JACKSON, Tenn. -- Notre Dame men's soccer opened its 2011 season with a 4-3 victory over John Brown (Ark.), Friday evening in the first game of the third annual Union University Men's Soccer Classic at Smith Memorial Soccer Classic.

Coming off their 2010 NAIA Soccer National Championship Finals appearance, the Notre Dame (1-0-0),traveled over 12 hours south to open their 11th season under Michael 'Mac' McBride taking on John Brown (0-2-0).

Erik Beattie opened the Falcons account before Dean Miller tallied his first two career goals vs. the Golden Eagles, while Thomas Owens also found the back of the net providing his second career goal, both game winners.

A season ago NDC opened the season with a program best seven consecutive shutouts on their way to a 23-1-0 season. In their first game since that decisive final the Falcons opened their account when Erik Beattie stuck a left foot drive past the diving Pablo Garcia at the 31:35 mark. A season ago, the Madison, Ohio, native provided three goals, all game winners.

Less than five minutes later two newcomers combined to stretch the lead to, 2-0 when Stefan Bogdanovic pulled a half-moon around a Golden Eagle defender and found a crashing Dean Miller. Miller put a deft touch and rippled the onion bag for his first goal dawning an NDC top.

It wouldn't take long for the Johannesburg, South Africa, native to double his tally. Miller stole a misplayed ball and went in on goal. A small swivel of the hips wrong footed Garcia and the 6-foot junior slotted the ball for a 3-0 lead.

The opening 45 minutes would close with the Falcons leading 3-0, as they dominated play, evidenced by a decisive advantage in shots (7-3).

The second half would begin with the Blue & White getting the better of the play until the 54:47 mark when Joel Thomas received a ball from Hunter Bradford and charged in on the Falcons net. Alex Klein charged off his line only to have Thomas slide the ball under him brining the score to 3-1.

A newfound confidence showed in John Brown's play. That confidence grew when a Falcon defender was whistled for an infraction inside the penalty area giving JBU a spot kick. Luke Theimer stepped and smashed the ball out of the reach of Kline giving NDC the slimmest of leads at the 65:08 mark, 3-2.

That lead would survive till the 73:52 mark when Theimer made good of a Martin Gonzalez ball drawing the score level, 3-3.

With the Flacons staring at their first overtime game since Oct. 10, 2010, when Thomas Owens headed home the game winner that pushed NDC to their perfect regular season, 19-0-0, Owens earned a spot kick when a Golden Eagle defender handled the ball inside the area at the 80:58 mark.

Owens stepped up and stuck the ball to the right of second half substitute Matt Henry. Henry reached out and denied Owens a chance to be the hero.

"We were as disappointed with the second half as we were pleased with the first. Throwing away a three goal lead showed a lack of discipline and that needs to be corrected immediately. Or we will be on the wrong side of a lot of results this year," stated head coach Michael 'Mac' McBride.

Both teams continued to attack the opposing goals. The Golden Eagles attack at the 80:58 mark would earn David Castagne the first yellow card when he crashed into Klein after the Frankfurt, Germany, native collected a ball into the area. Then at the 86:11 mark Carlo Manna was taken down just outside of JBU area giving the Blue & White a free kick 20 yards from goal.

Owens would stand over the ball with a five man John Brown wall in front of him. The sophomore from Liverpool, England, would bend a well placed shot over and around the wall to give NDC a well deserved, 4-3 lead.

Notre Dame would turn away the last few attacks to earn the program's 142nd win 4,015 days after they opened play on Sept. 4, 2001 with a 5-2 loss to Tiffin.


NOTES FROM THE NEST…

OPENERS: The Falcons are now 8-2-1 in season openers all-time. In those matches the Falcons have scored an average of 4.45 goals per game. They set a program record of 19 goals in a game and season opener, Aug. 30, when the Falcons defeated Lake Erie, 19-0.

STREAKING FALCONS: Notre Dame has now scored in 64 consecutive games since being held scoreless on Sept. 12, 2008. During that stretch the Blue & White have won 87.5 percent (55-7-2) of their games.

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