Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Erich Braun tallied the game-winning goal in the second half at the 49:05 mark.

 
Notre Dame Men's Soccer Stuns #6 Indiana 1-0

Irish defeat Hoosiers for just the second time in 21 meetings.

Oct. 17, 2001

Box Score

Bloomington, Ind. - Erich Braun's (Frankfurt, Germany) team-leading ninth goal of the season may have just been one of the biggest in the history of the Notre Dame men's soccer program. Braun provided the lone Irish score 4:06 into the second half to lift Notre Dame to a 1-0 victory at sixth-ranked Indiana.

The win was just the second-ever for Notre Dame in the series history spanning 21 games. Heading into the contest, the Hoosiers had won nine straight and held a commanding 18-1-1 advantage in the series. But on this night, Notre Dame proved it was capable of competing against one of the nation's top teams. It was the first win ever for the Irish over the Hoosiers in Bloomington and was the first victory since a 4-3 win in 1987.

With its fourth straight victory, Notre Dame improves to 7-4 on the season, while the Hoosiers fall to 9-3,

The victory for head coach Bobby Clark's squad was the first over a ranked opponent this season and marked the second straight year that Notre Dame had beaten a top 10 opponent (last season the Irish defeated 10th-ranked St. John's 1-0). Notre Dame's last win over a team ranked sixth or higher was during the 1996 campaign in the first round of the NCAA tournament when the Irish defeated second-ranked UNC Greensboro 1-0. The victory also marked the seventh for the Notre Dame men's soccer program over a top 10 team.

"This was obviously an extremely big win for our team," said Irish head coach Bobby Clark. "We did a lot of things well. Before the game I talked to the team about playing with confidence and I think we did that tonight. We had been knocking on the door all season along against top teams (Furman and Seton Hall) and this evening we just went out and executed.

"I thought we did a tremendous job of keeping possession of the ball. Erich (Braun) and Devon (Prescod) played well upfront. We created good chances. Justin Detter also had the opportunity to score a goal.

Braun scored a goal for the fourth time in as many games and continued his streak of scoring at least one goal in every game (eight games). His goal at the 49:05 mark came off assists from Kevin Goldthwaite (Sacramento, Calif.) and Devon Prescod (Marietta, Ga.). Chad Riley (Houston, Texas) started the goal when he sent a diagonal 40-yard pass to Prescod. His pass was then sent to Goldthwaite who crossed it to Braun in front of the goal.

"The goal was a terrific one and was set up very well," Clark said.

Freshman goalkeeper Chris Sawyer (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) was impressive in goal as he made four stops on 112 Hoosier shots.

In registering the shutout win, Notre Dame has recorded three straight road shutouts for the first time since 1993.

While tonight's victory was a step toward Notre Dame establishing itself among the nation's best programs, Clark turned to the importance of the Irish's next BIG EAST conference foe - No. 21 Boston College. The Irish, who are 4-2 in league play, host the Eagles (8-3, 5-2) on Sat., Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m.

"Tonight's win means nothing if we don't take care of business on Saturday night," Clark says. "We need to continue to build on the momentum we have."

Scoring: ND: Erich Braun (Kevin Goldthwaite, Devon Prescod), 49:05.