Aug. 25, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s soccer team dominated the majority of its season-opening match versus UAB on Friday night, yet a goal by Jerson Monteiro in the 105th minute was the difference as the Blazers escaped with a 1-0 victory at Alumni Field during day one of the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament. Despite holding a 23-5 advantage in shots and a 14-4 edge in corner kicks, the 10th-ranked Fighting Irish open the season at 0-1-0, while UAB begins with a 1-0-0 mark.
Notre Dame established an offensive presence early by racking up 10 corner kicks in the first half. More of the same continued in the second half with Notre Dame out-shooting UAB 15-2 in the stanza.
“It was a tough loss,” said Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. “Soccer is a cruel game. But, out of the three games we’ve played so far, including the exhibition games, this is by far the best that we’ve looked start to finish. However, at the end of the day it’s all about the final score.”
The Irish had several good looks at the goal in the second half, with two of the better chances coming in the final minutes of regulation. Freshman Justin Morrow (Cleveland, Ohio/St. Ignatius), who led the Irish with five shots on the night, almost connected on the rebound of a Joseph Lapira (Lake Charles, La./Saint Louis Catholic) attempt, yet it was one of eight saves for Blazer goalkeeper Jeremy Drake. Then with 48 seconds left, Alex Yoshinaga (San Diego, Calif./Granite Hills) had a look, but could not capitalize. The junior midfielder also had a solid chance earlier in the half as he nearly netted a header off an Ian Etherington (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) cross.
Notre Dame continued pressing into overtime and forward Justin McGeeney (Ames, Iowa/Ames) nearly put the game-winner into the back of the net as the final seconds were ticking down. After controlling the ball in the box, the senior put a nice foot on it, yet a Blazer defender cleared the ball off the line and both teams ventured into a second overtime.
Just over four minutes into the second 10-minute overtime session, UAB’s Two-Boys Gumede sent the ball to Monteiro and he headed it into the upper right corner, past Irish goalkeeper Chris Cahill (Louisville, Ky./DeSales), to give the Blazers the victory. That was the only shot-on-goal for UAB during the match.
Double-overtime was the theme of night one at the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament as No. 12 Indiana tallied a goal in the 107th minute to down No. 8 Creighton, 1-0. Sunday’s action will feature Indiana battling UAB at 11:30 a.m., while Creighton meets Notre Dame at 2:00 p.m. at Alumni Field.
“Tonight was tough, but we have to bounce back because we have another difficult game on Sunday,” stated Clark. “The good thing is that we turn around very quickly and play again. So that’ll be good for us.”
To stay up to date on the 2006 Notre Dame men’s soccer season, please log on to und.com or call the official Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
UAB 0 0 0 1 – 1
#10 Notre Dame 0 0 0 0 – 0
UAB: Jerson Monteiro (Two-Boys Gumede) 104:14
Shots: UAB 1-2-1-1 – 5, ND 6-15-2-0 – 23
Corner Kicks: UAB 1-2-1-0 – 4, ND 10-4-0-0 – 14
Saves: UAB 8 (Jeremy Drake 8), ND 0
Fouls: UAB 12, ND 12
Offsides: UAB 0, ND 2