Sept. 3, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Junior forward Joseph Lapira (Lake Charles, La./Saint Louis Catholic) put the capper on his four-goal day with a tally in the 98th minute to give the No. 18 Notre Dame men’s soccer team a 5-4 overtime win against No. 8 Indiana on Sunday afternoon at Bill Armstrong Stadium during the final day of the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. The match drew 5,613 fans, which is the third largest crowd in Indiana soccer history. Notre Dame finished the tournament in second place behind Saint Louis, who won due to a tiebreaker of goal differential. Indiana placed third, while Connecticut was fourth.
Notre Dame’s record now stands at 2-1-1. The Irish have played three overtime games so far this season, including a scoreless tie versus Saint Louis on Friday evening during the first day of the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic.
A converted Indiana penalty kick by John Michael Hayden with 11.7 seconds remaining in regulation sent the game to overtime. The Hoosiers were given the penalty kick after Darren Yeagle was tripped up in the 18-yard box by Irish goalkeeper Chris Cahill (Louisville, Ky./DeSales), who was coming out to get the ball.
“It was tough to have the victory snatched away from us with 11 seconds left,” said Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. “It would have been easy to fold, but our guys didn’t and that was great to see. Joseph Lapira was fantastic today. He is a special player and we have a few of them on this team.”
Lapira ended the match as he took the ball and dribbled it around an Indiana defender before chipping it into the right side of the net. The four-goal effort is one off a program record, which was established by Kevin Lovejoy in 1993. His four goals broke an Indiana Classic record for goals in a game and tied the mark for goals in a tournament. This was the 24th Indiana Classic. It also marked the first time Indiana had ever given up five goals in a match in the history of the Hoosier program.
“At halftime we were down 3-2 and I told our guys that we needed five goals to win”, said Clark. “I thought we would be able to do that today and we were. We aren’t happy to give up four goals, but every goal today was a fantastic goal.”
A back-and-forth first half featured five goals in a span of 14 minutes.
Indiana put early pressure on the Irish, yet the Notre Dame back line kept the Hoosiers off the scoreboard with clears out of the box. Notre Dame’s offense was ignited midway through the first half by Lapira. The junior forward had a couple good chances then capitalized in the 30th minute as he took a ball that was sent to him and got in front of the pack of Indiana defenders and sent the shot from the right side from 18-yards out into the lower left corner of the net.
The Hoosiers responded six minutes later as Kevin Robson blasted a shot from 18-yards out past a diving Cahill and into the left side of the net. Fifteen seconds later, Notre Dame’s Ian Etherington (Temecula, Calif./Chaparral) gathered the ball in the box off of his chest, beat a Hoosier defender and deposited it into the back of the goal to put the Irish up 2-1.
Indiana then used back-to-back goals just 17 seconds apart to take a 3-2 lead in the 43rd minute. The first tally was a 25-yard blast from Brad Ring into the upper left corner off a past from Hayden. Yeagle went top shelf from inside the six-yard box for Indiana’s third goal of the match.
The scoring surge continued into the second half as the Fighting Irish scored less than three minutes into the second stanza. Senior defender Ryan Miller (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) sent a free kick into the box and Lapira headed it in for his second goal of the match.
Lapira’s hat trick was completed in the 55th minute when he sent a shot into the upper right corner of the net. It marked the first Fighting Irish hat trick since 2003 when Devon Prescod did so against Cleveland State. The nine combined goals was the highest-scoring match for Notre Dame since a 9-2 win over Valparaiso during the 1989 campaign.
Notre Dame is now 4-3-0 against Indiana in the Bobby Clark era, which began in 2001. The last meeting prior to today occurred in the second round of last season’s NCAA Tournament, with the Irish claiming a 2-0 victory at Bill Armstrong Stadium.
The first match of the day also featured an offensive explosion as Saint Louis defeated No. 16 Connecticut 5-1.
Lapira was named the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic’s Offensive MVP and Greg Dalby (Poway, Calif/Poway) and Jack Traynor (St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North) joined him on the all-tournament team.
The Irish will open BIG EAST Conference play next weekend as No. 24 South Florida visits Alumni Field on Friday, Sept. 8 for a 7:30 p.m. showdown. Notre Dame will then host DePaul on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 1:00 p.m.
“I give credit to Indiana for putting on another fabulous tournament,” stated Clark. “It would be great to play in front of 5,600 people at home. Hopefully our fans can come out next weekend to support our guys.”
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.
#18 Notre Dame (2-1-1) 2-2-1 – 5
# 8 Indiana (2-1-1) 3-1-0 – 4
ND: Joseph Lapira (unassisted) 29:20, IU: Kevin Robson (unassisted) 35:43, ND: Ian Etherington (unassisted) 35:58, IU: Brad Ring (John Michael Hayden) 41:50, IU: Darren Yeagle (unassisted) 42:07, ND: Joseph Lapira (Ryan Miller) 47:31, ND: Joseph Lapira (unassisted) 54:09, IU: John Michael Hayden (penalty kick) 89:48, ND: Joseph Lapira (unassisted) 97:06.
Shots: ND 4-6-2 – 12, IU 9-8-2 – 19
Corner Kicks: ND 2-4-1 – 7, IU 2-3-3 – 8
Saves: ND 6 (Chris Cahill 4), IU 3 (Chris Munroe 2)
Fouls: ND 13, IU 11
Offsides: ND 0, IU 2