Freshman defender Connor Corrigan and Notre Dame midfielder Patrick Hodan fight for the ball during the game on Sept. 22, 2015, at DeMartin Soccer Stadium. The Spartans was defeated by the Fighting Irish 4-0. Joshua Abraham/ The State News
The MSU men’s soccer team finished their fifth and final game of its homestand Tuesday, falling to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 4-0.
Notre Dame came out of the gates firing, scoring its first goal of the game came in the second minute of play when senior defenseman Max Lachowecki put one past senior goalkeeper Zach Bennett.
The Fighting Irish continued their early assault when sophomore forward Jon Gallagher scored in the 14th minute off a shot that was initially deflected off of Bennett's save, but then was put past the veteran keeper.
Notre Dame’s third goal came with less than two minutes left in the first half when freshman midfielder Thomas Ueland shot one to the right of Bennett on a pass from fellow teammate Connor Klekota.
“The first goal, maybe two minutes in, which just from that standpoint, is not the way you want to start a game,” senior goalkeeper Zach Bennett said following Tuesday’s game. “Our response after that wasn’t great either, and that kind of snowballed into the second and third (goals).”
The fourth and final blow of of the game came in the middle of the second half when a shot taken by Notre Dame forward Mark Gormley was deflected off sophomore Spartan defenseman Brad Centala, and into the goal. The play was marked as an own goal.
Both the Spartans and the Fighting Irish matched each other with 12 shots throughout the day, but MSU was simply unable to match Notre Dame on either side of the ball during the game.
“If you don’t come to play against a top-10 program in the country they’re gonna put four on you and walk away,” Bennett said. “It was on us as leaders and players out there that we didn’t come to play today.”
The Spartans had many offensive chances throughout the game but weren’t able to capitalize on any of them. MSU had seven corner kicks in the game compared to Notre Dame’s two, and missed opportunities by the offense led to success for the Fighting Irish.
“The word I would use to describe our team is 'uncharacteristic,'” head coach said. “We talked about the importance of getting off to a good start. ... And we just didn’t have it. ... It was just sloppy on our part. You’ve got to give Notre Dame credit. They came in ready to play and scored goals.”
The Spartans now fall to 3-3-1 on the season but will look to put the most difficult part of their season behind them. The Spartans will open up a two game road trip starting with Rutgers (3-2-1). Kickoff for that game will be at 7 p.m.
Notre Dame's ranking was switched from No. 9 to No. 14.
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