Notre Dame men defeat DePaul

CHICAGO, Ill. The No. 20 Notre Dame's soccer team claimed a 2-1 decision over DePaul on Friday evening at Wish Field in the BIG EAST opener for both squads. The Irish used goals from Jeb Brovsky (Lakewood, Colo./Green Mountain) and Bright Dike (Edmond, Okla./Edmond North) to notch the victory.

Notre Dame (3-2-1, 1-0-0) got on the board in the 10th minute when Brovsky, a junior forward, worked his way by the DePaul defense and sent a shot into the upper right corner.

DePaul (3-3-0, 0-1-0) evened the match in the 26th minute as Mark Plotkin sent a shot over Irish goalkeeper Philip Tuttle (Hooksett, N.H./Brewster Academy) from 30 yards out.

The match was knotted 1-1 at halftime.

Notre Dame regained the lead for good in the 60th minute as Dike, a senior forward, scored his team-leading fourth goal of the season when he got behind the Blue Demon defense and sent the ball past goalkeeper Joe Ferrari. Fellow senior Michael Thomas (Olathe, Kan./St. Thomas Aquinas) assisted on the play to up his team-high assist total to two.

Tuttle improved to 2-1-0 on the season by making two saves. Ferrari made one save in the loss.

It was a good result,commented Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. We were very good in the second half. The first half was a little sloppy, but the goals from both teams were terrific. They were both good strikes. It certainly was a hard fought game and not many teams come to Wish Field and win. I felt it was a good performance and everyone worked hard. We’ll take it and move on.

Next up for the Fighting Irish will be a BIG EAST clash at South Florida on Sunday. Game time is slated for 1:00 p.m. (ET) at the USF Soccer Stadium in Tampa, Fla.