Irish hit the road to kick Panthers
By KERRY SMITH
The Irish men's soccer team hopes to put another notch in the win column as it hits the road to take on the Pittsburgh Panthers Saturday.
Just days after losing a tough match to Western Michigan in overtime, the squad will look to get back on the winning track. Notre Dame opened its season with two wins before dropping to 2-1 on Tuesday.
Despite coming up short against Western Michigan, the team has registered some success in the past week.
Senior captain and goal keeper Gerick Short and freshman forward Rafael Garcia earned weekly Big East soccer honors for their performances in Notre Dame's two wins over Northwestern and Boston College.
The two were instrumental in both shut-out victories. Gerick shared goalkeeper of the week honors with Rutgers' Jon Conway, while Garcia was named rookie of the week.
"I'm happy about it," said Garcia of the honor. "But it's just a small step toward a big season for the team. It means nothing compared to what I want the team to do in the Big East and the rest of the season ."
The team broke into the National Soccer Coaches Association of America ranks for the first time this week at the No. 16 spot. The Irish hope to move up in the polls by securing a win against the Panthers.
A Big East rival, Pittsburgh is coming off a disappointing 6-9-3 1998 campaign in which it managed to pull off only one Big East conference win. Plagued by several overtime losses last year, the Panthers will focus on creating more winning opportunities this season.
Pittsburgh lost its two leading scorers to graduation, but hopes to replace them with forwards Chad Porter, Spencer Barton and Reagan Bender. All three have starting experience and will combine to form a tough offense. Porter, despite missing part of last season with a shoulder injury, was an asset on offense as the team's second leading scorer on the year.
With a large portion of its starting backfield returning this season, an experienced and talented Panther defense could pose the biggest threat to an Irish victory.
Notre Dame has yet to score more than one goal in each of its victories, and despite delivering 16 shots on goal against Western Michigan, the Irish were not able to finish any offensive plays.
The Panthers have compiled an overall 1-2-1 record and 0-1 mark in the Big East so far this season. They dropped their latest game to West Virginia Mountaineers 3-1. Despite the losses, the offense has been a dominating force in the box, putting an average of just more than 15 shots on goal in each contest.
The Irish are even in their series with the Panthers at 1-1-2. The last two meetings of the teams have resulted in overtime ties.
All Sports Stories for Friday, September 10, 1999
