Nov. 27, 2007
Oakland at #10 Notre Dame
NCAA Championship – Second Round
Wednesday, Nov. 28 – 7:30 p.m. (ET)
Alumni Field – Notre Dame, Ind.
Complete Release in PDF Format
Notre Dame will host Oakland University (Mich.) in the second round of the NCAA Championship on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at Alumni Field. Game time is slated for 7:30 p.m. (ET). This marks the seventh straight trip to the NCAA Tournament for the Fighting Irish, who are seeded 10th in this season’s championship. The Irish and Golden Grizzlies will be meeting for just the second time ever. The winner of the match will advance to the Round of 16 and face either seventh-seeded Santa Clara or UCLA.
HOW TO FOLLOW: Wednesday’s match between Notre Dame and Oakland can be seen live on und.com … simply go to the front page of und.com and click on the `Live Events’ tab and select the game … live stats will also be available through Gametracker via und.com.
ABOUT THE IRISH: Notre Dame (12-4-5) is seeded 10th in the 2007 NCAA Championship … the Fighting Irish are coming off a 2-0 setback at Connecticut in the title game of the BIG EAST Championship on Sunday, Nov. 18 … the Irish advanced to the finals with a 2-1 win over DePaul in the semifinals … the Fighting Irish, who shared the BIG EAST Blue Division title with Connecticut, finished as the only undefeated team in BIG EAST regular-season play during the 2007 campaign … that marked the first time in program history that Notre Dame has ever compiled an undefeated BIG EAST season … the Notre Dame defense has produced 10 shutouts this season, while senior goalkeeper Chris Cahill has eight shutouts this season and 28 for his career … the Irish have registered at least 10 shutouts in each of the last five seasons … senior forward Joseph Lapira leads the Irish in goals (7), assists (8) and points (22) … the assists are a career-high total for the 2006 M.A.C. Hermann Trophy winner … Notre Dame is averaging 1.44 goals per game, while allowing 0.86 … the Irish returned six starters and 14 letterwinners back from last season’s squad that went 15-6-2 (8-3-0 BE) and advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals for the first time in program history … head coach Bobby Clark is in his seventh season with the Irish … he has a record of 92-37-20 (.685) at Notre Dame and an overall record of 245-100-45 (.686) during his 21 seasons in college soccer.
IRISH IN THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP: This is Notre Dame’s seventh straight appearance in the NCAA Championship and the 11th trip overall in program history … the Irish have a 7-9-1 record all-time in the NCAA Tournament … last season, the Irish made it to the quarterfinals for the first time in program history … the Irish were the No. 12 seed and knocked off Illinois-Chicago (1-0) and No. 5 Maryland (1-0, 2OT) in the second and third rounds, respectively … Notre Dame’s run ended with a 3-2 loss at No. 4 Virginia … the Irish have made the tournament’s Round of 16 on four occasions (1996, 2003, 2005 & 2006) … this is fourth time that Notre Dame has received a seed in the tournament … the Irish were the No. 5 seed for both the 2003 and 2004 tournaments and the 12th seed in 2006 … Notre Dame owns a 4-1-1 mark at home and a 3-8-0 record on the road in the NCAAs … head coach Bobby Clark carries a 6-5-1 record in the NCAA Tournament during his Notre Dame tenure, which is in its seventh season.
SERIES HISTORY VERSUS OAKLAND: Wednesday will mark just the second meeting all-time between Notre Dame and Oakland in the 31-year history of the Fighting Irish varsity men’s soccer program … the first encounter occurred during the 1979 season and Notre Dame captured a 2-0 victory at home.
SCOUTING THE GOLDEN GRIZZLIES: Oakland (12-6-3) captured a 2-1 win at Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Championship on Saturday (Nov. 24) … Piotr Nowak and Stefan St. Louis tallied goals for the Golden Grizzlies in the victory … this is Oakland’s 17th trip to the NCAA Tournament and the first since 2003 … the Golden Grizzlies are averaging 1.57 goals per game, while surrendering 0.97 per contest … Nowak leads the team in points with 19 on five goals and a team-best nine assists … Michael Reyes and Sebastian Harris share the team lead in goals with six apiece … goalkeeper Steve Clark has all 21 decisions for Oakland … he carries a 0.98 goals-against average along with a .807 save percentage … Oakland has out scored its opponents 17-6 in second-half play this season … the Golden Grizzlies are 0-3 against top-20 teams this season … they fell to No. 10 Michigan, 2-0, on Sept. 26 before dropping a 2-1 decision at No. 19 Michigan State on Oct. 17 … Oakland suffered a 2-1 setback against No. 16 Akron Oct. 30 … the Golden Grizzlies returned six starters and 13 letterwinners from a team that went 5-12-1 last season … head coach Gary Parsons is in his 27th season at the helm of the Oakland program … Oakland University is located in Rochester, Michigan and is a member of the Summit League.
