NOTRE DAME, Ind. - In what could arguably be called one of the greatest games in stadium history, a left-footed blast into the upper 90 by the Fighting Irishâs Jon Gallagher with 18 seconds remaining powered the Notre Dame men's soccer team to a thrilling 2-1 win over No. 2 Syracuse on Friday night before more than 2,400 fans at a jam packed Alumni Stadium.
The victory was the 200th at Notre Dame for head coach Bobby Clark. Clark, in his 16th season at the helm of the Irish, improved to 200-80-51 during his Notre Dame tenure.
After outshooting Syracuse (8-1-0, 2-1-0 ACC) by a 10-4 margin in the first half, No. 3 Notre Dame (7-1-0, 2-1-0 ACC) withstood an Orange second half surge that included a 79th minute equalizer to notch the crucial Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) win. The Irish ultimately finished with a 14-12 edge in shots, including a 5-3 count on goal.
Gallagher drove his sixth goal of 2016 past Syracuse goalkeeper Hendrik Hilpert and into the left corner of the Orange net from more than 20 yards out to give Notre Dame the win at 89:42. Notre Dame midfielder Jack Casey opened his collegiate goal account in the first half, scoring his first career goal on a service by Fighting Irish Evan Panken for a 1-0 Irish lead at 44:04.
Syracuse battled back to draw even after winning a corner kick deep in the Notre Dame third in the 79th minute. After leaving earlier in the first half with an upper body laceration, Fighting Irish Oyvind Alseth served a looping corner that Miles Robinson deposited into the Notre Dame net for his fourth goal of the season at 78:59, making the score 1-1 before Gallagher made his game-winning goal in the last seconds of the game.
