BULLDOGS FALL 2-0 IN SOCCER DOGFIGHT

Carbondale (Ill.) beat Notre Dame 2-0.

But it could've as easily been 3 or 4-0 ... in favor of Notre Dame.

The Bulldogs had some unlucky breaks and wasted numerous scoring opportunities while the Terriers took advantage of theirs as host Notre Dame fell to 8-2-1 on the season Tuesday night.

"I definitely think we had more opportunities to score than they did," said Notre Dame coach Brad Wittenborn. "But their goalie did a nice job and they had good team speed which prevented us from having a lot of time on our shots."

Notre Dame, with the wind to its back, clearly had the upper hand in the first half. Tyler Cuba lofted a shot that bounced off the cross bar nine minutes into the game. Notre Dame had at least two other chances to score in the first half, but the Bulldogs found themselves tied at 0-0 at halftime.

Carbondale untied the game four minutes into the second half when the ball pin-balled off several players near the goal and Josh Hoak sneaked one past goaltender Paul Unterreiner.

"The first goal was kind of a fluke," explained Wittenborn. "We had two guys there defending and something happened -- I don't know if it was a bad bounce or not -- and they got a goal."

The Terriers (4-3-1) scored their second goal on a clean, unassisted shot by Matt Walksler.

"On the second goal, it was just bad timing," Wittenborn said. "Shane Kistner had just turned his ankle and was trying to call for a sub. And because we were communicating, he was about one-half step late to defend that shot."

Though Notre Dame -- who was playing without starting midfielder Timmy Wencewicz -- didn't possess the ball as much as it did in the first half, the Bulldogs had just as many scoring opportunities in the final 40 minutes. Notre Dame twice had situations where a player was one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but Carbondale's R.J. Harper was sharp in goal.

"We played really well," said Carbondale coach Greg Kline, whose team is undefeated in its last four games. "We're starting to play better defensively as a group. Notre Dame isn't as big as they were last year, but they're fast and a very good team.

"They tend to play better defense over here (in Southeast Missouri), while the better teams in Illinois play weaker teams and have blowouts. So after we play some teams over here like Cape Central, Jackson and Poplar Bluff, we can sneak by some (Illinois) teams who don't play real good defense."