Aug. 31, 2006
2006 adidas/IU Credit Union Classic – Bloomington, Ind.
Friday, Sept. 1
Saint Louis vs. No. 18 Notre Dame
No. 16 Connecticut vs. No. 8 Indiana
Sunday Sept. 2
No. 16 Connecticut vs. Saint Louis
No. 18 Notre Dame vs. No. 8 Indiana
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The second weekend of the 2006 season has Notre Dame traveling down state to take part in the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic in Bloomington, Ind. The Irish will take on Saint Louis on Friday at 5:00 p.m. and then meet the eighth-ranked Hoosiers at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday. Notre Dame went 1-1-0 last weekend in the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament.
ABOUT THE IRISH: Notre Dame enters its match against Saint Louis ranked 18th nationally and with a 1-1-0 mark following last weekend’s Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament … the Irish suffered a 1-0 double-overtime loss to UAB on Friday and then took down No. 8 Creighton 4-1 on Sunday to finish third … senior forward Justin McGeeney notched a single-game career-best two goals versus the Bluejays, while fellow senior Nate Norman had a career-high two assists … McGeeney was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Creighton … Bright Dike and Joseph Lapira also tallied goals in the match.
A MARQUEE EVENT: Annually, the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic showcases some of the nation’s top teams … this year, Indiana (8), Connecticut (16) and Notre Dame (18) are all ranked in the top-20 of the latest Soccer America poll … Saint Louis, one of the more prestigious soccer programs in the nation, rounds out the quartet of teams that will take to Bill Armstrong Stadium … this is the 24th year that Indiana has hosted the classic … the eventual NCAA champion has played in the event nine times, with the Hoosiers capturing six of those titles.
IRISH HISTORY AT THE ADIDAS/IU CREDIT UNION CLASSIC: This weekend will mark the seventh trip to the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic for the Fighting Irish (1989, 1992, 1993, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006) … Notre Dame owns a 5-6-1 overall mark in the tournament … the Irish are 4-1-1 over their past three visits to the classic … in 2003, Notre Dame tied No. 20 UAB 0-0 in double-overtime before defeating No. 11 California, 2-1, in double-overtime … in 2004, the Fighting Irish took out Oregon State by a 2-1 tally and then beat Boston University 2-0 … the Irish claimed a 4-1 win over No. 7 SMU at last season’s classic, before dropping a 1-0 decision to No. 10 Wake Forest in overtime.
SERIES HISTORY VERSUS SAINT LOUIS: The Fighting Irish and the Billikens have squared off 10 times, with Saint Louis winning seven of those contests … Notre Dame topped Saint Louis, 1-0, in double-overtime last season in the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament … current junior Joseph Lapira tallied the game-winner in the 108th minute … prior to that encounter, the Irish and Billikens had not met since the 1991 season … Saint Louis had won the past five meetings before last season’s win by the Irish.
SCOUTING THE BILLIKENS: Saint Louis dropped its season-opener to Illinois-Chicago, 1-0, on Saturday, Aug. 26 … the Billikens were forced to play a man down for nearly 50 minutes and lost two starters to injury during the course of the match … it was the Billikens’ first loss in a season-opener since 1995 … senior midfielder John DiRaimondo is on the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy Watch List … it marks the second straight season that he has appeared on the 25-man list … DiRaimondo is also the reigning Atlantic-10 Offensive Player of the Year and was named to the A-10 preseason all-conference squad … senior goalkeeper Nick Billman, a transfer from UMass, made four saves against UIC … sophomore Dado Hamzagic was named to the preseason all-conference team … Soccer America had Saint Louis rated No. 25 in its preseason rankings and College Soccer News had the Billikens 27th in its preseason poll.
