovsky has been named one of 30 candidates for the 2010 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award in the men’s soccer division … to be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence – classroom, character, community and competition … the list of 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will be placed on the official ballot … ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select a candidate that best exemplifies excellence in the four Cs of community, classroom, character and competition.

CAPTAIN KEEPER … Fifth-year senior goalkeeper Philip Tuttle is Notre Dame’s lone captain for the 2010 campaign … this is Tuttle’s first season as a captain.

POWERS PACES TEAM USA … Sophomore Dillon Powers helped the United States Under-20 national team capture the Milk Cup Tournament in early August … Powers was named the MVP of the Milk Cup, which is an international youth soccer tournament held annually in Northern Ireland … the midfielder earned a start in two of the three matches as the U.S. posted a 3-0 record.

TWO ROOKIES RANKED … Two Notre Dame freshmen were named to the College Soccer News `100 Freshmen To Keep An Eye On’ list for the 2010 season … goalkeeper Adam LaPlaca and defender Andrew O’Malley were selected to the list and are part of a very talented eight-man freshman class for the Irish.

ROOKIE RANKINGS … Notre Dame’s freshman class was ranked ninth according to College Soccer News … Leon Brown (F), Kyle Craft (M), Adam LaPlaca (GK), Luke Mishu (D), Andrew O’Malley (D), Alex Priede (F), Harrison Shipp (M/F) and Patrick Wall (GK) make up the stellar class.

A GREAT NIGHT FOR GRASSROOT … Notre Dame held its annual exhibition game to benefit Grassroot Soccer on Aug. 23 against UIC … over 2,000 fans packed into Alumni Stadium to watch the Irish defeat the Flames, 3-2 … a grand total of $3,000 was raised for Grassroot Soccer, an international AIDS awareness and education organization that reaches youth in Africa through soccer clinics … $1,000 worth of donations were received at the gate and during the match … head coach Bobby Clark, whose son Tommy is the founder and CEO of the organization, and the Notre Dame men’s soccer camp donated $2,000.

LOOKING BACK … Last season, Notre Dame posted an 11-8-4 record … the Irish were runners-up in the BIG EAST Blue Division with an 8-3 mark … the Fighting Irish were finalists at the BIG EAST Championship … Notre Dame defeated Green Bay 2-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before falling at Northwestern, 3-1, in the second round … that marked Notre Dame’s ninth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

PURCHASE YOUR IRISH SOCCER TICKETS … To purchase a season pass or single-game tickets, call the Notre Dame ticket office at (574) 631-7356, visit und.com/tickets or stop by the Notre Dame ticket office inside Purcell Pavilion … tickets can also be purchased at Alumni Stadium on gamedays.

THE ROAD TO RED BULL … The BIG EAST and Red Bull New York have joined forces with a three-year partnership for the Conference’s men’s soccer championship to be held at the new state-of-the-art Red Bull Arena through the 2012 tournament … the soccer-specific facility in Harrison, N.J., is the new home of the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer (MLS) … the stadium opened in the spring of 2010 … the BIG EAST will hold its semifinal and championship games at the venue, along with team practices before each day of competition, beginning this season … the dates of the championships over the next three years are: 2010 – Nov. 12 & 14; 2011 – Nov. 11 & 13 and 2012 – Nov. 9 & 10 … for more information, including how to buy tickets, go to bigeastsoccer.com.