The Golden Eagles got ahead early in their season opener, but two unanswered goals propelled the No. 1 Notre Dame Fighting Irish past No. 12 Marquette 2-1.

Redshirt junior C. Nortey got the Golden Eagles on the board with the team’s first shot of the night in the 9th minute thanks to the setup by redshirt junior David Selvaggi. Their lead would last until the 28th minute, when junior Connor Klekota cut around the defender to score on a low shot. The 1-1 score would remain at half.

Marquette was heavily outchanced in the first half, as its goal was the only shot of the period. The Golden Eagles nearly had a lucky break when Fighting Irish goaltender patrick Wall lost control of the ball while away from his net, but by the time sophomore Nick Parianos got his shot off, two Irish defenders were back to protect the net.

Notre Dame broke the tie in the 66th minute when senior Leon Brown took advantage of a solid cross. Marquette had trouble creating more scoring chances at the end of the match and were unable to find the equalizer.

The Irish outshot Marquette 17 to 11 and had six corner kicks compared to the Golden Eagles’ three.

“This was a tough game; a tough game physically, a tough game tactically and also a tough game technically, because both teams made it that way,” Marquette coach Louis Bennett told GoMarquette.com.

Redshirt senior Charlie Lyon had two saves in his first start of the season for Marquette. Wall also had two saves for the Fighting Irish.

A loss is always tough to swallow, but playing close to the No. 1 ranked team points towards Marquette deserving its top-15 ranking.

“This is by no means a happy ending for us; what it is is a starting point,” Bennett told GoMarquette.com.

The game was Marquette’s first in the Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic. The Golden Eagles will be back in action on Sunday when they take on the Indiana Hoosiers at 1 p.m.