SERIES HISTORY VERSUS INDIANA: Notre Dame and Indiana will renew their rivalry with the 27th meeting on Sunday … the Hoosiers hold a 21-4-1 advantage in the series … Notre Dame is 3-3-0 against Indiana in the Bobby Clark era … in their last meeting, the Fighting Irish claimed a 2-0 victory over the Hoosiers in the second round of last year’s NCAA Tournament in Bloomington, Ind. … Indiana captured a 3-0 win at Notre Dame during the 2005 regular season … this will be the sixth year in-a-row that both teams have met … the series began during the 1978 campaign, a 7-1 win for Indiana in Bloomington.
SCOUTING THE HOOSIERS: Indiana won the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament by capturing wins over Creighton (1-0 in overtime) and UAB (2-1) … sophomore Brian Ackley was named the tournament’s Offensive MVP along with garnering the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and the College Soccer News Player of the Week honors … he netted two goals on the weekend … senior Julian Dieterle was named the tournament’s Defensive MVP … he tallied the Hoosiers third goal of the tournament … Ackley, Dieterle, junior Greg Stevning and senior Josh Tudela were all named to the Mike Berticelli Memorial All-Tournament Team … Chris Munroe played the entire match in goal versus Creighton, while Chay Cain went the distance against UAB … Indiana is ranked fifth in the latest Soccer Times poll, while College Soccer News has the Hoosiers at No. 6 and Soccer America has them at No. 8.
TAKING DOWN A TOP-10: With Notre Dame’s 4-1 win over No. 8 Creighton, the Irish have now claimed a victory against a top-10 opponent in seven straight seasons … last season, the Irish took down No. 7 SMU (4-1) and No. 5 Indiana (2-0) … the victory against the Hoosiers came in the second round of the NCAA Tournament … the Irish will look to do the same this weekend as they battle No. 8 Indiana on Sunday.
NEXT UP: Notre Dame returns home to open BIG EAST play against South Florida on Friday, Sept. 8 at 7:30 p.m. … the Fighting Irish will then host DePaul in conference action on Sunday, Sept. 10 at 1:00 p.m.
IRISH THOUGHTS: Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark shares his thoughts on the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic …
On Saint Louis … “Saint Louis is an excellent team and they have a lot of good players. They are very similar to us in how they play. We both have similar traits. They are one of the premier teams in the Midwest.”
On Indiana and the tournament … “You really don’t need to say much about Indiana. They are the premier team in the country. They have a fabulous tournament and it should be a tremendous weekend of soccer. You throw Connecticut into the mix and it would appear to make for a great weekend of soccer, at least on paper. Anyone in the area should want to come out and watch these games.”
On the Irish at this point of the season … “We’re still forming. We have potential and I felt reasonably comfortable after both games last weekend. I thought we played very well against UAB, but we didn’t finish. The Creighton game was probably a little closer than the score indicated, but we got a couple late goals. There were positives from both games last weekend.”
RECAPPING UAB: Notre Dame dominated the majority of its season-opening match versus UAB on Friday, Aug. 25, yet a goal by Jerson Monteiro in the 105th minute was the difference as the Blazers escaped with a 1-0 victory at Alumni Field during day one of the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament … despite holding a 23-5 advantage in shots and a 14-4 edge in corner kicks … Notre Dame established an offensive presence early by racking up 10 corner kicks in the first half … more of the same continued in the second half with Notre Dame out-shooting UAB 15-2 in the stanza … the Irish had several good looks at the goal in the second half, with two of the better chances coming in the final minutes of regulation … freshman Justin Morrow, who led the Irish with five shots on the night, almost connected on the rebound of a Joseph Lapira attempt, yet it was one of eight saves for Blazer goalkeeper Jeremy Drake … then with 48 seconds left, Alex Yoshinaga had a look, but could not capitalize … the junior midfielder also had a solid chance earlier in the half as he nearly netted a header off an Ian Etherington cross … Notre Dame continued pressing into overtime and forward Justin McGeeney nearly put the game-winner into the back of the net as the final seconds were ticking down … after controlling the ball in the box, the senior put a nice foot on it, yet a Blazer defender cleared the ball off the line and both teams ventured into a second overtime … just over four minutes into the second 10-minute overtime session, UAB’s Two-Boys Gumede sent the ball to Monteiro and he headed it into the upper right corner, past Irish goalkeeper Chris Cahill, to give the Blazers the victory … that was the only shot-on-goal for UAB during the match.
