This week: Notre Dame travels to Urbana tomorrow, October 3, before hosting West Liberty on Sunday, October 6. Kickoff for Urbana is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. while the game against WLU will start at 4 p.m.  
 
Records: Notre Dame won its first conference match last week, while also suffering its first MEC loss. The Falcons are no 2-2-3 (1-1-2 MEC).  Urbana and West Liberty also split their games last week. The Blue Knights are 2-4 (2-2 MEC) while the Hilltoppers are 1-5-1 (1-2-1 MEC).
 
Coaches Corner: Mike Shiels is in his 17th season as the head coach for the Falcons. During his time at NDC, Shiels has gone 167-103-23 with a 72-11-10 MEC record. Kevin Mounce is in his sixth season at Urbana and holds a record of 19-62-9 (16-53-9 MEC). Barry Christmas is in his eighth season at West Liberty after starting the program in 2011, with 2012 being the first varsity season. Christmas holds an overall record of 44-66-25 with an MEC record of 30-56-20.
 
Rankings: None of the teams received votes in the preseason United State Soccer Coaches Poll released September 30.
 
Series History: Notre Dame has never lost to Urbana or West Liberty since leaving the NAIA in 2011. The Falcons are 13-0 against Urbana and 10-0-4 against West Liberty. NDC was able to earn a pair of 3-0 wins against the Blue Knights in 2018, and have beaten UU by three goals in their last three contests. Notre Dame tied the Hilltoppers earlier this season in a 0-0 draw. WLU was able to out-shoot the Falcons 15-9, but goalkeeper Kyra McDowell still recorded the shutout with seven saves.   
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame played in four-straight overtime games, winning 2-1 against Wheeling to end its tie streak of three. Kazarie Kephart had her coming out party against the Cardinals scoring the first goal of the game and assisting on the game-winner. Kephart now leads the Falcons with five points (two goals, one assist). The game-winning goal against Wheeling was scored by Alyssa Soltis, who has started the last two games at forward after coming off the bench in the first five matches of the season. Soltis led the Falcons offensive attack in those games last week with a combined eight shots, five of which were on goal.
 
Noting the Blue Knights: Urbana has not won more than three games since 2015, but with two wins already this season, the Blue Knights are poised to break the trend this season. UU was able to defeat West Liberty and Wheeling this season. The game against Notre Dame is sandwiched by the two Wheeling games on the slate for 2019. Urbana won the first game 2-1 and will play the Cardinals again after facing NDC. The Blue Knights are currently 2-1 in games they have scored in and 0-3 in games where they have been held to no goals. Urbana has spread the ball well early in 2019 with five different players scoring the team's six goals.   
 
Noting the Hilltoppers: West Liberty currently ranks 10th in the MEC (out of 11 teams) in scoring average with a mark of .57. The Hilltoppers have not been able to get much pressure on opposing defenses this season as they also rank ninth in corner kicks attempted (22). Notre Dame has also averaged less than one goal per game (.86) this season, but the Falcons have been successful in applying a strain on teams, with 42 corner kicks this year.