Through the past several weeks, the Falcons were able to extend their already impressive season with some more notable victories over teams such as Big 10 Champion's Indiana University, Lindenwood Belleville, and West Virginia.

On the 22^nd of October, the Falcons traveled to Indiana University where they played the number 2 ranked Hoosiers, according to Goff Rugby Report. The match was as intense as the score justifies it to be as the Falcons and Hoosiers had several lead changes throughout the 80 minute battle. The Hoosiers undeniably physical defense was something native to the Falcons as they struggled to keep the ball outside of their own half. However, with less than 10 minutes to play, a line break by Tupuola led to an offload to a fantastic support line by Grendon who dotted the ball down to give the Falcons the 31-25 advantage. As time ran out, the Hoosiers managed to put one in the corner which made it a difficult kick for their Fly-Half as he was just a bit short, allowing the Falcons to survive a 31-30 victory!
 
The following weekend, the Mountaineers of West Virginia came to town to play the Falcons on their Senior Day. The Falcons were proud to start their 10-plus seniors in a friendly match against the Mountaineers. On the warm October day, the Falcons ate up most of possession having the ball in their hands for roughly 85% of the match. It seemed every minute the Falcons were able to put the ball in the Mountaineers goal as they ended the match with a 112-0 victory over the Mountaineers.
 
On the 4^th of November, the Falcons traveled over to Chicago, Illinois to watch USA face off against Maori All Blacks of New Zealand just before their match against Lindenwood Belleville on the following day. While USA may not have won their match against an extraordinarily tough Maori All Blacks, the men of Notre Dame College enjoyed their experience as they have high hopes of being able to play at the next level. On the following sunrise, the Falcons had to play against a very well-disciplined Lindenwood Belleville. While both programs were competing for a play-off bid, the Lynx of Lindenwood Belleville seemed to have woken up for the game a bit early as they put in a quick few tries against the Falcons making the score 12-0 early on. On a brisk Chicago day, the Falcons had to cover a 12 point deficit with more than a half to play. The Falcons were able to answer once before half dotting the ball directly under the posts to give an easy conversion attempt by Senior Logan Weinstock making the score 7-12 Lynx. In the first 35 minutes of the second half, the Falcons had 27 unanswered points. At full time, the Lynx put in their final try, making the score 34-17 in Notre Dame College's favor.
 
After having a few week hiatus, the Falcons returned to the pitch this past weekend, November 19, for the first round of the D1AA Fall National Playoffs who they would play Syracuse University. Similar to the West Virginia match, the Falcons were able to maintain majority of possession throughout the entirety of this match. Within the first 10 minutes of play, Junior Roneil Reynolds and Freshman Andrew Guerra put 2 in for the Falcons on the muddy Harlequin field. At the end of the first half, the Falcons led 32-0 over Syracuse due to tries from Senior John Santiago and Junior Cian Grendon who put down 2 in the half. In the Second half of the match, the Falcons did not let up as they put in an additional 39 points to bring the score to a total of 71-0. This victory allowed the Falcons to advance in pool play and they would face off against the University of Cincinnati on the following day.
 
On the following day, both the Bearcats of Cincinnati and Falcons of Notre Dame had to play in extremely poor field conditions. The temperature was mid-30 with gusts of wind and a heavy falling of snow for the East Regional Playoff Match. After dozens of teams played on the already wet and muddy Founders Field, the field perimeter seemed almost nonexistent. In the first half, the Bearcats starved the Falcons of possession as they had the ball in their hand for 30 minutes of the 40 minutes of play. In that time, the Bearcats were able to score as they caught the Falcons off guard with a kick to the corner which caused the Falcon defender to slip and fall in the mud and allowed the Bearcat wing to chase and put down the ball for a try. Forget about any conversions in this match as kicking in these conditions were nearly impossible. Around the 40-minute mark of the first half, the Falcons were able to take advantage of finally having the ball in their own hands. The Falcons did what they are unfamiliar to, and that was to slowly move the ball down the field. The extremely poor field conditions may have tampered with the quick and audacious Falcons, but the knowledge of forward's Duncan and Grendon helped the Falcons overcome adversity. The Falcons finally have seen some daylight as they entered inside the Bearcats 5 meter line and a penalty was awarded to the Falcons. Using this to their advantage, the Falcons utilized their strength as Freshman Guerra was the first Falcon to score in the match. At half time, the score was tied 5-5 with the University of Cincinnati. As if the first half did not seem to be as dreadful to watch, the second half only had one score, and that was due to a heads up play by Senior Logan Weinstock and Captain Spencer Duncan as Weinstock dumped the ball back inside to Duncan for the Falcons second and final try of the match. After playing defense for majority of the match, the Falcons were finally able to starve the Bearcats of possession the remaining 20 minutes as they walked out of an alarming match with the University of Cincinnati with a score of 10-5 to advance to the D1AA Fall National Championship.
 
The Falcons next match will be on December 3 in Furman, South Carolina as they will compete against a physical, well-disciplined Bowling Green State University. For additional information, please contact Head Coach Jason Fox at jfox@ndc.edu, or Graduate Assistant Tom Walsh at twalsh12@students.ndc.edu.
 
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