No. 11 Duke Falls in ACC Final to No. 20 Notre Dame

Sunday, November 14

Cary, N.C.

2 P.M.

Duke University

13-4-1, 5-2-1

Notre Dame

12-5-3, 4-2-2

Notre Dame

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

No. 11 Duke Falls in ACC Final to No. 20 Notre Dame

11/14/2021 6:08:00 PM | Men's Soccer

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CARY, N.C. – No. 11 Duke dropped a 2-0 decision to No. 20 Notre Dame in the ACC Men's Soccer Championship final on Sunday afternoon at WakeMed Soccer Park.

Notre Dame (12-5-3, 4-2-2 ACC) was paced by graduate student Dawson McCartney, who scored in the fifth and 77th minutes. The Blue Devils (13-4-1, 5-2-1 ACC) outshot the Fighting Irish 13-11 and had eight corner kicks to Notre Dame's four, but the Irish's defense kept their tournament shutout streak intact to secure the win.

"They are organized, they are huge, they take up a lot of space, they are sharp into the tackle and us chasing the game for 85 minutes didn't help," said head coach John Kerr. "In saying that, I thought in the second half we were the better team, we pushed the envelope, and we just weren't able to convert. I kind of hoped that we could convert one because it would have given us a lot of momentum."

The Fighting Irish capitalized on the very first shot of the game when McCartney found some space in the middle of the pitch and drove a shot into the right-hand side of the net. His sixth goal of the year handed Notre Dame a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the contest.

Sophomore Thorleifur Ulfarsson tried to answer for Duke in the 64th minute after a header by Antino Lopez got loose in the Irish box. Ulfarsson made a sliding attempt to poke it past the Notre Dame goalkeeper Bryan Dowd, but Dowd made a toe save to keep the score at 1-0.

McCartney then iced the game for Notre Dame when a save by Eliot Hamill bounced back to him just inside the box. McCartney then finished off the play for his second tally of the game, extending the Irish's edge to 2-0 late.

Ulfarsson, sophomore Peter Stroud and freshman Shakur Mohammed were each named to the All-Tournament team for their efforts throughout the event. The trio combined for seven points and two wins after each winning yearly awards from the ACC prior to the tournament.

Blue Devils senior goalkeeper Hamill made five saves to keep the Blue Devils in the game.

Duke will turn its attention to the NCAA Tournament selection show on Monday at 1 p.m., where the team will await its first placement at the event since 2018. Streaming will be available via NCAA.com.

The NCAA Championship will begin Nov. 18 and run through the NCAA College Cup on Dec. 12.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils men's soccer, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeMSOC".

#GoDuke