Sept. 7, 2007

Box Score

SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The Rhode Island men's soccer team suffered a 3-0 loss at No. 9/8 Notre Dame on Friday night, Sept. 7. Sophomore goalkeeper Chris Pennock (Middlesborough, England) made two saves in net for the Rams while freshman Matt Preyss (Chagrin Falls, Ohio) took a team-high three shots.

The Fighting Irish got on the board early when Dave Donohue sent a low shot past Pennock and over the right side of the goal line just 3:39 into the game. Joseph Lapira and Matt Armstrong both picked up assists on the tally.

"We weren't at our best tonight," said head coach John O'Connor. "We made a mistake that cost us an early goal and it took us a while to settle down after that."

Justin Morrow extended the Notre Dame lead to 2-0 in the second half when he beat Pennock to the lower right corner at the 56:56 mark off a pass from Alex Yoshinaga. The Irish picked up their final goal of the game on a Kyle Dagan penalty kick in the 65th minute.

"We had a lot of great individual efforts out there tonight," added O'Connor. "Chris (Pennock) and Callum (Bissett) and Adam (Howarth) all played really well and I also liked what I saw from Matt (Preyss) and Andres (Ruiz)."

URI caught a break when Notre Dame's Jack Traynor was ejected in the 66th minute after receiving his second caution of the night, but despite playing a man up for the next 24 minutes, the Rams were unable find the back of the net.

"We've been telling the boys all along that you can go out there and play well, but to win these big games you have execute for the full 90 minutes," explained O'Connor. "That's what Notre Dame did - they did all the little things right - and that's why they came out on top."

For the game, Rhode Island (1-2) and Notre Dame (2-1) each had five shots on goal while the Irish held a 4-2 corner kick advantage.

The Rams return to action at Notre Dame's Alumni Field, Sunday morning, when they take on fourth-ranked Indiana (2-0-1) at 11:30 a.m.