RECAPPING CREIGHTON: Senior forward Justin McGeeney scored a career-high two goals and fellow senior Nate Norman added two assists as Notre Dame captured a dominating 4-1 win over No. 8 Creighton during the final day of action at the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament at Alumni Field on Sunday, Aug. 27 … the Irish surrendered an early own-goal to the Bluejays … a corner kick by Creighton’s Pietari Holopainen was knocked into the net by Notre Dame’s Jack Traynor in just the second minute of the match to put the Bluejays up 1-0 … Notre Dame responded well behind goals from McGeeney in the 14th minute and then the 18th minute … his first tally was set-up by Norman, who flicked a cross into the box and McGeeney put a head on it … then a few minutes later, McGeeney received the ball in the box off the head of Bright Dike, controlled it and then fired it in to give the Irish a 2-1 advantage … the Fighting Irish nearly connected on a few other chances in the half, yet could not produce another score before the first 45 minutes of play were over … there were more close calls early in the second half, including McGeeney’s bid for a hat trick, which was headed off the post in the 58th minute … in the 77th minute, Norman hooked up with Dike to give the Irish a two-goal cushion … Norman beat a couple Bluejay defenders and sent the ball to Dike, who redirected the pass into the back of the net … Joseph Lapira put in the final tally of the day for Notre Dame as he was the lone Irish player among four Creighton defenders, yet he ripped a low blast from 18 yards out that found the back of the goal to make it a 4-1 final … Notre Dame out-shot Creighton 18-10, yet the Bluejays held a 7-4 edge in corner kicks.
IRISH IN SEASON-OPENERS: Following a 1-0 double-overtime loss to UAB on Friday, Aug. 25, Notre Dame is now 19-8-3 all-time in season-openers, including 4-1-1 in the Bobby Clark era … that was the first loss in a season-opener for Notre Dame since the 1994 campaign, a 1-0 loss at No. 15 Penn State.
MCGEENEY GETTING OFFENSIVE: Senior forward Justin McGeeney was named the BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, Aug. 28 … McGeeney scored a single-game career-best two goals in a 4-1 win over No. 8 Creighton on Sunday, Aug. 27 in the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament … this was the second weekly honor from the BIG EAST for McGeeney in his career as he was also tabbed as an Offensive Player of the Week as a sophomore during the 2004 campaign … the last Fighting Irish player to garner a weekly honor from the league was current senior Chris Cahill, who was named the BIG EAST Goalkeeper of the Week for the week of Sept. 12 last season.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Seniors Justin McGeeney and Nate Norman were named to the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament All-Tournament Team for their efforts in leading the Irish to a 4-1 win over No. 8 Creighton … McGeeney scored two goals in the contest and Norman added two assists … both marks were single-game career-highs.
SUCCESSFUL DEBUT: In his first collegiate game, sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Quinn made two saves for the Fighting Irish against Creighton … he played the entire match.
GOOD CAUSE: Notre Dame raised $7,000 for the Grassroot Soccer organization during its exhibition game versus Saint Francis (Pa.) on Monday, Aug. 21 … admission to the match was $1 with all proceeds benefiting the foundation, which is an international AIDS awareness and education organization that reaches youth in Africa through soccer clinics … a crowd of 2,534 fans showed up at Alumni Field to watch the match … a Notre Dame soccer alumnus, who wishes to remain anonymous, more than matched the amount from the crowd and Irish head coach Bobby Clark and the Notre Dame men’s soccer camp matched the attendance output dollar-for-dollar.
NOTRE DAME PICKED SECOND IN BLUE DIVISION: Notre Dame was selected to finish second in the BIG EAST’s Blue Division behind Connecticut, while South Florida was tabbed to be the league’s Red Division champion … the Irish collected five first-place votes compared to the Huskies’ 11 … Notre Dame was tabbed to finish second in the conference’s Blue Division last year and wound up placing in a tie for third with West Virginia … the Irish did garner the division’s No. 3 seed in the BIG EAST Tournament as a result of a tie-breaker.
