After its opening match of the postseason was delayed a day due to inclement weather, No. 16 Notre Dame regained its composure and pulled out its first win in over three weeks, beating Duke 3-2 in overtime Thursday afternoon to advance to the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament.
The golden goal came from the foot of junior forward Jon Gallagher, who added to his three regular-season game-winning goals with another Thursday. The ACC leader in goals scored, Gallagher finished his 12th of the season in the 100th minute on assists from graduate student midfielder Evan Panken and freshman midfielder Jack Casey. Notre Dame’s well-executed passing found the run of Gallagher inside the box, who promptly deposited the ball past Duke graduate student goalkeeper Robert Moewes and into the back of the net, sending the Irish bench storming onto the field in celebration.
The match ended with the Irish (11-5-2, 3-3-2 ACC) having outshot the Blue Devils (7-8-2, 2-5-1) 16-7, including by a 12-5 margin in the second half and overtime, but the Blue Devils kept the game close the entire way. Irish senior defender Brandon Aubrey kicked off the scoring with his ninth goal of the season in the 10th minute to put the Irish up 1-0. After a Duke transition goal by junior defender Carter Manley in the 23rd minute evened the game, junior forward Jeffrey Farina put the Irish back in front in the 71st minute, scoring his first goal of the season on a header to the left post. However, Duke quickly struck back again, this time off a corner kick, as a header from junior midfielder Cameron Moseley found the back of the net in the 74th minute, setting up overtime. The Blue Devils, who beat the Irish in double overtime Oct. 21, looked to pull off another upset in extra time but were instead eliminated by Gallagher and the Irish, who improved to 4-1 in home ACC tournament matches since joining the conference in 2013.
Notre Dame, the seventh seed in the ACC tournament, now advances to face second-seeded Wake Forest in the ACC quarterfinal in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The Irish and the Demon Deacons (12-2-3, 5-1-2) battled to a 2-2, double-overtime tie at Alumni Stadium back on Oct. 8, an game Irish head coach Bobby Clark called “a good advertisement for ACC soccer.” Wake Forest has not lost since their trip to South Bend, while Notre Dame suffered a four-game losing streak to limp into the ACC tournament. The Demon Deacons, now ranked the No. 2 team in the country, claimed their second-straight ACC Atlantic Division title last Friday, securing a 1-1 tie on the road against No. 7 Syracuse.
The Irish and Demon Deacons will square off Sunday at 1 p.m. at Spry Stadium.
