SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – Rain fell throughout the 90 minutes of Wednesday's men's soccer match between Notre Dame College and Wheeling University. The weather did not slow the Falcons, as seven of their shots found the back of the net and they recorded their first shutout of the season in a 7-0 victory.

NDC came into the contest first in NCAA Division II in scoring offense, with 5.33 goals per game. With today's performance, NDC has scored 23 goals, with an average of 7.7 goals per game, over their last three matches.

On the wet turf, NDC took five shots within the first 15 minutes. And in the 15th minute, NDC converted when sophomore Lukas Hackaa put a corner kick into the box and senior Alexandru Rumleanschi sent the ball into the net to put NDC on the board.

About five minutes later, Hackaa sent the ball forward to freshman Carlos Almeida, who found defending MEC Offensive Player of the Week Ned Dry for the second goal.

Sophomore Marcus Vinicius Pereira and Dry both took another shot on target before the end of the half, but Wheeling's goalkeeper, Tyler Serman, made nice plays to keep the game close. The Falcons led 2-0 after 45 minutes and took 10 shots to Wheeling's three.

Notre Dame wasted no time at the beginning the second half. The ball was kicked off by Wheeling, but the Falcons quickly took possession and went down the field. Freshman Taylor Dyson played the ball nicely to Dry, who put NDC ahead 3-0.

In the 50th minute, Hackaa launched a pass into the box, finding Almeida. The Falcon forward hesitated for a moment and then rocketed the ball past the goalie. Seven minutes later, the Falcons worked the ball from the right side of the field with two solid passes from Hackaa and Dry into the box to find a running Ailton Fagner Silva for the strike into the net.

Dry finished the hat trick, and put NDC ahead 6-0, with an assist credited to Silva in the 72nd minute. Sophomore Filip Sparavec outran several defenders and put a sliding shot under the crossbar for the Falcons' seventh goal of the game in the 79th minute.

The Falcons were efficient, scoring seven goals on 19 shots, with 11 of them on target. Wheeling was held to five shots.

"We are really pleased with the win today," said head coach Carl Nolan. "In very difficult conditions at times, we played very well. We will now train and focus on our next opponents."

Dry now has seven goals in four games this season with three today. Hackaa's four assist performance moves him into second place in NDC history for a single game and puts him in a tie for the top spot in Mountain East Conference history.

Over this three-game domination by NDC, the Falcons have taken 68 shots, for an average of 22.7 per game, and 44 shots on goal, for an average of 14.7 per game. Along with their 23 goals, the team has also accumulated 20 assists and 66 points. The defense has held opponents to three goals on 15 shots.

The last time NDC scored this many goals over a three-game win streak, was Oct. 5-15, 2011, when NDC scored 24 goals over a trio of games.

Notre Dame goes back on the road to play Frostburg State University on Sunday, Sept. 26. The game is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.