Men's Soccer Drops 4-0 Decision to Notre Dame

Sept. 27, 2006

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - NOTRE DAME, Ind. -- Notre Dame forward Joseph Lapira wasted little time in recording two goals, his 10th and 11th of the season to put Marquette in a hole from which it would never recover in a 4-0 loss to the 15th ranked Fighting Irish.

Lapira scored in the third minute taking a rebound off his own shot and placing to the far post. He scored his second in the 11th minute. Matt Belser recorded Notre Dame's only assist on the goal, feeding Lapira, who dribbled to the top of the box for the successful shot.

"It's the same result for different reasons," head coach Louis Bennett said. "We started poorly and that put us in a hole early. We're making mistakes that are easily identfiable and should become controllable.""

Marquette (1-9-1, 0-6) held Notre Dame (6-3-2, 4-2) scoreless for the next 62 minutes until Nate Norman recorded his first of the season. The Irish capped the scoring in the 82nd minute when Bright Dike scored for the second time this year.

Marquette keeper Marc Dettmann had four saves in addition to the four goals given up. MU forced Notre Dame keeper Chris Cahill to make four saves. Rob Walton, Michael Greene, Mehdi Eslami and Bryan Dahlquist each had shots on goal for Marquette.

"Before the game really started, we were down 2-0 and with the quality of team that Notre Dame has, it's very difficult to come back," Bennett said.

Bennett did get some spirited play in the front and on the wings. Senior Matt Blouin played another quality game, tonight as a recessed forward. Greene also developed more style, playing this contest on the wing.

"Blouin played as if he was the best player on the field," Bennett said. "Michael Greene played outside and provided two quality crosses for us that gave Eslami and Dahlquist chances inside."

Again, Marquette had the problems of playing with a reshuffled lineup. Freshmen Hector Navarro and Tim Jallow missed the contest due to illness. Jallow fell ill just hours before the match, forcing a late change.

"Both Navarro and Jallow picked up illnesses and we had to change the starting lineup yet again. I was hoping we'd be able to build some consistency off the Providence match, but we were unable to maintain that consistency," Bennett said.

Bennett also played Dettmann in goal instead of freshman Matt Pyzdrowski, who was struggling from a nagging injury.

"We always want both of our keepers to be ready and we don't want it to be a situation where one is wearing out," Bennett said. "With the demands of our schedule, Pyzdrowski was starting to wear down a little and he had an ankle injury that needed attention. Having to change the lineup so much because of injury and illness is definitely a challenge I prefer not to take on. We can't build enough consistency and quality with the injuries."

The Golden Eagles return to action on Sunday, October 1, taking on Pittsburgh at 1 p.m. EST in Indianola, Pa.