Irish look to upset No. 21 Braves
By NOAH AMSTADTER
Sports Writer
The football team isn't the only squad on campus looking to upset a ranked opponent this week.
When the Notre Dame men's soccer team opens its home season tonight at Alumni Field, they will be taking on a Bradley team ranked 21st in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America/adidas Top 25 poll, released Tuesday.
The Braves are 2-0 this season after claiming the Holiday Inn City Centre Classic championship last weekend in Peoria, Ill. Bradley opened the Classic with an exciting 3-2 victory over Western Illinois. In the 90th minute of that game, two-time All-American forward Gavin Glinton scored his second goal to give the Braves the win.
Sunday's championship match saw the Braves crush the Huskies of Northern Illinois 5-0. Bradley was led by two goals by Bryan Namoff and four saves by senior goalkeeper Adam Gross. Gross holds the school record with 12 shutouts.
The Irish know that the game will be challenging, but come into the game confident after a strong 1-0-1 showing at the UNLV Fila/Snickers Rebel Classic last weekend. After shutting out opponents in both games, the Irish feel confident coming into the home opener.
"They're a very good team. They've opened up with a few wins to start their season," said assistant coach Mike Avery. "They're kind of an up and coming team in our region. We're excited about our home opener."
The defense should be very strong for the Irish behind sophomore goalkeeper Greg Tait — the Big East goaltender of the week last week — and classmate Andy Forster, the defensive player of the tournament in Las Vegas.
Tait feels the momentum from Las Vegas will carry over into today's game.
"We're really trying to concentrate on our game right now," said Tait, "We know that if we come out there focused, motivated and ready to play that we can give Bradley a really good game and hopefully get the results we want."
Winning today's game could bode well for the Irish in the long run, as at-large bids for the NCAA tournament take into account a team's record against regional opponents.
"They're in our region, so it's very important that we win, because when it comes down to getting an at large bid for the NCAA tournament, it comes down to how well you've done against opponents in your region," said senior Griffin Howard.
The Irish, playing without last year's leading scorer as sophomore Erich Braun is injured, are concentrating on improving their offensive game. Behind a strong group of freshmen, they have been able to put the ball in the net during the preseason and in last Friday's 2-0 win over New Mexico, but were shut out versus UNLV. Senior tri-captain Dustin Pridmore feels that the offense will return today.
"We feel really well coming into Bradley," said Pridmore, "I think our team is doing really well. Each game we keep getting better and better. As a team, we should continue to get better, and hopefully, we can put some more goals in the back of the net. Overall we're playing really solid and we have a lot of confidence."
All Sports Stories for Wednesday, September 6, 2000