POSTSEASON PLAYERS: Senior forward Joseph Lapira is the Notre Dame record holder with four NCAA Championship tallies … he notched goals in NCAA wins over Western Illinois (2-0) and Indiana (2-0) in 2005 … last season, Lapira scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over Illinois-Chicago in the second round before notching a golden goal in a double-overtime victory at Maryland (1-0) … he surpassed Justin Detter (2000-03), who did hold the mark with three goals … senior goalkeeper Chris Cahill has a program record three shutouts in NCAA Championship play … last season, Cahill collected a shutout in a 1-0 win over UIC … he posted shutouts against Western Illinois and Indiana in 2005.
IRISH AGAINST THE NCAA FIELD: Notre Dame faced a total of nine teams that made this year’s NCAA Championship … the Fighting Irish own a 4-4-2 mark against those squads … Notre Dame faced UConn, the third seed, twice and went 0-1-1 (T, 3-3; L, 2-0) against the Huskies … the Irish squared off against three other seeded teams, No. 4 Indiana (L, 3-2), No. 13 Maryland (L, 3-0) and No. 15 West Virginia (W, 1-0).
BIG EAST BIDS: For the third straight year, the BIG EAST Conference has placed seven schools in the field of 48 teams in the NCAA Division I Men’s Soccer Championship … since the 2001 season, the BIG EAST has averaged six teams per year in the NCAA Championship … the BIG EAST put more squads in this year’s field than any other conference.
NOTRE DAME IN BIG EAST PLAY: Notre Dame owns an overall record of 76-48-16 (.600) in BIG EAST regular-season play since joining the conference in 1995 … the Irish have posted seven straight winning seasons within the conference, including this year … last season, the Irish went 8-3-0 in league play … that marked the second time that the Irish posted a program-record eight BIG EAST victories … Notre Dame won its only regular-season BIG EAST title prior to this season in 2004 with an 8-1-1 record … the Fighting Irish captured BIG EAST Tournament crowns in 1996 and 2003.
BIG EAST ACCOLADES: A total of seven Notre Dame student-athletes garnered all-conference recognition at the annual BIG EAST men’s soccer awards banquet on Thursday, Nov. 15 … that mark was one off the program record of eight, established in 2003, for all-league honorees … the Irish boasted two student-athletes on each of the three all-conference teams in addition to one honorable-mention selection … Joseph Lapira (Sr./F) and Ryan Miller (Sr./D/M) were named to the first team, while Matt Besler (Jr./D) and Chris Cahill (Sr./GK) were second-team picks … Kurt Martin (Sr./F) and Jack Traynor (Jr./D) were third-team members and Matt Armstrong (Fr./M) earned honorable mention distinction.
TAKING DOWN A TOP-10: The 2-1 overtime victory over top-ranked UCLA on Aug. 31 gave Notre Dame a win over a top-10 team for the eighth straight season … the Irish will try to knock off another top-10 team when they face No. 2 Connecticut on Sunday … Notre Dame took down three top-10 teams last season … the Irish topped both Creighton (4-1) and Indiana (5-4, OT) when those squads were ranked eighth nationally … Notre Dame bested No. 7 Maryland, 1-0, in double-overtime during the third round of the NCAA Tournament … that marked the first time the Irish beat three top-10 teams in a season since 2002.
IRISH LEADERS: Senior forward Joseph Lapira leads the team in goals (7), assists (8) and points (22) … Lapira has led Notre Dame in goals and points in each of the past two seasons … he had 19 points and seven goals in 2005 … last season, Lapira produced nation-leading numbers in points (50) and goals (22) … goalkeeper Chris Cahill, a three-year starter, has an 11-2-5 record this season with a 0.74 goals-against average and a .823 save percentage to go along with eight shutouts.
CLARK COMMENTS: Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark discusses the upcoming match against Oakland …
“We watched Oakland play Michigan State in the first round (of the NCAA Tournament) and we were very impressed. They were able to accomplish something we didn’t do this year and that’s winning up in East Lansing. That in itself is impressive. It’s going to be a very hard game for us and we better be ready to play.”
