ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Notre Dame went into Ann Arbor and defeated the Wolverines by a score of 1-0 to advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday evening.
The Irish will take on No. 14 Akron in Akron in the second round of the tourney at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 23. The match will air on ESPN+.
Blake Kelly put in an impressive performance in goal, making eight saves to collect the clean sheet victory.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish and Wolverines each had opportunities over the opening 45 minutes of play but neither team was able to score the opener as the match went to the half scoreless at 0-0.
Notre Dame’s best chances came off free kicks in the final third, the best of which came off the foot of Mitch Ferguson. He put a shot just wide of the far post in the 26th minute.
On the other end Blake Kelly made a couple of big saves to keep the match level for the Irish in the first half.
The Irish came out of the halftime break and struck within the first six minutes of play to grab a 1-0 lead.
Wyatt Borso unleashed a shot from the edge of the box, forcing a diving stop from the Michigan keeper. Ren Sylvester then headed the rebound on target but the Wolverine keeper scrambled to save his effort as well. While trying to clear his lines, a Michigan defender headed the ball but it went backwards into his own net for an own goal.
Michigan nearly leveled in the 66th minute, firing a shot headed towards the top of the net but Kelly made a great diving save to keep the lead intact.
The Irish defense got stuck in down the stretch, putting out fires all over the pitch in the final 20 minutes of play to leave Michigan with the 1-0 victory.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the match…
“I’m just so excited for the team and for the guys. We knew this was the best first round game you’re ever going to play and it was an excellent game. The team stuck together and had some moments of real quality and found a way to get a goal and then defended a very dynamic Michigan team very well. Michigan had an unbelievable season and we are just so happy to advance and get to compete again.”
On Blake Kelly’s performance…
“I thought Blake was outstanding tonight. To win games at this level you need your keeper to make saves and he did his job really well tonight. We are so glad he’s our goalie.”
On the mindset heading into Sunday’s match at Akron…
“We hadn’t played for a couple of weeks so it was nice to get a game and get our fitness there and then we’ll take a look at Akron and we know we have to do the little things well in tournament time to get victories.”
NOTRE DAME NOTES
- The Fighting Irish are now 24-21-7 in the NCAA Tournament in program history.
- Notre Dame is 14-8-2 in its opening NCAA Tournament match in program history.
- The win gives Notre Dame an all-time record of 17-4-5 against Michigan in the series, including a mark of 1-0-2 in NCAA Tournament play.
- The clean sheet is the sixth of the season for the Fighting Irish, all coming with Blake Kelly between the posts.
- The Irish have posted six clean sheets over their last three NCAA tournament appearances.
UP NEXT
The Irish travel to Ohio to take on No. 14 Akron in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov 23 at FirstEnergy Stadium. The match will air on ESPN+.
FOLLOW THE IRISH ON SOCIAL MEDIA
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