SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – After going into halftime with a 1-0 lead, Notre Dame College scores four goals in 20 minutes, in the second half, to defeat Shepherd University 5-0, on Thursday afternoon.
After the Falcons (12-2, 9-2 MEC) took six shots that did not convert into goals, they broke through with a goal in the 21
st minute. Junior
Giulio Bellei placed a pass in front of freshman
Nicholas Felician on the right side of the penalty box and Felician finished the play with his sixth goal of the season and team-leading fourth game winner of the year.
Shepherd almost scored a goal in the 41
st minute, but offside was called before the ball got past NDC's junior goalkeeper
Daniele De Angelis.
Neither team scored for the rest of the half, but NDC put up 15 shots over the first 45 minutes of action.
Over an 11 minute span, from the 48
th minute to the 59
th minute, the Falcons struck eight shots and two corner kicks, but the Shepherd (1-14, 0-11 MEC) defense did a good job of keeping Notre Dame off the scoreboard for the first 14 minutes of the second stanza.
Notre Dame did get the first goal of the half when Felician passed to junior
Arthur Favero who worked around a defender and put the ball into the net for his 11
th goal of the season.
The goals were put up at a quick pace once the game entered the 77
th minute. Senior
David Perez Torralba passed toward the middle of the box, where Felician controlled the ball and almost immediately took a shot that skidded past the diving goalkeeper, Mike Lemay. Felician scored two goals today, for the second game in a row. He has three multi-goal games this season.
In the 78
th minute, Torralba stole the ball and went one-on-one with the goalkeeper which resulted in a goal and Notre Dame's lead expanding to 4-0.
Sophomore
Javier Mate then passed to sophomore
Varis Singh Khera who ran into the box on the right side and then booted the ball into the goal, giving Notre Dame a 5-0 advantage.
"In the second half we had to keep moving the ball forward quickly," head coach
Carl Nolan explained. "It had to be done much quicker than the first half. 'Apply more pressure earlier' was the message. It was a good team display today."
The five goals in a game ties the Falcons' season-high. They also scored five goals against Concord on September 30. NDC took 34 shots and 12 shots-on-goal while their defense allowed just one shot to the Rams. Today's shutout gives Notre Dame a total of 10 in 2018.
Maxim Bode had the only shot in the game for SU. Lemay allowed five goals but saved seven shots.
The Falcons will take on No. 4 University of Charleston on October 21, in West Virginia. The game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
