No. 7 Notre Dame drops second-straight game in loss to No. 1 Indiana
No. 7 Notre Dame dropped a 1-0 decision to No. 1 Indiana on Tuesday night at Armstrong Stadium on the campus of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
The top ranked Hoosiers (7-0-2, 2-0-2 Big 10) controlled most of the play during the first half, but the score was tied 0-0 after the first 45 minutes. Indiana finished the first half with 10 shots while the Irish recorded two shots during the first frame. Notre Dame (6-2-0, 2-1-0 ACC) did not have any corner kicks during the first half, while Indiana had seven. Irish graduate student goalkeeper Chris Hubbard made three saves during the first half.
Annie Smierciak | The Observer
Irish senior midfielder Kyle Dedrick attempts to cut off an opponent during Notre Dame’s 2-1 win over Bowling Green on Sept. 19 at Alumni Stadium. Dedrick took one shot during the game.
The lone goal of the game came during the 66th minute of play when Hoosiers junior midfielder Austin Panchot buried a pass in front of the net to give Indiana a 1-0 lead. Despite a spirited comeback attempt by Notre Dame, the Hoosier defense stifled the Irish attack for the next 24 minutes. Junior defender Kyle Dedrick seemed to have scored the equalizer during the 84th minute, but the ball was ruled to have gone out over the end line. The Irish recorded six shots in the second half compared to the Hoosiers’ three. Notre Dame also had three corner kicks in the second half compared to one from Indiana.Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark said he liked the performance of his team during the second half.“It was an interesting match,” Clark said. “I thought they did a good job of controlling play without giving up too many chances. In the second half, I thought we completely took over the game. It is kind of ironic that that was the half Indiana scored in. I thought they were much more in the game in the second half. I was very pleased with the second half performance from our team.”Clark said he was disappointed his team gave up the lone goal when it seemed to be elevating its play. “I thought we just started to play during that second half,” Clark said. “There was a big crowd there, it was an important game, it was an intrastate rivalry and I thought we settled for knocking balls off the field. I thought although most of our players are very well-seasoned with experience, I wouldn’t expect them to be intimidated by the environment, but I felt they looked that way a little bit in the first half. We looked like our old selves in the second half. “We played good soccer, we were able to make longer passes, we were able to make sharper passes and overall I thought we played our game very well in the second half. We played with what the game gave us. In the first half, I thought we just kind of played the one way. I was disappointed with the outcome, especially when we gave up a goal when we were playing very well.”The Irish will be back in action on Friday night when they take on conference rival Virginia at Alumni Stadium at 7:30 p.m.Clark said his team will be given time to recharge to prep for Friday’s game. “These are all very tough games,” Clark said. “You are playing good teams so you just take it one game at a time. Every game is going to be a fight and every game is going to be a challenge. The players will get regenerated and get their legs back and our next match is coming up pretty quickly, so we have got to get ourselves ready for Virginia (6-1-1, 1-1-1 ACC) and another strong team. It will be a great game and we are looking forward to it. We will be ready.”
