This week: Notre Dame College plays three games this week to start its season. The first game will be played Tuesday, September 5 at 1 p.m. at Urbana. Game two will be played at home against Wheeling Jesuit on Friday, September 8 at 4 p.m. and the week ends with a game on Sunday, September 10 at 1 p.m. at Charleston.

Records: These games will be the first of the season for Notre Dame. Urbana is 0-1 after a loss to the University of Indianapolis, while Wheeling Jesuit is 0-1 after a loss to Seton Hill and Charleston is 0-1 after a loss to Kutztown. 

Coaches Corner: Mike Shiels is in his 14th season as the head coach for the Falcons. During his time at NDC, Shiels has gone 141-91-16 with a 49-6-5 MEC record. Urbana is led by Kevin Mounce who is in his fourth season with the Blue Knights. Mounce has ammassed a record of 11-36-5, 9-31-5 MEC. Tyler Absalom is in his second season with Wheeling Jesuit. In his first year, Absalom went 6-11-1, 5-10-1 MEC. Todd Diuguid is in his 17th season as the head coach for Charleston. The Golden Eagles went 15-4-3, 13-2-1 MEC in 2016.

Rankings: Charleston is ranked No. 24 in the August 13 USCAA Coaches poll. Neither NDC nor UU received any votes.  

Series History: The Falcons have faired well against their week one opponents, historically. NDC leads UU 9-0 and WJU 7-0 in series that date back to 2011 and 2013, respectively. Charleston has taken some from Notre Dame, but still trail the Falcons 6-3-1 all-time. 

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame will return this week after winning the Mountain East Conference Regular Season Championship and Tournament Championship. The Falcons return one of their top strikers from last season in Alexis Manoa. Manoa totaled 19 points on five goals and nine assists in 2016. NDC also returns a trio of upperclassman defenders (senior Jackie Corrigan (866 minutes in 2016), senior Riley Doyle (1,729 minutes in 2016) and junior Sarah Grossman (1,727 minutes in 2016)) who each played large role in the team's championship success. 

Noting the Blue Knights: In 2016, Urbana was shutout eight times on its way to a 3-13-1 record. 2017 has started off with much of the same, as the Blue Knights suffered a 1-0 loss to the University of Indianapolis. 

Noting the Cardinals: Wheeling Jesuit also suffered a shutout loss to Seton Hill. The Griffins were able to win 6-0 against the Cardinals, taking a total of 14 shots on goal. 

Noting the Golden Eagles: Charleston, yet another MEC team to be shut out in its first game, lost 1-0 to Kutztown. The Golden Eagles suffered offensively, ending the game with zero shots taken.