NEXT UP: The winner of the Notre Dame/Oakland match will advance to the third round of the NCAA Championship against the winner of the Santa Clara/UCLA game on either Saturday, Dec. 1 or Sunday, Dec. 2.
LAST TIME OUT: Connecticut used two goals from Dori Arad to capture a 2-0 win over Notre Dame in the title game of the BIG EAST Men’s Soccer Championship on Sunday, Nov. 28 at Morrone Stadium in Storrs, Conn. … Connecticut jumped ahead in the eighth minute as a corner kick from Akeem Priestley was headed in by Arad … the Huskies nearly made it 2-0 with 26:30 left in the first half when a Toni Stahl blast banged off the crossbar before being cleared out by the Irish defense … UConn did gain a two-goal advantage in the 18th minute as Arad scored off another corner kick … that kick was sent into the box my Mike Pezza … the Irish thwarted a Husky threat in the 25th minute as senior goalkeeper Chris Cahill leaped to punch out a header on goal … Notre Dame’s first good look of the half came with 15:14 remaining as Ryan Miller sent a header just wide of the net … the Fighting Irish continued to produce offensive pressure late into the first half … the Huskies needed two saves from goalkeeper Josh Ford to preserve the 2-0 lead heading into the intermission … the first Irish attempt came from Jeb Brovsky, who collected a pop up and sent a shot on goal that Ford dove to his left to save … in the 39th minute, Justin Morrow sent a shot on frame that Ford corralled in … in the second half, Andrew Quinn replaced Cahill in goal for the Fighting Irish … the junior was tested early as Connecticut’s O’Brian White worked his way into the box in the opening minutes but Quinn made the stop … the Irish nearly capitalized on their own corner kick in the 56th minute as Kurt Martin put a head on the ball, yet Ford was right there to make the save … Quinn notched two saves in the 75th minute to keep the Irish in the contest … the first occurred on a breakaway by Chukwudi Chijindu that he came out to save … White then put a shot on goal that Quinn blocked away … the Irish appeared to score a goal late in the match, yet it was called off due to a foul committed on Ford … the Huskies out shot the Irish 15-11, while they also held a 5-4 edge in corner kicks … Quinn finished with five saves, while Cahill had one in the first half … Ford had seven stops for the Huskies … Joseph Lapira, Michael Thomas and Miller were named to the All-BIG EAST Championship Team for Notre Dame.
SHUTTING DOWN THE COMPETITION: Notre Dame has posted 10 shutouts this season … that signifies the fifth-straight season in which the Fighting Irish have posted at least that many shutouts … senior Chris Cahill has eight shutouts to his credit, while junior Andrew Quinn has one … both Cahill and Quinn saw action in a 3-0 win over Rhode Island … Quinn picked up the shutout against Marquette (1-0), while Cahill and the Irish defense held Rutgers (2-0) and Villanova (1-0) without a goal … Cahill notched a shutout against No. 16 Michigan in a 3-0 victory by making a season-high seven saves … he followed that with another blanking in a 1-0 win over No. 13 West Virginia … Cahill picked up his fifth shutout in a 2-0 triumph of Seton Hall and then he and the Irish defense held Pittsburgh scoreless in a 3-0 victory … Cahill made two saves in a 0-0 draw at Georgetown … in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Championship, Cahill did not have to make a save in the 1-0 win over St. John’s.
FIT TO BE TIED: Notre Dame has played to five ties this season … that marks the most draws for a single season in the 31-year history of the Fighting Irish program … Notre Dame has had a total of six games go to overtime … the Irish defeated then-No. 1 UCLA, 2-1, with a golden goal in the 94th minute during the season opener on Aug. 31.
AN EVEN DOZEN: Notre Dame has claimed at least 12 wins in all seven seasons of the Bobby Clark era, including this year’s 12-4-5 mark … the most wins under Clark was 16 in 2003 … Notre Dame posted 15 victories last season and 13 in 2004 … the Irish have won 12 games four times during Clark’s tenure (2001, 2002, 2005, 2007).
