Late Louisville Goal Knocks Irish Out Of ACC Championship

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 18 Notre Dame (10-6-2) suffered a hard-fought 1-0 decision at Louisville (9-4-3) in the ACC Championship quarterfinal round on Sunday.
 
The Irish will wait to see who they play next on Monday, Nov. 12 during the NCAA Selection Show.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish and Cardinals went into the halftime break with a scoreless opening 45 minutes. Notre Dame created a few great scoring opportunities in the first half but were unable to find the breakthrough goal.
 
In the 23rd minute senior Felicien Dumas beat his defender and got to the end line before whipping in a great cross into the six-yard box. Junior Jack Casey managed to get on the end of it but couldn’t place his shot on target. Then at the very end of the first half freshman Jack Lynn was played in on goal but the Louisville keeper made a nice kick save on the shot and Casey fired the rebound over the bar.
 
The Irish began the second half on the front foot, continuously putting pressure on the Louisville backline. Senior Ian Aschieris drew a foul in a dangerous position and senior Sean MacLeod rocketed the free kick off the woodwork but the Irish could not find the follow-up attempt and the match remained scoreless.
 
After the Irish couldn’t quite find the final ball on a number of chances in the second half the Cardinals made them pay early in the 86th minute. Louisville launched a counter attack down the right flank and Tate Schmitt connected on a cross with a header that found the back of the net to give the hosts the 1-0 victory.

HEAD COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the team’s performance…
“I was proud of our performance. I thought we were really unfortunate not to score a goal. We missed a couple open nets and a breakaway and for the most part I thought we defended really well. I think one mistake cost us at the end of the game for their goal but overall I am proud of the performance. We came down and competed very well against a good Louisville team and I think we are a little unfortunate not to be advancing.”
 
STAT OF THE MATCH
 
With the Irish holding Louisville scoreless in the first half, Notre Dame has not allowed a goal in the first 45 minutes of play in 17 of 18 matches this season.

NOTES OF THE MATCH

  • Notre Dame has held the opposition to one or no goals in 14 of 18 matches this season.
  • After holding Louisville to no goals in the first half, the Irish have now shut out the opposition in 17 of 18 first halves this season.
  • The Irish and Cardinals split the season series at 1-1.

UP NEXT
The Irish will wait to find out who they play in the NCAA Championship, as the selection show will air at 1 p.m. ET on Monday, Nov. 12 on NCAA.com.

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