Oregon State outplayed No. 2 Notre Dame for much of Friday night’s College Cup semifinal, but as is often the case in soccer, one great shot can be the difference.
Eno Nto shot a ball through a narrow opening, skidding a 7-yard blast past Oregon State keeper Luis Castillo during the 51st minute, the lone goal in Notre Dame’s 1-0 win over the Beavers at Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville, Kentucky.
Oregon State, the only unseeded team in the semifinals, out-shot Notre Dame 10-7 and tested the Irish defense several times during the final 20 minutes. But Notre Dame made Nto’s goal stand up to end the longest playoff run in school history for the Beavers (11-6-5).
Notre Dame (13-2-6) seeks its second NCAA men’s soccer title when it plays Clemson at 3 p.m. Monday in the championship game.
Oregon State, which beat Seattle, Portland, SMU and North Carolina during the playoffs to earn its first-ever College Cup appearance, played without All-America defender Javier Armas and coach Greg Dalby during Friday’s semifinal. They were suspended after Armas illegally participated in last Saturday’s quarterfinal win over North Carolina. Armas should have missed the quarterfinal game after drawing his eighth yellow card of the season in the round of 16 match against SMU.
“We had some good chances, but they didn’t go our way. Overall, just really proud of the response from this group,” said Jarred Brookins, who served a co-head coach in Dalby’s absence. “We talked a lot about how we’ve been overlooked a lot this year. To get this far is obviously an accomplishment for our program’s history. But definitely disappointed in how it ended tonight.”
Brookins didn’t believe the Beavers were out of sorts due to the loss of Armas and Dalby. Armas was with the team on the sideline, while Dalby watched the game from outside the stadium.
“We were honest with them about what was going on,” Brookins said. “The only thing that was different tonight was that Greg wasn’t on the sideline. … Overall, I think the group’s mentality was good. I don’t think it was too much of a distraction.”
Following a scoreless first half in which Oregon State controlled most of the action, Notre Dame pounced shortly after halftime. During the 51st minute, the Irish worked the ball into position and fed Nto, who was able to get good power on a close-range shot that just escaped Castillo’s reach.
From there, Notre Dame retreated into a defensive mode. Oregon State had some opportunities, none better than in the 67th minute, when the Beavers got two nice shots on goal during an eight-second sequence. The best was Dante Williams’ 15-yard shot, which was deflected away by an Irish defender just in front of the goal as Notre Dame keeper Bryan Dowd was out of position.
“We were a little disappointed at halftime. I thought we could have played a little bit better, a little bit smarter,” Notre Dame coach Chad Riley said. “The team responded incredibly well. Obviously (Nto’s) unbelievably good goal. We were smarter, responded well. Looked more like ourselves. Credit to Oregon State in the first half. They’re obviously here for a reason. They made it tough for us.”
Oregon State is accustomed to the NCAA playoffs, as this was the Beavers’ fourth consecutive postseason appearance and fifth in six years. But the College Cup experience was new, and given the program’s trajectory of late, it might not be the last.
“It’s always great for guys on the roster to feel what this is, this experience is. There’s obviously a lot more noise around it,” Brookins said. “I thought they handled it well. It’s more that they know what to expect the next time we’re here.”
-- Nick Daschel | @nickdaschel
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