This Week: Notre Dame College men's soccer will get their 2021 campaign underway when they host the University of Charleston on Sept. 12. First kick is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Records: NDC's 2020 season was played last spring and the Falcons went 7-3 against all conference opponents. They defeated Davis & Elkins, who was ranked No. 11 in the country at the time, before falling to No. 1 Charleston in the MEC Championship game. Charleston had a 10-0 overall record, including a pair of wins in the MEC Tournament to win their seventh MEC title.
Coaches Corner: Carl Nolan is in his sixth season as head coach of the Notre Dame program. He has a record of 54-22-7, and is 45-13-4 in MEC play. Daniel Smee is in his second year at the helm of Charleston, with a career record of 12-0 (9-0 MEC).
Rankings: Charleston remains the top team in NCAA Division II, according to the first regular season United Soccer Coaches top 25 poll. NDC was receiving votes in the national preseason poll. UC was picked first in the MEC preseason poll and NDC was voted second.
Series History: Notre Dame holds a record of 3-16-3 against Charleston since 2012.
Noting the Falcons: As a young team last season, Notre Dame returns most of their squad. In fact, of the 13 players who scored at least one goal in the spring of 2021, 12 return.
Filip Sparavec was sixth in the conference with five goals scored and
Marcus Vinicius Pereira was tied for third in the MEC with five assists.
Pedro Alvez,
Arvid Engstrom and
Jack Groeneveld all saw time in goal and they return. Alvez and Engstrom combined for 23 saves. Last spring, NDC ranked second in the MEC in goals with 25, goals per game at 2.5, points with 62 and points per game at 6.2. They were also third in goals allowed (11) and second in goals against average (1.10). The Falcons five shutouts were tied for the top of the conference.
Antonio Bittencourt was named MEC Defensive Player of the Year, MEC Freshman of the Year and All-MEC First Team.
Javier Mate, Sparavec and Vinicius Pereira earned All-MEC First Team, while
Malvin Gblah took Second Team. All of those players return.
Noting the Golden Eagles: Charleston continues rolling with two wins to start the 2021 season. Last week, they defeated Mars Hill University by a score of 5-1 and West Liberty University, 3-0. Against Mars Hill, Sebastian Pavez scored four goals. The Golden Eagles spread the ball around against WLU as three different players scored a goal and three different players earned an assist. The Golden Eagles have not lost a game since Sept. 11, 2019 when they fell, 1-0, to Bellarmine University. UC started that season with a 1-2 record but would go on to win their second NCAA D2 National Championship in three years. However, their last match that did not result in a win was a 1-1 draw against NDC on Oct. 20, 2019.
