The following is an excerpt from a www.und.com article published on the 19 August, 2010. Click to read the full article.

The Irish will wear Grassroot Soccer t-shirts during warm-ups prior to Monday's match.

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s soccer team will open its 2010 exhibition slate at 7:00 p.m. (ET) on Monday (Aug. 23) against the University of Illinois-Chicago at Alumni Stadium. All proceeds from the match will benefit Grassroot Soccer, an international AIDS awareness and education organization that reaches youth in Africa through soccer clinics.

Admission to the contest is a $1 donation to Grassroot Soccer and further donations are welcome. Donations will be accepted at the gate of Alumni Stadium as well as during the game.

Monday evening’s match will mark the seventh straight year that Notre Dame has held an exhibition game with all proceeds going to benefit Grassroot Soccer. The cause is very important to Notre Dame head coach Bobby Clark since his oldest son, Tommy, is the founder and CEO of the organization. Clark and the Notre Dame men’s soccer camp will match the donations dollar-for-dollar.

“Grassroot Soccer is a very worthwhile cause and it’s an organization that uses sport to educate young and uninformed people at a vital age in their development,” says the Irish head coach. “Quite a few other schools are now starting to have Grassroot games. I think we were the first to do that. Anything we can do to raise money is great. Soccer is a worldwide game, but this organization has sprung up here in this country and nearly all the interns that go to sub-Saharan Africa to help run the program are from America. It shows that soccer is alive and well here and not just from a playing aspect, but also in doing good things like Grassroot.”

“I hope a lot of people come out to the game on Monday,” adds Clark. “I hope the fans are able to see a good game and see what our team is going to look like for this coming season. But most importantly, I hope they contribute to a very worthwhile cause.”

Notre Dame will open the regular season against No. 8 UCLA on Friday, Sept. 3 at the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic in Bloomington, Ind. Game time is slated for 5:00 p.m. (ET). The Irish will open their regular-season home schedule against California at 7:00 p.m. (ET) on Sunday, Sept. 5 at Alumni Stadium. That match also is part of the adidas/IU Credit Union Classic.