Notre Dame Region 3rd Round Game Breakdowns
#3 Notre Dame vs. #14 Wake Forest
Harrison Shipp accounted for half of Notre Dame’s output as the Fighting Irish topped Wisconsin, 4-0, in a second-round game. This came after Wisconsin edged Milwaukee, 1-0, in a battle of Badger State schools. As for Wake Forest, the Demon Deacons face Notre Dame after goals by Ricky Greensfelder and Sean Okoli drove Wake Forest to a 2-1 win over Navy in the second round. Navy shut out VCU 3-0 in the first round of the tournament. Notre Dame comes into the third round with a 13-1-6 record overall while Wake Forest is 10-5-5. This will be the second trip in a row to the sweet 16 for Notre Dame and the sixth time in 13 seasons Notre Dame coach Bobby Clark has taken a team this far in the tournament. Because Notre Dame already plays an Atlantic Coast Conference schedule it has seen Wake Forest, and the Fighting Irish scored a 3-1 victory on Nov. 2. Notre Dame should have a big edge given it is 6-1-3 at South Bend this season.
#6 Georgetown vs. #11 Michigan State
A 3-0 shutout of Old Dominion improved Georgetown’s overall record to 14-4-2 and drove the Hoyas into the third round of the NCAA tournament. It was also the 14th shutout of the season for Georgetown, which has a suffocating defense capable of muffling even the best of offenses. This is the first meeting between Georgetown and Michigan State this season. After Louisville got by Denver on penalty kicks, the Cardinals fell 1-0 to Michigan State in double overtime off of a goal by Tim Kreutz. This is the second trip in four seasons to the Sweet 16 for Michigan State, which has a 13-5-3 overall record going into the round of 16. If Georgetown makes it to the next round, it will face a team it has not seen this year as neither the Fighting Irish or Demon Deacons have played in Washington D.C. For now home-field advantage goes through the Notre Dame campus.
See all Men’s Soccer Breakdowns
