Aug. 23, 2003

Final Stats

St. Louis - No. 12 Notre Dame tallied two second half goals tonight to post a 2-0 victory over 11th-ranked Saint Louis in a men's soccer exhibition match before 5,088 at Robert R. Hermann Stadium. Senior forward Justin Detter led the Irish by scoring one goal and assisting on the other.

"Our young guys got their introduction to college soccer tonight," head coach Dan Donigan said. "They have a much better understanding of the type of effort and execution they'll need to succeed at this level. Notre Dame is a composed, veteran team, and they did a lot of little things to wear us down."

The teams played a scoreless first half that saw the Billikens out-shoot the Irish 5-1, and Irish keeper Chris Sawyer made a couple of sparkling saves to keep the game knotted. Sawyer denied SLU freshman midfielder Will John at the right post in the second minute and stoned Billiken freshman forward Vedad Ibisevic from point blank range in the 10th minute.

In the first minute of play in the second half, Billiken sophomore Andrew Moses excited the second-largest crowd in stadium history with what appeared to be a goal, but SLU was whistled offsides to negate the tally.

ND senior forward Justin Detter put the Irish up 1-0 with a goal in the 49th minute. Irish senior defender Kevin Richards sent a serve from 35-yards out and Detter outfought SLU defender Kevin Wickart for the ball. Detter settled the ball from 12-yards and found the lower right side of the Billiken goal.

The Irish went up 2-0 on senior forward Devon Prescod's goal at 78:21. Senior midfielder Chad Riley pushed a ball deep into the Billiken defense and Detter chased it down. Detter drove a cross right in front of the gola, and Prescod split two defenders for a tap-in at the goalmouth.

"We had moments of brilliance, and the potential is there for this team to be excellent," Donigan said. "The experience gained with each game right now is invaluable to this group. We're excited about this season and the future."

Notre Dame out-shot the Bills 10-7 and had an 8-7 edge in corner kicks. Sawyer made two stops to record the shutout, while SLU keeper Martin Hutton made three stops.

The Billikens open their regular season at Virginia's adidas Classic over Labor Day weekend. The Bills face Akron on Fri., Aug. 29, before facing the host Cavaliers on Sun., Aug. 31.

NOTRE DAME 2, SAINT LOUIS 0 
 ND  48:05  Justin Detter 12 yds from Kevin Richards
 ND   78:21 Devon Prescod 1-yrd from Justin Detter.

 Shots: SLU - 7, ND - 10
 Corners: SLU - 7, ND - 8
 Saves: SLU - 3 (Hutton - 3), ND- 2 (Sawyer - 2)
 Fouls: SLU - 9, ND - 15
 Att:  5,088