Sophomore goalkeeper Zach Bennett stops the ball Nov. 5, 2013, during the game against Notre Dame at DeMartin Stadium at Old College Field. The Spartans lost to the Fighting Irish, 2-0. Julia Nagy/The State News
Two goals separated by less than a minute sunk the No. 18 MSU men’s soccer team as they fell 2-0 to No. 1 Notre Dame Tuesday afternoon.
Notre Dame’s Harrison Shipp scored in the 60th minute, and Vince Cicciarelli tallied 37 seconds later to put the game out of reach.
“We’re disappointed with the result,” head coach Damon Rensing said. “This is a program that doesn’t take any solace in losing games and playing well. If you break the game down into pieces, we were very good for 85 minutes.”
Junior forward Tim Kreutz had a good chance on net after getting past the Notre Dame back line early on, but he didn’t get enough power to chip Fighting Irish goalkeeper Patrick Wall.
“(Junior defender Ryan) Keener hit a good ball, and I got behind and they missed it,” Kreutz said. “That was a good shot that I should have put away and that would’ve got us off to a good start, but other than that, it was going to take something amazing to get in today.”
Senior forward Brent McIntosh had the best chance for the Spartans when he let loose a rocket from 35 yards out that was headed for the top corner of the net. The shot forced Wall to make a diving one-handed save.
Notre Dame put on more pressure the rest of the way and forced numerous two- and three-on-two counterattacks. They ended the period leading 9-4 in shots.
MSU came out in the second half and had some good opportunities on the attack, but the two goals by the Fighting Irish took the life out of the Spartans.
McIntosh put a solid strike on frame late in the second half that forced another good save by Wall.
“It was tough,” McIntosh said. “Their defense is really compact, so we had some trouble breaking them and didn’t take the chances that we did have. After the first one, we had some hope that we could easily get one back.”
The Fighting Irish caught the Spartans napping on the offensive end a couple times and used the counter attack for odd man rushes, something rarely seen in soccer, but each time the Spartan defense held tough.
The Spartans host arch-rival Michigan in the regular season finale at 2 p.m. Nov. 9 at DeMartin Stadium in a game that has been long awaited by players and fans alike.
“We need to rest so me legs and come in focused,” Rensing said. “It’s senior day and we’ve got some great seniors … we want to send them out on a high note.”
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