Sept. 2, 2007
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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The ninth-ranked Notre Dame men’s soccer team fell to No. 7 Maryland, 3-0, on Sunday afternoon at Bill Armstrong Stadium during the second day of the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. The Irish end the tournament with a 1-1-0 record after topping No. 1 UCLA, 2-1 in overtime, on Friday evening.
Maryland (1-0-1) took a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute as Graham Zusi took a feed from Jeremy Hall and sent it past Irish goalkeeper Andrew Quinn (Silver Spring, Md./DeMatha) from close range. The Terps nearly upped the lead in the 16th minute when a free kick was sent near the goal and punched out by Quinn and Maryland’s Rodney Wallace sent the rebound just high over the crossbar.
Notre Dame (1-1-0) had its best scoring opportunity of the first half with a free kick attempt just to the left of the 18-yard box with 21 minutes remaining. Alex Yoshinaga (San Diego, Calif./Granite Hills) sent the ball in and it was headed out by a Terrapin defender. The Irish did not register a shot in the first half.
The Terps, who tied Indiana 1-1 on Friday, made it 2-0 with just over four minutes left in the opening half. Stephen King had the ball near the end line and sent a cross to Drew Yates and he deposited the ball into the lower left corner.
“It was a disappointing game, but I feel the final score may have flattered them a bit,” said Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. “I felt that we were more into the game than the final score indicated, but at the end of the day Maryland was the better side.”
The Irish created an early chance in the second half as Justin Morrow (Cleveland, Ohio/St. Ignatius) tried to feed Joseph Lapira (Lake Charles, La./Saint Louis Catholic) on the left side but Terrapin goalkeeper Will Swaim reached the ball before Lapira could get a foot on it. Maryland then had an opportunity on the other end of the field when King sent a blast on goal, yet it went right to Quinn.
Lapira attempted Notre Dame’s first shot of the match with 31:09 left in the second half. He collected a pass on the right side but could not get a strong foot on it. Just over two minutes later, Maryland had another near-miss as Wallace sent a shot just wide to the right.
The third Terrapin goal came in the 70th minute as Doug Rodkey sent a shot on goal and Quinn came out, yet could not grab the ball, and King collected it and sent it into the empty net. Notre Dame’s final chance came with 7:23 left as Dave Donohue (Reading, Mass./Cushing Academy) put a shot on goal and Swaim made the stop.
A solid Maryland defense held the Irish to just three shots, while the Terrapins collected 17. Swaim earned the win, while Quinn, who made four saves, suffered the loss in his first action of the season.
“We played two teams that were above us in the rankings so to go 1-1 this weekend is okay,” stated Clark. “We were without some guys because of injury, but this weekend showed us a standard we have to get to in order to be a final four team. We were also able to get some young guys in there and that was a valuable learning experience for them.”
Lapira and freshman midfielder Matt Armstrong (Phoenix, Az./North Canyon) were named to the all-tournament team.
Prior to today’s match, the last time the Irish were shutout was in a 0-0 tie with Northern Illinois on Sept. 20, 2006. That marked a span of 15 games.
The Fighting Irish return to action when they host the sixth annual Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament on Friday, Sept. 7 and Sunday, Sept. 9. Indiana squares off with Northern Illinois on Friday at 5:00 p.m. (ET) Alumni Field, while the Irish take on Rhode Island at 7:30 p.m. On Sunday, Indiana meets Rhode Island at 11:30 a.m. and Notre Dame will take on Northern Illinois at 2:00 p.m. to wrap up the event.
To stay up to date on the 2007 Notre Dame men’s soccer season, please log on to und.com or call the official Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
#7 Maryland (1-0-1) 2 1 – 3
#9 Notre Dame (1-1-0) 0 0 – 0
MD: Graham Zusi (Jeremy Hall) 4:25, MD: Drew Yates (Stephen King) 40:39, MD: Stephen King (Doug Rodkey) 69:59
Shots: MD 8-9 – 17, ND 0-3 – 3
Corner Kicks: MD 2-3 – 5, ND 0-1 – 1
Saves: MD 2 (Will Swaim 2), ND 5 (Andrew Quinn 4)
Fouls: MD 17, ND 16
Offsides: MD 1, ND 3
-ND–