Hoosiers avenge last year’s loss to Notre Dame

A year ago, Notre Dame forward Joseph Lapira gave the IU defense fits at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic when he scored four goals including a game-winning goal that propelled the Fighting Irish to a 5-4 overtime win against the Hoosiers.\nThis year, the only difference for Lapira was the change in venue – and the result as the No. 12 Hoosiers took the match in South Bend, 3-2 despite giving up two goals to Lapira. IU coach Mike Freitag summed up Lapira’s performance when he talked about containing the Notre Dame forward.\n“We didn’t do too damn good,” Freitag said. “We cut him down from four (goals) to two, so we’re improving.”\nThough IU pulled out the win, Lapira persisted with his prolific scoring with a fourth minute goal, scoring an early 1-0 lead for his team. IU quickly countered with a goal from freshman midfielder Rich Balchan in the 18th minute. Balchan said he got the ball in space for his goal and took advantage of a one-on-one opportunity.\nBalchan also said he thought his team turned in a solid performance and countered Notre Dame’s energy at the opening of the game. IU maintained dominant time of possession for most of the contest. Their possession may have been the key to winning the game, as they limited the touches for Lapira, which may have caused the two-goal difference in his performance this year.\nFreitag said he’s dangerous, but his team performed better against Lapira this year. \n“He’s a quality forward, but guys made better decisions, and I think that made the difference,” Freitag said.\nIt seemed as if IU silenced Lapira and the Fighting Irish. The Hoosiers had put the clamps on them for 67 minutes, and junior forward Kevin Noschang added a goal in the 71st minute to put the Hoosiers up 2-1. Lapira promptly answered with a second goal in the 73rd minute tying the score at 2-2. \n“It was frustrating,” Noschang said of Lapira’s quick answer to his goal. “But we weren’t playing for anything but a win. We were determined to answer and come out with a win.”\nThis game began to look more like a shootout when freshman forward Neil Wilmarth scored a third goal for IU in the 80th minute off a Noschang assist. Wilmarth’s goal would be the last of the contest as IU held off Notre Dame for the win.\nSince their loss to Louisville, the Hoosiers have responded with two wins against Top 10 opponents, No. 6 Northwestern and No. 4 Notre Dame.\nFreitag said he was happy with his team’s performance Wednesday night.\n“I was pleased with the overall effort tonight,” Freitag said. “They get up for the big games, but it’s easy to do that. We have to do that for every opponent, and that’s what we’re working on.”