Chippewas Drop Opener At Notre Dame

Thursday, August 16

South Bend, Ind.

7:00 p.m. ET

Central Michigan University

0-1-0

Notre Dame

1-0-0

Central Michigan

Notre Dame

8/16/2018 8:55:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score

McGahey: Plenty of positives on which to build

By: Andy Sneddon

Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Notre Dame scored two second-half goals on Thursday in handing Central Michigan a 3-1 nonconference soccer loss in the Chippewas' season opener at the Irish's Alumni Stadium.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Notre Dame, which is ranked 14^th, finished with a 28-10 edge in shots, including 16-5 in the second half as the Irish turned up the pressure after the intermission. The game was tied, 1-1, at halftime.

Brooke VanDyck scored in the 62^nd minute to put Notre Dame ahead for good.

"The second half, I think some of it was their adjustments and their execution," CMU coach Peter McGahey said. "I thought the difference was that their execution was really sharp and ours was good, but unfortunately that margin for error gets really hard. We matched up with them directly and in the second half and (when) we get beat off the dribble it's hard to cover and that's what happened, particularly on their second goal, the game-winning goal.

"The first half we played an outstanding, even game. I was really happy with how we competed, our process, the trust that we put in, and that carried over the second half as well."

CHIPPEWA GOAL
Madison Costner scored in the 20^th minute for the Chippewas to tie the game 1-1. Junior Taylor Zimmerman picked up the assist, the first of her career.

FIRST START
CMU sophomore Morgan Britain recorded seven saves in goal in her first career start.

"I thought Morgan's debut was really something to be proud of," McGahey said. "She stood tall, she showed a lot of resilience and continued to make saves for us and continued to make big plays for us. I thought she did a very good job tonight."

TO THE GOOD
"For me, and I told the team this, the outcome is not what we wanted," McGahey said, "but the process and how we played and how we showed really good discipline on defense in blocking shots and how we created some good chances against the 14^th--ranked team in the country – the positives far outweigh the result. With the way we competed and how they held their heads up and the positive energy we created is really a lot to build on."

NEXT
The Chippewas play host to Southern Utah in their home opener on Sunday (1 p.m.) in a nonconference game at the CMU Soccer Stadium. The Thunderbirds, who finished 5-13 last season, are scheduled to play at Michigan State in their season opener on Friday.