No. 1 Hoosiers best No. 5 Irish

The last time the IU men's soccer team tasted defeat on its home field was Oct. 17, 2001. The Hoosiers' opponent -- Notre Dame.\nThe last time the Hoosiers tasted defeat, home or away, was Sept. 18, 2003. Their opponent -- Notre Dame.\nSince that loss, the Hoosiers ripped off 22 straight games without being left with that taste of defeat in their mouths. And last night, against those same Fighting Irish, the Hoosiers made it 23.\nIU was able to knock-off Soccer America's No. 5 ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2-0 in a game that could only be quantified as a "revenge game."\n"We were looking forward to this game for about a year now," sophomore forward Kevin Robson said. "It was definitely a revenge game. We've wanted to get back at these guys and we played, probably, our best 90 minutes of the year."\nBoth teams had several chances to take the early lead in the first half, as the Hoosiers and Notre Dame each sailed close range free-kicks over the bar. IU sophomore forward Jacob Peterson snuck through the defense in the eighth minute but his shot was deflected just wide of the bar by Notre Dame's goalkeeper Chris Sawyer.\nIU was able to break the deadlock in the 53rd minute when junior forward Mike Ambersley played a ball to sophomore midfielder Josh Tudela at the top of the 18-yard box. Tudela then flicked the ball over to a streaking Peterson who delivered a strike to the lower-left corner of the net.\nThe second IU goal came in the 80th minute, primarily from the individual effort of Robson. Playing as the lone forward with Notre Dame pushing more players into the offense, Robson received a loose ball at midfield. He then flicked the ball over a rushing defender and sprinted toward the goal. Robson then crossed over another defender before playing the ball to junior midfielder Brian Plotkin who finished the play with his third goal of the year.\nSenior goalkeeper Jay Nolly made four saves in recording the shutout. For Nolly, Wednesday's shutout carried a little more weight than normal. Nolly and Notre Dame's Sawyer have a long history from their days on opposing club teams in Colorado. \n"(The win) is huge because last year they beat us and (Sawyer) got the shutout," Nolly said. "We always have a little inside battle because we are the two top goalies from Colorado that are still playing in college. We are good friends so, it's just a battle on the field, not off."\nThe win brings IU's record to 5-0-0 on the season as they prepare to head to New Mexico for two more games against ranked opponents. The Hoosiers will have just two days to savor this win and prepare for yet another battle, but preparation has been relatively easy for head coach Mike Freitag this season.\n"These guys wouldn't be here if they needed me to motivate them," he said. "They've got an internal motivation and that's why they are here. It's what we call 'the fiber,' and you've got to get all that fiber wound together to make things go."\n-- Contact staff writer Brian Janosch at bjanosch@indiana.edu.