DeKALB | For the second time this season, the NIU men’s soccer team played the role of ‘David.’

A 1-0 victory on Sunday over Portland, the ‘Goliath’ in the equation, improved NIU to 5-3 and has set the stage for a showdown today at No. 12 Notre Dame at 7 p.m.

“It’s a huge win; Portland is a tournament-caliber team,” NIU coach Steve Simmons said. “For us to beat them and respond to our disappointment Friday, a 5-0 loss, is wonderful.”

Junior forward Marcus McCarty netted the game winner on a penalty kick a mere nine minutes into the match. McCarty is becoming accustomed to knocking off ‘Goliath’ foes, as he also netted the game winner in a September 3rd 1-0 win over Michigan State.

Notre Dame (4-3-1) split a pair of Big East Conference games this weekend, and is led on offense by Joseph Lapira. The junior forward has netted seven goals and has racked up fifteen points for a Notre Dame squad that has four-straight NCAA tournament appearances.

“Notre Dame is a perennial top-20 team every year,” Simmons said. “They have one of the best coaches in the country, Bobby Clark, and have a team with a heavy senior class.”

Sophomore goal keeper Joe Zimka stepped between the pipes against Portland to notch his first career win.

“We stayed focused the whole game,” Zimka said. “We wanted to put them on their heels and not let them take control of the game.”

The significance of a win over Portland and the resilient ability to rebound after a tough loss has not been lost on the NIU squad.

“The win shows we can play with a lot of the top teams in the country,” Zimka said. “We were down after the Washington loss, but we put that behind us and stayed focused.”

A key to Sunday’s win was NIU being able to maintain possessions down the stretch, as Portland made a series of furious attempts to try and net the equalizer.

“In the second half, we knew they were going to come at us,” Simmons said. “You just dig in and absorb it. At the end, when they pushed numbers forward, we did a good job of keeping the ball to kill the game off.”

James Nokes is the NIU soccer beat reporter for the Northern Star.