SOUTH BEND, Ind. — The No. 23/8 Notre Dame men’s soccer team suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday evening at Alumni Stadium, in a hard-fought 1-0 loss to No. 3 Stanford.
The Fighting Irish dominated possession and shots in the contest, outshooting the visitors by a margin of 15-4 but were unable to get a result from the performance.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish created the best chance of either side in the opening stages of play, as Matthew Roou headed a Bryce Boneau cross off the crossbar and out of play in the 16th minute.
The Cardinal responded, scoring a goal in the 22nd minute from a header on the back post by Jackson Kill off a corner to take a 1-0 lead.
Less than a minute later the Irish nearly responded, as KK Baffour’s strike on the edge of the area went just wide of the near post. The Cardinal managed to hold on to the one goal lead through the first 45 minutes of play. The Irish outshot Stanford 5-3 at the halftime break.
The whole complexion of the match changed in the first minute of the the second half, as Kill picked up his second yellow card in the 46th minute, forcing the Cardinal to play with 10 men the rest of the way.
The visitors bunkered in and ceded possession to the Irish for the majority of the final 44 minutes of play.
Notre Dame created numerous chances but were unable to find the equalizer, allowing Stanford to escape with a 1-0 victory.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the match…
“Obviously disappointed with the result. We knew Stanford is a top team so that it was going to be a challenging night. For the most part I’m really pleased with the way we played. We know they are good on set pieces and we will be disappointed to give up what was the winner on a corner.
“Overall the guys can hold their heads high. It’s a great performance on another night if a couple of our shots go in and we don’t hit the bar. Overall I’m pleased with the performance and now we just want to put a performance and result together.”
UP NEXT
The Irish are back in action on Friday, Sept. 20 in a non-conference matchup against Chicago State at 7 p.m. ET at Alumni Stadium. Admission is free and the match will air on ACCNX.
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