SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The No. 13 Notre Dame men’s soccer suffered a 1-0 defeat against Michigan on Tuesday evening at Alumni Stadium.
The Wolverine goal came off a deflection in the 48th minute.
The Fighting Irish outshot Michigan by a total of 16-10 over the 90 minutes of play, including an advantage of 8-3 for shots on goal.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish controlled the majority of the first half against the Wolverines, creating a number of chances but were unable to find the breakthrough over the opening 45 minutes of play, as the match was scoreless at the break.
Notre Dame’s best opportunity came in the 37th minute, as a Michigan failed clearance was intercepted by KK Baffour in the area. The junior’s shot was right at the Wolverine keeper.
The Irish held a 7-4 advantage in shots at the halftime intermission.
Less than three minutes into the second half, the visitors struck for the opening goal. A shot from Michigan’s Bryce Blevins took a major deflection off a Notre Dame defender and looped into the goal to make it 1-0 in the 48th minute.
The Irish nearly tied it up immediately, as Jack Flanagan was played through on goal but his shot was saved by the Michigan keeper to keep the Wolverine lead intact.
Notre Dame then started coming in waves, attacking the Michigan goal for the majority of the second half. In the 60th minute Will Schroeder put his foot through a half volley that the Michigan keeper made an acrobatic save on to push over the bar.
Five minutes later the Wolverine goalie was called into action again, making a sprawling stop on a header attempt from Roou.
With the clock ticking away, the Irish made one more chance, as Jack Flanagan cut in to his favored left foot and unleashed a shot from the top of the box but it was kept out by a diving save, allowing Michigan to hold on to the victory.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the match…
“We are obviously disappointed with the result. The performance was very good for the most part. We know Michigan is a good team so they are going to test us but I thought over the last few years it was one of our best performances against Michigan and we didn’t get the result.
“The deflected goal is always tough to swallow. We have had a couple of those in the last couple of games but we have to look at the performance and I don’t think we can hang our heads after that performance. Their keeper made eight saves so we were getting quality chances and now…