Two schools with Chicago Fire Player Development ties advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2013 NCAA Men’s Division 1 Soccer tournament on Sunday.
In South Bend, Ind., ACC Offensive Player of the Year Harry Shipp (Lake Forest, Ill.) bagged two goals in #3 seed Notre Dame’s 4-0 demolition of Wisconsin. The Fire Homegrown Prospect curled a free kick into the top left corner midway through the first half to make it 2-0 before a low-right footed effort closed the scoring at 4-0.
Fire product Danny Lojek (Orland Park, Ill.) also logged 12 minutes for the Irish while Drew Conner (Cary, Ill.), Chris Prince (Naperville, Ill.) , David Caban (Kenosha, Wisc.) and Jacob Brindle (Naperville) all featured for Wisconsin in the defeat.
With the win, the Irish advanced to a Sweet 16 date, hosting fellow ACC side #14 Wake Forest on Sunday, December 1 at 6:00pm CT in South Bend.
A little further north in Milwaukee, the #9 Marquette Golden Eagles secured their first-ever NCAA tournament victory with a 1-0 overtime win over Akron Sunday.
Freshman midfielder Coco Navarro tallied the game’s only goal with 25 seconds remaining in the game’s first overtime period.
Fire product Charlie Lyon (St. Charles, Ill.) made five saves in goal to earn his 10th shutout of the season while Bryan Ciesulka (Naperville), Eric Pothast (Lake Zurich, Ill.), Brady Wahl (Geneva, Ill.) and Louis Bennett II (Shorewood, Wisc.) also featured in the win.
The victory also puts the Golden Eagles into the Sweet 16 and sets up a visit to take on traditional collegiate powerhouse #9 Virginia in Charlottesville on Sunday, December 1 at noon CT.
