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Western Illinois falls to Notre Dame in the NCAA Men's Soccer College Cup, 2-0
Western Illinois, 2005 Mid-Con Men's Soccer Champions |
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Western Illinois University men’s soccer team fell to the University of Notre Dame Friday, 2-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Alumni Field on the UND campus.
In the first half of play, Western’s freshman forward Jona Andrade (Miami, Fla.) had a golden opportunity to put the Leathernecks on the scoreboard first. Andrade dribbled up to the middle of the box and took a rip, only to have it go high over the goal post in the 10th minute.
In the 20th minute, the Fighting Irish’s Joe Lapira took a ball that was served into the middle from Ryan Miller on the right side. Lapira shot it into the left side of the net past Western Illinois goalkeeper, senior Dave Hanlon (Davenport, Iowa).
In the 53rd minute, the Irish’s Kurt Martin intercepted a ball from a Western defender in the box and shot it past Hanlon to give Notre Dame the two goal lead.
Following the Fighting Irish’s second goal, Western came out on the attack and controlled much of the next ten minutes. Sophomore Preston Bernardi (Naperville, Ill.) found a loose ball in the box in the 62nd minute, but shot it right at the Irish goalie, Chris Cahill. Two minutes later, junior Nowaf Jaman (Safat, Kuwait) took a ball into the middle of the box from the right side only to have an Irish defender step in at the last minute and stop an open net shot.
“I thought their back four were tight defensively,” head coach Eric Johnson said. “I thought we had three opportunities in the first half. We were hoping to just slip in one (goal) but unfortunatly couldn’t get one by. Notre Dame is a very, very good defensive team.”
Andrade led Western with two shots in the match, while Lapria collected six for Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish held a 10-3 shot advantage in the match and a 6-2 corner kick advantage.
Hanlon recorded three saves for Western. Cahill stopped two for Notre Dame.
The Leathernecks conclude the season with a 6-10-4 record. Western Illinois ended the campaign with its second straight Mid-Continent Conference Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance. Notre Dame (11-7-3) will play at No. 3 Indiana Tuesday at 7 p.m. in second round competition.
 
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