DALBY AND ETHERINGTON NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-BIG EAST TEAM: Senior midfielders Greg Dalby and Ian Etherington were named to the 2006 Preseason All-BIG EAST Team as voted on by the league’s 16 head coaches … both Dalby and Etherington were first-team all-BIG EAST selections last season.
DALBY NAMED TO M.A.C. HERMANN TROPHY WATCH LIST: Greg Dalby was named to the 2006 Missouri Athletic Club (M.A.C.) Hermann Trophy Watch List … the trophy is presented annually to the top male and female Division I soccer player in the United States … the 25-man watch list was compiled by a panel of coaches from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).
COLLEGE SOCCER NEWS WATCH LIST: Greg Dalby was selected to the College Soccer News Pre-Season All-America first team … the senior co-captain was not the only Irish student-athlete honored by the publication, as two incoming freshmen were named to the `100 Freshmen to Watch’ list for the 2006 season … (M/F) Justin Morrow and (M/D) Michael Thomas were selected to the list and are all part of a very talented seven-man freshman class for the Irish.
FRESHMAN CLASS NATIONALLY RANKED: Notre Dame’s seven-man freshman class was ranked 16th nationally by College Soccer News … (M) John Baumgardner, (M) Dave Donohue, (M/F) Justin Morrow, (F) Tamba Samba, (D) John Schaefer, (M/D) Michael Thomas and (GK) Philip Tuttle make up the talented crop of Fighting Irish rookies.
RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE: Once again, the Irish will be facing a number of difficult opponents this season … four teams on Notre Dame’s schedule appear in the NSCAA/adidas preseason rankings and the Irish will be facing three of them in the first two weeks of the season … Notre Dame faces No. 8 Creighton in its second match of the season on Aug. 27 in the Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament … a match-up with No. 12 Indiana awaits the Irish during the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic on Sept. 3 … the Fighting Irish will then open BIG EAST play against No. 18 South Florida at Alumni Field on Sept. 8 … Notre Dame plays No. 2 Connecticut on Oct. 21 in Storrs, Conn.
NUMBER CHANGES: Seven members of the Fighting Irish team will be sporting new numbers for the 2006 season …
Name New Number Old NumberLuke Seibolt 1 24Kyle Dulworth 4 21Joseph Lapira 10 4Kurt Martin 11 8Bright Dike 14 18Nate Norman 19 20Alex Yoshinaga 20 19
NEW COACHES: The Fighting Irish are welcoming three new assistant coaches to the sidelines for the 2006 season … assistant coaches Jamie Clark and Chad Riley joined the program in March … Clark, the youngest son of head coach Bobby Clark, spent the last four seasons at New Mexico, where he helped guide the Lobos to the finals of the 2005 College Cup … Clark was a two-time All-American at Stanford, where he played from 1996-98 … Riley returns to Notre Dame, where he played from 2000-03 … he was a two-time all-BIG EAST performer at midfield … he was an assistant coach last season at St. John’s as the Red Storm compiled a record of 11-6-5 and made it to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament … Rick King is the Irish’s new volunteer assistant coach … King, a 1995 graduate of East Stroudsburg, also coaches the Indiana Invaders club soccer team.
STAY UP-TO-DATE ON NOTRE DAME ATHLETICS: To stay updated on all 26 varsity sports at Notre Dame you can log on to the official Notre Dame athletics web site at und.com or you can call the official Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000 … to access men’s soccer information on the hotline all you need to do is dial 4 from the main menu and then dial 1.
FOLLOW ALL ND HOME GAMES ONLINE: All Notre Dame home games will feature livestats available through und.com, the official web site of all 26 varsity athletic programs at the University … simply go to the men’s soccer page and click on `Schedule’ at the top of the page and find the game that is being played that day and click on `Gametracker’ to follow the game for free … live audio is also available for certain home matches.