WHEELING, W.Va. (Sept. 20) - The Wheeling Jesuit University men's soccer team upset No. 15 Notre Dame (Ohio) by a score of 2-1 in a midweek conference clash at Bishop Schmitt Field.

The Cardinals jumped the Falcons in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) standings with the win, improving to 4-1-2 overall and 3-1 in league play. Meanwhile, Notre Dame, ranked No. 13 in the most recent United Soccer Coaches Top-25 poll, fall to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the MEC with the defeat.

The Cardinals bombarded the opposing goalkeeper by taking a total of 19 shots, including 10 on-goal. Midfielder Martin Minuzzi (Cordoba, Argentina/Nazareth) scored off a penalty kick for his fourth goal of the season and added an assist on the second goal. Defender Alvaro Garrido (Sevilla, Spain) scored WJU's second goal, his second of the season, with a header off a corner kick. Goalkeeper Josh Zimmerman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Franklin Regional) put on a man-of-the-match performance with seven saves, many of them requiring great reflexes and coming at crucial points in the match.

The match started off slow, but opened up when Notre Dame's Guilherme Gloria curled a ball from the left side of the goal 20 yards out into the right side netting in the 18th-minute to make the score 1-0. Wheeling Jesuit responded by taking six shots before the end of half, but none got behind the Falcon keeper.

The Cardinals found the equalizer minutes into the second half with the help of a handball foul in the box on Notre Dame. Minuzzi belted a low strike on the penalty-kick into the bottom left corner of the goal in the 48th-minute to even the score.

The match then turned into a seesaw shootout with both teams going all out for the win. The game-winner finally came in the 75th-minute, when Minuzzi sent a corner-kick delivery to the back post for Garrido to head the ball into the bottom right corner of the net. The Cardinals were able to successfully stave off all remaining attacking threats from their opponents to pull off the upset victory.

The Falcons also put on an impressive offensive performance, taking 19 shots with eight of those shots on goal. Gloria was the only player that could beat Zimmerman on the afternoon, scoring his first goal of the season in the first half to give Notre Dame the lead. Falcon keeper Daniele De Angelis was not a pushover in any sense, recording eight saves of his own to keep the match close.

Wheeling Jesuit will host No. 7 Charleston on Sunday, September 23 at Bishop Schmitt Field in a MEC match.