Kurt Martin was named to the <i>College Soccer News</i> national team of the week.

Martin's Five-Point Game Leads Irish Past Northwestern, 3-0

Aug. 27, 2007

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NOTRE DAME, Ind. – A five-point match from senior forward Kurt Martin (McAllen, Texas/Memorial) carried the tenth-ranked Notre Dame men’s soccer team to a 3-0 exhibition win over No. 14 Northwestern in front of 3,367 fans at Alumni Field on Monday night. That marked the third-largest crowd in program history. Fellow senior Joseph Lapira (Lake Charles, La./Saint Louis Catholic) also added a goal to help the Irish end the 2007 exhibition season with a perfect 2-0 mark.

Admission to the match was $1 with all proceeds benefiting Grassroot Soccer, an international AIDS awareness and education organization that reaches youth in Africa through soccer clinics. Further donations were welcome and the final amount will be matched dollar-for-dollar by a Notre Dame soccer alumnus, who wishes to remain anonymous, along with the Notre Dame men’s soccer camp. The crowd total nearly equaled the program record of 3,502, which attended the 1994 match against SMU.

“It was great to see the fan support tonight, especially since it was for such a good cause,” said Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. “It looks like we were able to raise a lot of money. We hope to see these fans at all of our games this season.”

The Fighting Irish put on a good show for the crowd. Martin opened things up early with his first goal of the night during the third minute of play. Following a blocked shot from Lapira, Martin gathered in the rebound and deposited it into the back of the net.

Martin made it 2-0 in favor of Notre Dame as he sent a blast in from 40 yards out with 13 minutes elapsed in the first half. That marked his third goal of the preseason. The senior netted a score in the Irish’s 3-0 win over No. 10 New Mexico last Thursday.

Less than four minutes later, Martin sent the ball to Lapira and the reigning M.A.C. Hermann Trophy winner beat three defenders to make it 3-0 in favor of Notre Dame. The Irish out shot the Wildcats 12-9 on the night and held a 6-3 edge in corner kicks.

“Our performance was very sound tonight,” stated Clark. “The first 25 minutes were very good for us. We just need to maintain that once we put the subs in there. The middle was very good for us. The central defenders were good, the central midfielders were very good and Joseph (Lapira) and Kurt (Martin) were obviously good for us up front.”

The Notre Dame defense thwarted any potential Northwestern scoring opportunity and posted its second shutout of the preseason. Senior Chris Cahill (Louisville, Ky./DeSales) got the start in goal and made three saves in nearly 60 minutes of action. Junior Andrew Quinn (Silver Spring, Md./DeMatha) came on in relief of Cahill and made two stops.

Notre Dame will open the regular season against No. 1 UCLA on Friday (Aug. 31) at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic in Bloomington, Ind. Game time is set for 5:00 p.m. (ET). The Irish will battle No. 9 Maryland on Sunday (Sept. 2) at 11:30 a.m. during the second day of the tournament.

“This is going to be a huge weekend for us,” said Clark. “We don’t want to look too far ahead but this is a fabulous opportunity and we’ll see where it takes us. This is a chance to take Notre Dame soccer somewhere it hasn’t been before.”

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.

#14 Northwestern 0 0 – 0
#10 Notre Dame 3 0 – 3

ND: Kurt Martin (unassisted) 2:25, ND: Kurt Martin (unassisted) 13:00, ND: Joseph Lapira (Kurt Martin) 16:56

Shots: NW 5-4 – 9, ND 8-4 – 12
Corner Kicks: NW 2-1 – 3, ND 2-4 – 6
Saves: NW 1 (Will Briley 1), ND 5 (Chris Cahill 3, Andrew Quinn 2)
Fouls: NW 14, ND 13
Offsides: NW 0, ND 2