Notre Dame men’s soccer season ends in ‘heartbreaking’ fashion

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As Chad Riley, Paddy Burns and Ethan O’Brien sat there, tears in the eyes of the latter two, the doors to their left kept opening.

Where the press conference room sits inside Lynn Family Stadium is directly adjacent to Notre Dame’s locker room. And as more and more sad Irish men’s soccer players kept filing in from off the field, songs of victory boomed in the background. “Victorious” by Panic at the Disco. “Hey Look Ma, I Made it,” also by Panic at the Disco.

“All I do is Win” by DJ Khaled. “We are the Champions” by Queen. Each song a reminder of what had just happened across the two hours prior to this press conference.

The 2-1 loss to Clemson in the College Cup final was painful for Notre Dame.

Not only because it was a defeat in a national championship game, but because of who it was too. Clemson. Again.

For a third straight year, the Irish season ended with a loss to its ACC rival.

Multiple Notre Dame players sat motionless on the field as the final horn sounded. KK Baffour had his jersey pulled up above his head, the sight of Clemson celebrating its fourth national championship being too hard to watch for the sophomore.

Burns and O’Brien, the two captains for the Irish, were the only players who had to speak about the defeat.

Like everything else with Notre Dame this season, they handled it with class.

“Heartbreaking, really,” Burns said. “From the moment we all step on campus at Notre Dame, we have the goal of winning a national championship, and we work tirelessly every single day to do it. To come so close is pretty heartbreaking, but congratulations to Clemson. They’re a good program, and they played well today.”

“It’s tough because there was such a belief this season,” O’Brien added. “We really thought we could do it, so getting so close obviously hurts. But again, congrats to Clemson.”

Burns had a thousand-yard stare in between answering questions, his eyes still red from the crying. The man from Crumlin, Northern Ireland, who had to send his highlight tape into coach Riley four years ago just to get noticed had given his all to Notre Dame. He worked his way from walk-on to captain during his time in South Bend.

You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who bled the Blue and Gold more than Burns.

“Coach gave me an incredible opportunity and said he’d take me onto the team, and I’ve tried to repay him with a national championship,” said Burns, with his voice starting to tremble. “It wasn’t meant to be, but I’m so proud to be a Notre Dame man.”

For more than 10 minutes, Burns and O’Brien fielded questions. About the game, about the season, about their careers. Monday was it for both players, both out of eligibility after decorated careers.

Burns had the Irish closest chance to tie the game. Trailing 1-0, the senior had a clear shot on goal. It hit the crossbar instead, a microcosm of the night for Notre Dame.

A second Clemson goal 15 minutes later all-but sealed the game for the Tigers. Burns did make a penalty kick in the final minute to give the Irish one last chance, but it proved naught to be.

And just like that, countless training sessions, preseason games, regular season triumphs, wild postseason victories and a championship game berth across 10 months was over.

Finality is hard. Especially when it’s a loss like Monday to a program that’s been the biggest thorn in the side of the Irish the last three years. Even Riley, a mostly stoic figure, was fighting back emotions when talking about the journey of the 2023 Notre Dame team.

“I think you just hurt for them,” Riley said. “I think that’s the hard part you try not to think of a lot. They sacrifice so much and invest so much of themselves, and this team in particular, all these seniors started at Notre Dame under house arrest basically during COVID with quarantine. … For them to have any doubts that they’re amazing people and an amazing team because they didn’t win this game, that’s what hurts me right now for them.”

This was an experienced Irish team. One with goals of hoisting the championship trophy Monday night.

They fell short of that, but that doesn’t take away what they accomplished. An ACC regular season championship. Defeating rival Indiana in the quarterfinals in front of one of the largest crowds in Alumni Stadium history. A second College Cup appearance in three seasons. A national semifinal victory.

It’s the only senior class in program history to make it to the final four twice. That’s nothing to be ashamed of.

“They’ve added some trophies — there’s just one of them that we didn’t get during their time, and let’s be honest, it’s a hard one to win,” Riley said. “I definitely think they added history to the program in a great way. At the end of the day, you always want to win, but you also want to be good stewards, and I think they were unbelievable stewards of the program during their time.”