Notre Dame soccer rides penalty kicks into Men's College Cup semifinal
Notre Dame men’s soccer needed penalty kicks to advance in the NCAA Tournament once again Saturday night.
The Irish, seeded No. 2 overall, made sure they moved on by making all five penalties to knock off Indiana with a 5-4 advantage on penalty kicks following a 1-1 tie in Notre Dame’s Alumni Stadium.
Senior forward Daniel Russo made the fifth and final penalty kick to send the Irish (12-2-6) to Friday’s College Cup national semifinals. Notre Dame advanced to the quarterfinals with a penalty kicks victory over Western Michigan last Sunday.
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Notre Dame will play against Oregon State (11-5-5) on Friday after the Beavers knocked off No. 3 seed North Carolina with a 1-0 victory on the road. No. 5 West Virginia (17-2-4) will play against No. 9 Clemson (13-3-5) in the other semifinal.
The Men’s College Cup, which will culminate with the national championship game Monday, Dec. 11, will be hosted at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Ky. The Notre Dame men last played in the College Cup in 2021 with a penalty kicks loss to Clemson in the semifinals.
Russo gave Notre Dame a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute of Saturday’s quarterfinal matchup with Indiana (15-4-5). His nifty free kick beat IU goalie JT Harms and hit the back right corner of the net.
Indiana midfielder Patrick McDonald tied the game in the 63rd minute with a strike from just outside the penalty arc. He settled a header clearance attempt by a Notre Dame defender to beat Irish goalie Bryan Dowd.
Neither team managed to score in the two 10-minute overtime periods. Indiana took 25 shots with only four on goal throughout the game. Notre Dame mustered only 11 shots with four on goal as well.
Indiana started the penalty kicks with a miss by defender Joey Maher. He hit the left post with Dowd diving just short of it. The rest of his teammates made their four penalties, but it wasn’t enough to beat Notre Dame.
The Irish knocked in all five penalties in order with defender Paddy Burns, forward Matthew Roou, forward Eno Nto, defender Mitch Ferguson and Russo. Russo celebrated the game-winner off his left foot with a shrug to the crowd before his teammates and fans from a sellout crowd of 3,108 mobbed him on the field.
BOX SCORE: Notre Dame 1, Indiana 1
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