WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — The No. 6 Fighting Irish men’s soccer team battled to a hard-fought 1-1 draw at No. 3 Wake Forest in the final road game of the regular season at Spry Stadium on Friday evening.
Daniel Russo provided the heroics for the Irish, scoring in the 85th minute off a diving header from a free kick delivery off the foot of Ethan O’Brien.
With the draw, Notre Dame outright clinched the ACC Coastal Division and a top-2 seed in the ACC Tournament.
Bryan Dowd made five saves on the evening to keep the Wake Forest attack in check.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The two sides came out and traded jabs in the opening stages with neither team landing a big blow in the opening 45 minutes of play, as the match was scoreless going into the halftime break.
Notre Dame put its first shot on target in the 19th minute, as Matthew Roou dispossessed a Wake Forest center back and found KK Baffour in space, who fired a shot towards the far post that was pushed out for a corner by the Demon Deacon keeper.
With just over a minute left in the frame Baffour’s free kick connected with Mo Williams but the grad student’s header was right at the Wake Forest keeper, sending the two sides to halftime at 0-0.
The Irish were forced to defend for much of the second half, as they put out fires all over the pitch. However, in the 79th minute Wake Forest found the opener off a strike from Leo Guarino. Irish goalkeeper Bryan Dowd got a finger to the shot to push it to the post but it ricocheted in to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.
Notre Dame responded. Roou won a free kick in the final third in the 85th minute and O’Brien perfectly floated his delivery into the box. Russo ran in and dove to win the ball, firing his shot just inside the near post to secure the 1-1 draw on the road.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the performance…
“I am really proud of the group. We knew this week would challenge us being at Virginia Tech, Michigan and at Wake Forest and we took it as an opportunity to make us tougher. Tonight was all about the team and their toughness and grit. It takes committed squads to win championships.”
ND STAT OF THE MATCH
Notre Dame wins an ACC regular-season title for the third time in program history and specifically a Coastal Division title for the second time. The Irish tied for the 2013 ACC regular-season championship when there were no divisions. Notre Dame claimed the 2014 ACC Coastal Division title in its inaugural season in 2014.
UP NEXT
The Irish welcome No. 23 Pitt to Alumni Stadium for the regular-season finale at 7 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 27. The match will be Senior Day with the ceremony taking place prior to the start of the match. The contest will be streamed on ACCNX.
FOLLOW THE IRISH ON SOCIAL MEDIA
For a behind the scenes look at the Notre Dame men’s soccer program follow the Irish on Twitter (@NDMenSoccer), Instagram (@ndmensoccer), Facebook (/NDMenSoccer) and TikTok (@ndmensoccer).