This week: Notre Dame College heads out on the road for two games this week. The Falcons first nonconference game of the season will be played at Ashland University on Tuesday, September 26 at 7 p.m. NDC returns to MEC play at Shepherd on Saturday, September 30.
Records: The Falcons (7-0, 7-0 MEC) remain undefeated after a 4-1 win against Urbana and a 3-1 victory over West Liberty. Ashland is 3-3-1 after going 1-1 last week, which included a loss at Charleston. Shepherd is 2-2-3 after defeated WLU and tied Fairmont State.
Coaches Corner: Mike Shiels is in his 14th season as the head coach for the Falcons. During his time at NDC, Shiels has gone 148-91-16 with a 56-6-5 MEC record. Danny Krispinsky is in his fifth season leading the Ashland women's soccer program. In his first four years, the Eagles went 46-20-7. Jonathan Thayil is in his sixth season as the head coach at Shepherd. The Rams have amassed a record of 38-42-12 in Thayil's first five seasons.
Rankings: No teams playing on campus this week received votes in the September 19 United Soccer Coaches Poll.
Series History: Notre Dame has played Ashland just once since joining the Division II ranks. The Eagles and Falcons tied their lone game in 2012. The Falcons are 10-0 against the Rams dating back to 2013.
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame earned conference recognition on the offensive end for the third-straight week with
Jackie Corrigan earning MEC Offensive Player of the Week after
Alexis Manoa and
Lytia Hart earned the same honor the weeks prior. Corrigan had three goals last week and now ranks first in the MEC in goals (six) and points (12). The Falcons have taken more than twice as many shots (111) and shots on goal (61) this season than their opponents (49 and 27). Those opportunities have turned into scoring as NDC has outscored opponents 20-6 this season. Each of those six goals were scored by different teams as Notre Dame has given up one goal in six of its seven games. Freshman goalkeeper
Kyra McDowell ranks fourth in the conference with those marks, allowing 0.85 goals per game.
Noting the Eagles: Ashland has a lot of experience this season playing nonconference games as six of their seven games so far in 2017 have been against opponents outside of their conference. In these games, the Eagles have gone 2-3-1, with a loss most recently at MEC member Charleston. So far this season, Ashland has also spent much of its time on the road. After five-straight road games the team returns home to play NDC. The two homes games the Eagles started their season with resulted in a 1-1 tie and a 2-0 loss. Just five players have scored this season with Morgan Bittengle as the lone player with two goals.
Noting the Rams: Shepherd boasts a stingy defense, ranking second in the MEC in goals against average (0.78). The Rams also match the shot production of the Falcons, averaging 12.57 shots per game, ranking them fourth in the conference (NDC ranks second with 15.86). Where NDC and Shepherd differ is success of these shots. SU has only been able to score five times this season resulting in a conference-low .057 shot percent. The Rams play a fairly physical style, earning them the No. 2 ranking in the MEC with 90 fouls (12.86 per game). A pair of goalies, Shawna Graham and Christi LaBella, guard the net for Shepherd. Both rank in the MEC top six in saves per game.