SPREADING THE WEALTH: Notre Dame’s last nine goals have come from seven different players … a total of 12 different Irish players have notched a goal this season … senior Joseph Lapira leads the team with seven goals, while fellow senior Ryan Miller is second with six … sophomore Justin Morrow is next in line with three tallies … Kurt Martin, Alex Yoshinaga, Matt Besler, Dave Donohue, Jeb Brovsky and Michael Thomas all have two goals, while three players have scored once … a total of 15 players have tallied at least one point … Lapira has a team-best 22 points, which includes a team-high eight assists.
THREE IS THE MAGIC NUMBER: Notre Dame’s three goals against Pittsburgh on Oct. 24 matched a season-high outburst for the Irish … Notre Dame has scored three times on four occasions this season … the three first-half tallies versus the Panthers marked the third time this season that Notre Dame has scored three goals in one half … the Fighting Irish scored three times in a 3-0 win over No. 16 Michigan on Oct. 3 … Notre Dame netted three second-half scores in a 3-3 tie with No. 1 Connecticut on Oct. 13.
STARTING STREAK: Ryan Miller, a defender/midfielder, has started 85 straight matches for the Fighting Irish … his 85 consecutive games played is three off the program record established by Greg Dalby (2003-06) … as a freshman, Miller earned his first start during the second game of the season yet suffered an injury that kept him out the rest of the campaign … he started the first game of the following season in 2004 and has not left the starting lineup since.
MILLER EARNS ACADEMIC ALL-AMERICA STATUS: Ryan Miller earned second-team Academic All-America honors from ESPN the Magazine and the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) … Miller became the fifth player in program history to be selected as an Academic All-American from CoSIDA … Miller graduated from the Mendoza College of Business in May of 2007 with an accounting degree and a 3.409 cumulative grade-point average … he is currently pursuing his master’s degree in accounting … this season, Miller has experienced his top collegiate campaign … he has posted career-best numbers in goals (6) and points (15) … his six goals are the second most on the team … for his career, Miller has 24 points on seven goals and 10 assists.
LAPIRA NAMED A M.A.C. HERMANN TROPHY SEMIFINALIST: Joseph Lapira has been named a semifinalist for the 2007 Missouri Athletic Club (M.A.C.) Hermann Trophy … the trophy is presented annually to the top men’s soccer player in the United States … Lapira won the award last season as he led all NCAA Division I men’s players with 22 goals and 50 points … he became the first Notre Dame men’s player to receive the award … a panel of coaches from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) compiled the the list of 15 semifinalists … Lapira will try to become the first back-to-back recipient of the most prestigious award in college soccer since Virginia’s Claudio Reyna took home the Hermann Trophy in 1992 and 1993 … the trophy winner will be announced on January 11, 2008.
FACING #1, AGAIN: The 3-3 draw with Connecticut on Oct. 13 marked the second time this season that Notre Dame had squared off with a team ranked No. 1 at the time of the meeting … Notre Dame topped then-No. 1 UCLA, 2-1, in overtime during the season opener on Aug. 31 … the Fighting Irish are 1-5-1 when facing a top-ranked team since the 1990 season.
SHOOTING STARS: Notre Dame has out shot its opponents 347-239 this season … the Irish own a 170-91 advantage in shots during the first half and a 162-130 edge in the second period … Notre Dame has been out shot 18-15 in overtime periods.
CORNERING THE MARKET: The Fighting Irish have a 123-77 advantage in corner kicks over their opponents, including a decisive 59-29 margin in first-half play … Notre Dame owns a 57-44 edge in the second half, while the Irish have out cornered the opposition 7-4 in overtime.
SHOCKING SHUTOUTS: Notre Dame has only been shut out four times in the past 35 contests … the Irish are currently riding a 17-game streak without being shut out at home.
NO LOSING STREAKS: Notre Dame has not lost back-to-back games since the end of the 2001 campaign … that season, the Irish fell to St. John’s, 1-0, in the semifinals of the BIG EAST Championship before suffering a 1-0 setback to Maryland in the first round of the NCAA Tournament … Notre Dame followed up this season’s first loss, a 3-0 setback against Maryland, with a 3-0 win over Rhode Island … the Irish then responded after a 1-0 loss to Michigan State with a 3-3 draw against No. 1 Connecticut … following a 3-2 loss against No. 12 Indiana, Notre Dame defeated Seton Hall, 2-0.
