Indiana men’s soccer (15-4-4) will face No. 2 national seed Notre Dame Saturday in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals at Alumni Stadium. The winner will advance to the NCAA Men’s College Cup.
The match will stream live on the ESPN+ digital platform. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. ET.
The Hoosiers come in red hot. Indiana has won 12 of its last 13 matches, including eight straight victories. In that span, nine different Hoosiers have combined for 27 goals, and eight have scored multiple goals.
IU is making its NCAA-record 29th appearance in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal round. The Hoosiers have advanced to the Final Four 22 times, also a national record.
This will be the second time the teams have played this year. Indiana and Notre Dame met in the 2023 season opener and played to a 1-1 draw. The Hoosiers recovered from a 1-0 deficit thanks to Collins Oduro’s first-career goal.
For the third straight tournament round, Indiana is facing a national seed from the ACC. Indiana defeated No. 10 seed Wake Forest 3-2 in the second round before shutting out No. 7 Virginia 1-0 in the Sweet 16. IU has been the visiting team in all three contests.
Notre Dame owns a 12-2-5 record and has a 9-2-2 mark in home matches. The Fighting Irish are led by sixth-year head coach Chad Riley, who owns a 63-38-16 record during his time in South Bend and a 114-64-30 career mark in 11 seasons as a head coach.
Notre Dame is making its sixth appearance in the NCAA Tournament Quarterfinal round and has advanced to the NCAA College Cup twice, mostly recently in 2021.
The Fighting Irish have not allowed a goal in two tournament matches. After receiving a bye through the opening round, they knocked out Kentucky 2-0 in the second round before beating Western Michigan 4-2 on penalties despite playing with 10 men the final 83 minutes (including overtime).
Junior forwards Matthew Roou and Eno Nto lead Notre Dame in scoring with 10 goals apiece. Sophomore midfielder KK Baffour, who leads Notre Dame with seven assists, will miss Saturday’s match after receiving a red card in the previous game.
SERIES HISTORY
- Indiana’s first-ever varsity match was a 5-1 victory in South Bend. The Hoosiers then won 11 straight matchups to kick off a series that has been renewed 47 times.
- More recently, the two teams have met in 22 of the last 23 seasons, only missing the unique 2020-21 campaign due to IU’s conference-only schedule. In that span, the programs have met 25 times.
- The Hoosiers hold a dominant 33-10-4 record in the series and are undefeated in the last seven matches (5-0-2), each decided by one goal or a draw.
- Indiana and Notre Dame have met three times in the NCAA Tournament with the Hoosiers holding a 3-1 advantage in those matches. Notably, IU earned a comeback, 2-1 win over the No. 1-seeded Fighting Irish in the third round of the 2012 tournament on its way to its eighth national title. In 2018, IU beat Notre Dame in the quarterfinal round to advance to the NCAA College Cup.
To see the NCAA Tournament bracket, GO HERE.
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