Printer-Friendly Format     E-mail this article     Joseph Lapira (top) and Ryan Miller celebrate the second Notre Dame goal of the match. Miller collected the assist on the Lapira goal.

 
Notre Dame Downs Oakland, 2-1, To Advance In NCAA Play

Irish in the Round of 16 for the third straight season.

Nov. 28, 2007

Box Score

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - A three-point performance from senior forward Joseph Lapira (Lake Charles, La./Saint Louis Catholic) propelled 10th-seeded Notre Dame to a 2-1 victory over Oakland in the second round of the NCAA Men's Soccer Championship on Wednesday night at a cold and windy Alumni Field. The Fighting Irish advance to the Round of 16 for the third straight season and will take on the winner of the Santa Clara-UCLA match this weekend.

Notre Dame (13-4-5) controlled possession throughout the majority of the first half. The Fighting Irish cracked the scoring column in the 36th minute as Lapira sent a low cross to the far post for Alex Yoshinaga (San Diego, Calif./Granite Hills) and the senior midfielder deposited his third goal of the season.

The Irish out shot the Golden Grizzlies 8-2 in the opening half and would take the one goal lead into the intermission.

The Notre Dame offense struck again in the 57th minute when senior defender Ryan Miller (Barrington, Ill./Barrington) sent a cross in from the right side that Lapira tapped in to make it a two-goal advantage for the hosts. That was a program-record fifth goal in NCAA Championship play for Lapira. The senior now has 102 career points (40 g, 22 a), which ranks him fifth in Fighting Irish history. His 40 goals also rank him fifth in school history.

"I think for goalscorers like Joe (Lapira) it's always hard early in the game," said Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark. "The start of games are always very ugly. Team's marking and discipline is usually good at the beginning, but the longer a game goes on teams start to lose their discipline and that's when there starts to be some space for the striker."

Oakland (12-7-3) would not go down without fight. The Golden Grizzlies upped the offensive pressure towards the later stages of the second stanza and it paid off in the 66th minute as Endre Osnes gathered the ball near the top of the 18-yard box and scored to cut the Notre Dame lead in half.

Osnes nearly connected on another goal with just over 17 minutes remaining yet his shot hit off the near post. The Irish defense would hold on to preserve the victory. Senior goalkeeper Chris Cahill (Louisville, Ky./DeSales) made four saves for Notre Dame, while his counterpart Steve Clark also had four stops.

Notre Dame out shot Oakland 14-11 for the match, while the Fighting Irish produced six more corner kicks (7-1) than the Golden Grizzlies.

This will be the fifth trip to the Round of 16 for the Fighting Irish. Last season, Notre Dame defeated Maryland, 1-0 in double-overtime, to advance to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals for the first time in program history.

"This group of seniors really want this," added Clark. "They worked really hard from the minute we lost last year at Virginia. The group as a whole, especially the seniors, has worked really hard. This is the culmination of their work and hopefully we can push this thing a little bit further."

To stay up to date on the Notre Dame men's soccer team, log onto und.com or call the official Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.

NCAA Championship Second Round

Oakland (12-7-3) 0 1 - 1
#10 Notre Dame (13-4-5) 1 1 - 2

ND: Alex Yoshinaga (Joseph Lapira) 35:07; ND: Joseph Lapira (Ryan Miller) 56:14; OU: Endre Osnes 65:53

Shots: OU 2-9 - 11, ND 8-6 - 14
Corner Kicks: OU 1-0 - 1, ND 5-2 - 7
Saves: OU 4 (Steve Clark 4), ND 4 (Chris Cahill 4)
Fouls: OU 17, ND 12
Offsides: OU 1, ND 4