East Lansing, Mich. – Michigan State’s men’s soccer team scored a pair of second half goals and had a free kick from just outside the box in the final minutes, but could not net the equalizer in a 3-2 loss to No. 4 Notre Dame at DeMartin Stadium Monday night.
The Spartans fall to 1-1 overall on the season while the Fighting Irish improve to 1-1.
“I didn’t like the first 20 minutes of the game, but we started to settle in and play at the end and hit the post in the first half,” Head Coach Damon Rensing said. “We came out in the second half and started really well, hit the crossbar. I was disappointed with that third goal and all of theirs came off re-starts. But you really have to applaud the guys. We’re a deep team and played a lot of different guys. I thought our response was great and we didn’t give up, but we’ve got to continue working.”
MSU came out strong in the second half with a pair of chances in the opening minutes of play. Off a throw-in during the 47th minute, a shot from Cromer was saved by Notre Dame goalkeeper Bryan Dowd. A free kick in the 51st minute resulted in a shot from Jake Spadafora that was saved by Dowd and hit the crossbar.
The Fighting Irish added to their lead in the 54th minute with an own goal making it 3-0.
The Spartans did not quit and continued to battle and create chances.
MSU got on the board in the 75th minute when Efosa Emovon was fouled in the box by Notre Dame, with a penalty kick awarded. Graduate midfielder Jack Beck stepped to the line and his shot beat Dowd to the lower left, cutting the lead to 3-1.
Ten minutes later, junior Vedad Kovac blasted a shot from eight yards out off a feed from freshman Jeremy Sharp and redshirt junior Kellan Landefeld making it 3-2 at the 84:29 mark.
The Spartans had another chance with just over two minutes left when a free kick was awarded just to the left of the goal outside the box, but the shot from Beck went just wide.
Notre Dame struck first with a goal in the 19th minute as Paddy Burns headed in a ball off a cross from Bryce Boneau for the early lead. The Irish added a second goal nearly three minutes later when Sebastian Green headed in a cross from Kyle Genenbacher, making it 2-0 at 21:20.
The Spartans had more build up in the final 25 minutes of the first half, with a trio of corner kicks leading to MSU shots. One from Jacob Cromer in the 26th minute and another from Greyson Mercer in the 29th minute were both blocked. A…
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