CHESTER, Pa. — Sometimes it can be near impossible to pinpoint the final ingredient needed to turn a quality program into a national champ. 

For the triumphant 2013 Notre Dame squad, the sting of past failures helped motivate and mold an experienced group into the best team in college soccer.

A lot of that had to do with the 2012 edition of the team. Featuring a lot of the same players that won it all on Sunday – excluding pros like Dillon Powers and Ryan Finley – the memories of last year’s NCAA tournament loss against Indiana helped the Irish reach the summit.

Harrison Shipp

“I think last season was a successful season, but the guys just felt that they didn’t perform in the game against Indiana, and I think that was good inspiration to them,” head coach Bobby Clark said. “It was motivation for them.”

Several key contributors on that squad returned for this year’s campaign – Andrew O’Malley and Grant Van De Casteele anchored a tough defense that was able to mostly shackle Terp great Patrick Mullins in Sunday’s final, while Harrison Shipp was a consistent starter all season long, blossoming into a Hermann Trophy finalist. Leon Brown battled injuries this season but scored an equalizing goal in Sunday’s final, while Luke Mishu provided athleticism from his outside back spot.

Behind the leadership of that core, the team was able to put disappointing years behind them and raise a trophy on Sunday.

“We experienced a lot of pain our first three years,” Shipp said. “We realized that if we wanted to make that next jump, it was all 30 guys on the team, not just the 11 that played or the 21 that dressed, but all 30 guys…I think we showed that over the past five games.”

Added O’Malley: “As a program, we’d underachieved a lot, that hurts you more than anything. Not making the tournament sophomore year, freshman year being knocked out in the first round – last year I was hurt and had to sit and watch my team lose, it’s some of the most painful experience you can have as a person. Being able to take the program from somewhere it’s never been, like an Elite Eight win, to a national championship win, is a huge jump. It’s euphoric.”

Of course, placing an emphasis on the senior leadership – which this team had in spades – was something that head coach Bobby Clark and his coaching staff intentionally addresses on a yearly basis.

“We work a lot on leadership, we work on that in the spring,” he said. “We have a sports psychologist, Dr. [Mick] Franco, and once a week he meets with the group and works with them on leadership, and obviously we do too.”

This year’s seniors, along with the added motivation of past defeats, wanted to push the entire group and program onto a new level.

“I think the senior guys laid a really good groundwork,” Shipp said. “We had a great regular season and we realized it was time for the program to take that next step, and we thought the only logical place to do that was to reach the final four and win a national championship.”

Winning Sunday’s championship not only cemented the senior class’ legacy as the first men’s team to achieve it, but it also secured Clark’s first national championship in his illustrious coaching career – certainly icing on the cake.

“To do it for our coach is amazing,” Shipp said. “He’s probably the most underappreciated college soccer coach in the country, in terms of lessons he teaches you on the field and off the field. I can tell you that I’m so much a better person and player than I was three and a half years ago when I came in.”

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