The last home game of the 2010 season, originally scheduled for Saturday against Georgetown, has been postponed to Sunday at 6:00 p.m. An Irish victory over they Hoyas could give the Notre Dame a bye in the first round of next week's Big East tournament.
Georgetown's game against Connecticut, originally scheduled for Wednesday, was postponed until Thursday night, which led to this weekend's game being postponed. The Hoyas beat the Huskies 1-0 and clinched first place in their division.
Though Georgetown's victory on Thursday cost the Irish (8-4-4, 5-2-1) a shot at first place in the conference, a win over the Hoyas would grant them second place and send them directly to the tournament quarterfinals.
"We had hoped this week was going to put us into a position where we could clinch the Big East, but since Georgetown (11-4-1, 7-1-0) beat Connecticut, we will be hoping to get second place in our division heading into the Big East Tournament," Irish head coach Bobby Clark said.
The Irish will attempt to break Georgetown's current nine-game win streak.
"That speaks volumes," Clark said. "To win nine straight is impressive."
The Irish will welcome back a familiar face on Sunday, except this time, he'll be watching the game from the other team's bench. Georgetown head coach Brian Wiese played for Clark when he coached at Dartmouth.
Wiese was an assistant coach for Clark for five years at Stanford, and continued on with Clark to Notre Dame for five more years before taking up his current job and Georgetown.
"I've always hoped we would win the Big East, but if it's going to go to someone else, I'm pretty glad it was Brian," Clark said.
Notre Dame is coming off a 3-2 win against Pittsburgh, in which junior midfielder Brendan King scored the game-winning goal in the 89th minute.
The Irish are hoping keep the momentum going and earn a win for the seven seniors who the team will commemorate during their last home game of their collegiate soccer careers.
"As the last official home game of the season, it is a very special time for all of our seniors," Clark said. "It was a good senior class, they've done extremely well. Hopefully they can do well in the tournament and take us far into the NCAAs. That's the target at the moment."
Senior goalkeeper and team captain Phil Tuttle spent half the season out on the bench with a knee injury, and senior midfielder Jeb Brovsky also had a scare earlier in the season. Luckily, Clark and the Irish are boasting good overall team health heading into Sunday's game.
"In the moment, our health is good, and hopefully it stays that way," Clark said.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Sunday at Notre Dame's Alumni Stadium.
