Sept. 22, 2001
Notre Dame, Ind. – Dennis Ludwig had a goal and two assists to lead #23 Rutgers to a 3-0 victory over Notre Dame as the Irish suffered their first home defeat of the season. The Scarlet Knights improved to 3-1-1 on the season and 2-0-0 in the BIG EAST in defeating the Irish for the fifth straight time as Notre Dame fell to 2-3-0 overall and 1-1-0 in league.
Rutgers, which was powered by two second-half goals, did not get on the scoreboard until the 42:14 mark of the contest when Sherif El Bialy finished off a Ludwig cross that came from the right side of the field and ended up in the back of the Irish net past goalkeeper Greg Tait (Fayetteville, N.Y.).
The Scarlet Knights opened up a 2-0 advantage just 1:23 into the second half when Gustavo Mora broke through the Irish defense and cut the lower corner of the net as Ludwig and Bialy were credited with assists on the goal.
Notre Dame. which had several scoring opportunities throughout the evening, had its best chance slip away when forward Erich Braun’s (Frankfurt, Germany) penalty kick at the 50:54 mark when high. Braun’s penalty kick came as the result of a foul in the penalty box by Rutgers’ Chris Stewart in the left corner of the penalty box.
Ludwig added the third Scarlet Knight goal of the evening when he picked up a loose ball and drove it into the net from 14 yards out.
J.D. Martin finished with seven saves for the Scarlet Knights in the contest, while Tait registered five stops.
Notre Dame returns to action on Tues., Sept. 25 at 7:00 p.m. when they travel to Peoria, Ill., to face Bradley.