This Week: Notre Dame College men's soccer will travel to play two tough Mountain East Conference opponents. On Oct. 13, the Falcons will be in Elkins, W.Va. to battle No. 4 Davis & Elkins College at 7 p.m. NDC then visits No. 6 University of Charleston on Oct. 17 for a 4 p.m. matchup.

Records: NDC holds a 5-2-1 MEC record after finishing with a 2-2 draw against West Virginia Wesleyan, last week. Davis & Elkins comes into the week undefeated, winning their first 10 games and seven MEC contest. Last week, they defeated Wheeling and Alderson Broaddus, winning by three goals in each game. Charleston enters with a record of 9-1 (8-1 MEC) after taking care of business against Concord and West Liberty last week.

Coaches Corner: Carl Nolan is in his sixth season as head coach of the Notre Dame program. He has a record of 59-24-8, and is 50-15-5 in MEC play. Dean Johnson is in his second season as head coach at Davis & Elkins. He has a record of 17-2 (14-1 MEC). Daniel Smee is in his second season as the head coach at UC and fifth season on the staff. He has a 19-1 (14-1 MEC) record while at the helm of the program.

Rankings: D&E is No. 4 in the United Soccer Coaches top 25 poll, while Charleston sits at No. 6.

Series History: Notre Dame has had success against Davis & Elkins in the past, putting together a 5-1 all-time record against the Senators. In the spring 2021 campaign, D&E beat the Falcons in the regular season, but NDC won the MEC Tournament Semifinals matchup. Notre Dame is 3-16-3 against the Golden Eagles.

Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame had one game on the schedule last week, playing to a 2-2 draw against West Virginia Wesleyan. The Falcons jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Ailton Fagner Silva assisted both goals, finding Ned Dry in the 29th minute and Carlos Almeida in the 64th. The Falcons outshot the Bobcats, 18-8. WVWC scored in the 65th minute and in the 79th.

Across NCAA Division II, the Falcons rank in the top ten as a team with four goals per game (1st), four assists per game (1st), 12 points per game (1st), 32 total goals (2nd), 32 total assists (3rd) and 96 total points (3rd). Individually, Lukas Hackaa leads the nation by averaging one assist per contest. He is second in total assists with eight and 19th in points per game with two. Ned Dry finds himself fourth in D2 as he is scoring 1.12 goals per match, he also ranks third by accumulating 2.75 points per game, 10th with 22 total points and 11th in total goals with nine in eight games. Ailton Fagner Silva is seventh, nationally, with 2.43 points per contest, ranks ninth by averaging 0.71 assists per game and 24th with 0.86 goals per game.
 
Noting the Senators: Davis & Elkins has not lost a contest yet this season and on Sept. 15, the Senators became the first MEC team to defeat Charleston in the regular season since Oct. 12, 2016. They are relatively new to the Mountain East Conference, joining in 2019, but the Senators have had a strong men's soccer program, racking up at least 10 wins in five of the past ten campaigns, including this season. Last week, the Senators took 26 shots to Wheeling's 10 in a 3-0 victory. On Sunday, they scored two goals in the first half and two more in the second to defeat Alderson Broaddus 4-1.

Davis & Elkins has allowed three goals all season and the team is second in Division II in goals against average, allowing 0.29 goals per game. Goalkeeper Jeremy Coste is first in the country with seven shutouts. Three D&E players, including Coste, have taken home MEC Defensive Player of the Week honors already this season. As a team, D&E ranks eighth in Division II in goals per game (2.9) and assists per game (2.6), ninth in points per game (8.4), 10th in total assists (26), 12th in total points (84) and 13th in total goals (29). Individually, Daniel Cerezo and Alex Estrada-Avila are both seventh in the country with three game-winning goals, each. Cerezo is also 23rd in the country with eight goals.

Noting the Golden Eagles: Charleston has won six in a row after their loss to Davis & Elkins. Last week, they took care of business, defeating Concord 5-0 and West Liberty 4-1. In their win over the Mountain Lions, the Golden Eagles did not allow Concord to take a single shot in the contest. Gabriel Rodriguez was named MEC Offensive Player of the Week after he supplied three goals and an assist last week. He had one goal and one assist in a win over Concord, and then found the back of the net twice in a 4-1 win over West Liberty.

Charleston is scoring 3.1 goals per game, which is fourth-best in D2. The Golden Eagles are second in points per game (9.5) and third in assists per contest (3.3) and the defense ranks fifth in goals against average, allowing 0.49 per game. UC is second in total assists (33), fifth in points (95), seventh in goals (31). Charleston has 16 different players with at least one goal and 16 with at least one assist. Sebastian Pavez leads the team with five goals and 10 points. James Raptis has six assists, while Adrian Camacho has totaled one goal and five assists.