Aug. 15, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The No. 11 Notre Dame men’s soccer team will open 2011 exhibition play on Tuesday at Xavier. Kickoff between the Fighting Irish and Musketeers is slated for 7:00 p.m. (ET) at the Xavier University Soccer Complex.
Notre Dame is coming off a 10-6-4 season in 2010. The Irish finished second in the BIG EAST Blue Division with a 6-2-1 league record before advancing to the semifinals of the league tournament. The Fighting Irish qualified for the NCAA Championship for the 10th straight season as they garnered the tournament’s No. 9 seed. Notre Dame fell to Dartmouth, 2-1, in overtime in the second round.
The Fighting Irish returned seven starters and 12 letterwinners from last season. Captaining the Irish in 2011 will be senior defenders Greg Klazura (Rockford, Ill./Boylan Catholic) and Aaron Maund (Dorchester, Mass./The Roxbury Latin School) along with junior midfielder Dillon Powers (Plano, Texas/Plano Senior). Maund and Powers were named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team last week and Notre Dame was picked to finish second in the BIG EAST Blue Division according to a vote by the league’s head coaches.
Xavier went 10-7-4 last season and finished sixth in the Atlantic 10 with a 5-4-0 conference mark. The Musketeers fell to West Virginia, 4-2, in the first round of the 2010 NCAA Championship. Xavier returned seven starters and 16 letterwinners from last year’s squad.
Following Tuesday’s match, the Irish will travel to Indianapolis, Ind. to face No. 21 Butler on Thursday in exhibition action. That contest is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. (ET).
The Irish will conclude their 2011 exhibition slate next Monday with a home match against No. 6 Creighton. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. (ET) at Alumni Stadium. The match will be Notre Dame’s annual game to benefit Grassroot Soccer, an international non-governmental organization that uses the power of soccer to educate, inspire and mobilize communities against the spread of HIV in Africa. Admission to the match is $1 and further donations are welcome.
Notre Dame will open the regular season Aug. 27 with a home showdown with instate rival Indiana. The Irish and the 15th-ranked Hoosiers will square off at 7:30 p.m. (ET) at Alumni Stadium.
All 2011 Notre Dame home matches, including the exhibition contest versus Creighton, that are not televised can be seen live on UND.com. The streaming broadcasts are free of charge. Log on to UND.com to stay up to date on the Fighting Irish men’s soccer team throughout the 2011 campaign.
To purchase a season pass or single-game tickets for Fighting Irish soccer, call the Murnane Family Athletics Ticket Office at (574) 631-7356, visit the tickets page at the official Notre Dame athletics web site, UND.com (UND.com/tickets) or stop by the Murnane Family Athletics Ticket Office windows inside the new Rosenthal Atrium at Purcell Pavilion (entrance via Gate 9). Tickets also can be purchased at Alumni Stadium on gamedays. For group discount pricing information call Rita Baxter in the Notre Dame Ticket Office at (574) 631-4165.
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