Oct. 24, 2007

Box Score

PITTSBURGH-The Pitt men's soccer team fell 3-0 to No. 7 Notre Dame Wednesday evening in its final home game of the 2007 season. Capturing their tenth shutout of the season, the Fighting Irish remained undefeated in Big East conference play, improving to 10-3-3 overall and 7-0-2 while the Panthers fell to 2-12-1 and 0-8-1. Notre Dame marked the fifth nationally-ranked opponent Pitt has faced this season.

After giving up three goals in the first 14 minutes of play, the Panther defense held Notre Dame scoreless over the remainder of the game. Jordan Marks (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) replaced starting goalkeeper Eric Barnes (Aiken, S.C./South Aiken/George Mason) after halftime and notched four saves, keeping the Fighting Irish scoring at bay.

Forward Justin Morrow notched Norte Dame's first two goals of the game, the first of which came just three minutes into play. Teammate Joseph Lapira sent a cross from the right side of the field to Morrow who was waiting in front of the Panther goal. Morrow turned and shot past Barnes, putting the Fighting Irish up 1-0.

Less than two minutes later, Lapira and Morrow connected again, as Morrow headed Lapira's pass into the net, moving the score to 2-0 in favor of Notre Dame.

In the 14^th minute, midfielder Michael Thomas tallied his first goal of the season, extending the Fighting Irish's lead to the game's final of 3-0.

Minutes later, forward E.J. McCormick (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) headed a pass from teammate Matt Langton (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) that appeared to be going into the net. Notre Dame goalkeeper Chris Cahill, however, made a diving save to keep the Panthers off the board.

In the second half, Notre Dame outshot the Panthers 7-1, but the Pitt defense, along with Marks, kept the Fighting Irish from adding to their lead.

The Panthers will conclude their 2007 season on the road as they travel to Georgetown on Saturday for a 1 p.m. game against the Hoyas. Pitt's final game will be at Marquette on Saturday, Nov. 3, at 8 p.m.

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