AMHERST, N.Y. -- Playing their second consecutive game away from the friendly confines of Korb Field the third-ranked (NAIA Men's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll) Notre Dame (15-0-0, 6-0-0 AMC) handed Daemen (4-10-0, 0-7-0 AMC), their ninth consecutive loss of the season. (Coaches Corner Audio) (Jacob Sheppard Player Spotlight.mp3">Falcon Player Spotlight Audio)

The Falcons, the two-time defending AMC champion, posted a 5-0 win over the Wildcats for their record 15th consecutive win of the season. The Falcons had outscored Daemen 19-0 in their previous three meetings. The Wildcats upset NDC in the 2006 AMC Conference Tournament on November 4, 2006 2-1. The Falcons came into the match holding a 9-1-0 all-time record against the AMC foe from Amherst, N.Y.

The Wildcats came out tackling hard, first tackling Luke Holmes, a junior from Oldham, England with force earning them a yellow card cautions at the 6:29 mark and then again at the 9:12 mark. Daemen had their fortunes turn to unfortunate in the 11th minute. #Ryan McGreevy# beat two Wildcats on the edge of the penalty area, the freshman from Salford, England slipped a pointed ball looking for #Tom Mellor# at the penalty spot. A recovering Wildcat defender reached McGreevy's pass and put the ball into his own net at the 10:33 mark giving the Falcons a 1-0 lead.

Mellor, a sophomore from Shaw, England looked to be at the top of his game, attacking down the flank beating every Wildcat defender in his path. His attack would reach pay dirt at the 12:58 mark when his flighted ball to the penalty spot would find #Christian Earnest#, a sophomore from Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Earnest would rise above two Daemen defenders and smash home his header for the Falcons 2-0 lead. The goal marked Earnest's sixth goal of the season and Mellor's team leading 12th assist.

The NAIA second highest scoring team (4.75 Goals/game) would stretch their lead to three goals when McGreevy would put the finishing touch on another Mellor assist at the 14:03 mark. With his second assist of the match, Mellor would move back into the top spot in the NAIA with 13 assists and the Falcons career leader with 24 assists in just 36 matches.

The first half would end with the Falcons leading 3-0 while outshooting host Wildcats 8-3 and holding a 3-2 advantage in corner kicks through the opening 45 minutes.

The second half would provide more attacking prowess from the Falcons. McGreevy would pick off a Daemen pass before crashing toward the Wildcats net. The freshman would smash the ball to the back post bagging the 12th goal of his rookie campaign pushing the Falcons lead to 4-0 at the 52:37 mark.

As the Falcons continued to pressure early through the second 45 minutes they would earn one of their 10 corner kicks. #Mohamet Sougoufara#, a senior from Dakar, Senegal would serve the ball from the left corner finding the head of #Jacob Sheppard#, a sophomore from Brampton, Ont. extending the Falcons lead to a commanding 5-0. Sougoufara's assist marked his ninth of the year good for second on the team and seventh in the NAIA. The goal would mark Sheppard's second goal of the season in just five matches.

#Alex Klein#, a junior from Frankfurt, Germany would be credited with two saves through 74 minutes of work, and #Jan Skorupinski#, a freshman from Vogt, Germany would finish the final 16 minutes ensuring the Falcons their record breaking 10th shutout of the season surpassing the 2005 squads nine shutouts.

Notre Dame would outshoot the Wildcats26-5 and hold a commanding 10-4 advantage in corner kicks for the match. 


FAST FORWARD: Notre Dame returns to the friendly confines of Korb Field in defense of its American Mideast Conference title. The Falcons host Roberts Wesleyan (8-6-2, 4-1-1 AMC) on Saturday Oct. 23 for their final home regular season tilt. Saturday also marks homecoming for the Falcons with one road game at Point Park on Oct. 30, remaining on the schedule. The previous three meetings between the Falcons and Raiders have finished with identical 2-1 scores. The Falcons hold a 2-1-0 record in last three games, and a 6-3-1. All-time the Falcons hold a 6-3-1 record against RWC.

Rudy Roediger and Stefan Perri will bring you the men's match from Korb Field scheduled for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff on NotreDameFalcons.com, pre-game show and Men's Soccer Coaches' Corner scheduled to begin 30 minutes before kickoff, directly following the women's soccer broadcast scheduled for a 5:00 p.m. kickoff. During halftime Rudy Roediger will visit with a Falcon player for the Falcons Halftime Player Spotlight and a special alumni section will play in the pregame and halftime portions of the broadcast.


NOTES FROM THE NEST…

POW ER: #Luke Holmes# becomes the Falcons fifth AMC Offensive Player of the Week selection and fourth consecutive, Holmes is the only Falcon to receive multiple weekly honors in 2010. For the year the Notre Dame has had seven offensive or defensive selections. Last season Holmes was selected as the AMC Offensive player on three occasions and the AMC Player of the Year. #Tom Mellor# earned Offensive Player of the Week (Oct 3.-9), #Alex Klein# and #Ryan McGreevy# earned respective Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 27-Oct. 2), #Mohamet Sougoufara# earned Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 20-26), #Luke Holmes# and #Daniel Knight# earned respective Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week (Sept. 6-12.). Holmes also earned the NAIA National Offensive Player of the Week (Sept. 6-12).

POW'S NOT MISSING ACTION: Last season the Falcons had players honored four times in 2009, Luke Holmes on three occasions and Jonathan Morris once. Craig Pickering, George Kephart, #Steven Kane#, and Andrew Carr were all recognized once in 2008, the Falcons previous best for individual honors.

BETTERING THE BEST: The Falcons have bettered the 2008 NAIA Tournament squad's nine game winning streak (15), blew the 2009 NAIA Tournament squad's previous best of four wins to open a season (15), surpassed the previous best 3 straight shutouts previously held by the 2004 (twice), 2005 and 2007 squads (7). And surpassed the most shutouts in a season (10), the previous best 9 shutouts in a season was held by the 2005 squad who made it to the programs first NAIA National Tournament.

STREAKING FALCONS: Notre Dame is tied for the fourth longest active streak of being consecutively ranked in the NAIA Top 25 with 26 consecutive weeks. The NAIA has 220 schools that sponsor men's soccer. Soccer is the largest single division sport for men in the NAIA. Only Men's Basketball has more schools. 261 schools sponsor basketball split between Division I (116) and Division II (145).