ROOKIE IMPACT: The Irish have had a significant impact from its 2007 freshman class … Jeb Brovsky has totaled five points on two goals and one assist … Matt Armstrong has started every game in the midfield and has notched one assist … Armstrong has filled the shoes of two-time first-team All-American Greg Dalby, who had a stellar four-year career with the Irish … Armstrong earned honorable mention all-BIG EAST honors this season … Josh Thiermann and Steven Perry have combined to play in 22 games and have been valuable sparks off the bench … Theirmann scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over St. John’s in the quarterfinals of the BIG EAST Championship.
HIGH MARKS: Notre Dame was ranked No. 2 in all four major polls (Soccer America, NSCAA, Soccer Times, College Soccer News) during the week of Sept. 24 … that marked the highest ranking in program history.
PICKING UP WHERE HE LEFT OFF: Joseph Lapira opened the season with a three-point match in a 2-1 overtime win against No. 1 UCLA … he gave the Irish a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute and then assisted on Alex Yoshinaga’s golden goal in the 94th minute to give Notre Dame the victory … Lapira led all NCAA Division I men’s soccer players with 22 goals and 50 points last season.
IN THE RECORD BOOKS: Senior forward Joseph Lapira is currently in fifth place on Notre Dame’s all-time goals list with 39 tallies … Kevin Lovejoy (1978-80) is the program record-holder with 67 goals … Lapira’s 99 career points rank him sixth in program history … Lapira is just one point away from 100, which would put him into the top five … Lovejoy has that mark as well with 153 points.
BIG EAST PRESEASON HONORS: Joseph Lapira was named the preseason BIG EAST offensive player of the year and junior defender Matt Besler joined Lapira on the all-BIG EAST preseason team … Lapira was the 2006 BIG EAST offensive player of the year.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Joseph Lapira had an eventful summer of 2007 … in May, Lapira trained with the Ireland National Team while the squad was in the United States … Lapira earned his first cap in a match against Ecuador on May 23 in Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. … when he entered the match in the 86th minute, he became the first amateur to play for Ireland since 1964 … the game ended as a 1-1 draw … the Louisiana native was able to participate with the Ireland team since he has dual-citizenship because his mother is a native of the country … later in the summer, he went to Europe and trained with the Glasgow Rangers of the Scottish Premier League and with Derby County of the English Premier League.
NOTRE DAME PICKED SECOND IN BLUE DIVISION: Notre Dame was selected to finish second in the BIG EAST Blue Division for the 2007 season … the Irish garnered 102 points in voting by the league’s head coaches, while Connecticut received 105 points … Connecticut garnered 10 first-place votes in the Blue Division, while Notre Dame had four and West Virginia totaled three … St. John’s was tabbed to win the league’s Red Division followed by Rutgers and South Florida.
COLLEGE SOCCER NEWS WATCH LISTS: Joseph Lapira was selected to the College Soccer News Pre-Season All-America first team … the senior was not the only Irish student-athlete honored by the publication, as two incoming freshmen were named to the `100 Freshmen to Watch’ list for the 2007 season … (M) Matt Armstrong and (F) Josh Thiermann were selected to the list and are part of a very talented seven-man freshman class for the Irish.
FRESHMAN CLASS NATIONALLY RANKED: Notre Dame’s seven-man freshman class was ranked 15th nationally by College Soccer News … (M) Matt Armstrong, (M) Jeb Brovsky, (D) Bilal Duckett, (M) Greg Klazura, (F) Andrew Luttrell, (F) Steven Perry and (F) Josh Thiermann make up the talented crop of Fighting Irish rookies.
IRISH ON THE SMALL SCREEN: Notre Dame had five of its regular-season matches televised … the Fighting Irish played Rutgers on Fox Soccer Channel on Sept. 21 in Piscataway, N.J. … Notre Dame played at Marquette on Time Warner Cable … two Irish home games were also televised … Notre Dame and Michigan appeared on Comcast Local on Oct. 3 as did the Irish’s tilt against Indiana on Oct. 17 … a match at Providence on Oct. 28 was carried by Cox Sports Television.
STAY UP-TO-DATE ON NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS: To stay updated on all 26 varsity sports at Notre Dame you can log on to the official Notre Dame athletics web site at und.com or you can call the official Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000 … to access men’s soccer information on the hotline all you need to do is dial 4 from the main menu and then dial 1.
SIGN UP FOR IRISH ALERT TEXT MESSAGE SERVICE: Go to und.com to sign up for Irish ALERT, a text messaging service designed to give fans up-to-the-minute game updates for all 26 varsity sports at Notre Dame … men’s soccer fans can sign up to receive scores after each half of every game.