Nov. 19, 2001
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s soccer team earned its fifth NCAA postseason tournament berth as the pairings for the 48-team field to the 2001 Men’s Soccer College Cup were announced this afternoon. The Irish, 12-6 overall, will meet host Maryland (10-8-1) on Fri., Nov. 23 at 7:00 p.m. on Ludwig Field in College Park, Md. The winner of that contest will face Loyola-Md. (16-1-2) in College Park on Sun., Nov, 25 at 1:00 p.m. in a second-round contest.
This will be the first-ever meeting between Notre Dame and Maryland. The Irish and Greyhounds have faced each other once in a Sept. 23, 1979 matchup at Notre Dame which resulted in a 2-2 tie.
The Irish, under first-year head coach Bobby Clark, finished tied for second in the final BIG EAST regular-season standings with a 7-3 mark, and advanced to the semifinals of the BIG EAST Conference championship before losing to eventual tournament champion St. John’s.
Notre Dame last appeared in the NCAA tournament field in 1996 after winning the league championship to earn the automatic berth. That season, the Irish advanced to the second round of the championship following a 1-0 win over second-seeded UNC Greensboro in the first round.
The 1988 Irish team was the first squad to earn an NCAA postseason berth and that followed with appearances in 1993 and 1994 after winning the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now Horizon League) tournament titles.
Notre Dame was one of a record six BIG EAST schools to earn a berth in the College Soccer Cup. In addition to the Irish, representing the league in the tournament will be: Boston College, Connecticut, Rutgers, St. John’s and Seton Hall. The BIG EAST has the most team represented in this year’s field.