This Week: Notre Dame College will play just one game for the second week in a row. Looking to build on the momentum from a road win over the weekend, the Falcons host West Virginia Wesleyan College, on Oct. 19, at 3 p.m.

Records: Notre Dame enters the week with a record of 11-3-1 (9-3-1 MEC), sitting in third place in the Mountain East Conference standings with 28 conference points. West Virginia Wesleyan holds a record of 6-5-3 (4-5-3 MEC) and the Bobcats have 15 points in conference. WVWC is currently fifth in the MEC standings, four points behind fourth place Wheeling.

Updated MEC Tournament Details: The MEC men's soccer tournament, set to begin on Nov. 1, will expand to six teams, from the usual four. The top two seeds will receive a bye in the quarterfinal round, as the three seed hosts the six seed and the four seed hosts the five seed.

Coaches Corner: Carl Nolan is in his seventh season as head coach of the Notre Dame program and 19th as a member of the coaching staff. He currently has an overall coaching record of 74-30-10, while going 63-20-7 against MEC competition. Josh Spencer is in his first season on the sideline at W.Va. Wesleyan. He was on the staff as an assistant coach, last season.
 
Rankings: For the first time this season, Notre Dame is ranked in the latest United Soccer Coaches (USC) Division II top 25 poll. The Falcons were placed at No. 23. According to the USC, the Falcons are fourth and the Bobcats are ninth in the Atlantic Region.
 
Series History: Notre Dame has had success against West Virginia Wesleyan in the all-time series, going 13-3-3 against the Bobcats. Since 2018, NDC has gone 6-1-2 versus WVWC.

Noting the Falcons: With a win this week, Notre Dame would have 12 total wins for the first time since 2019. The Falcons have seven wins at home this season, the most wins on Mueller Field since 2019.

Last Sunday, NDC faced Frostburg State on the road. After struggling early on to find the back of the net, the Falcons broke through in the 38th minute, when Taylor Dyson scored off an assist from Marcus Vinicius Pereira. Ned Dry sent the ball back to Connor O'Reilly, in the 50th minute, and the Falcons' forward sent the ball in for the second goal. Ned Dry had a goal of his own in the 73rd minute, assisted by Carlos Almeida. The Falcons took 21 shots, to Frostburg State's nine.

In the national Division II rankings, Taylor Dyson ranks 15th with seven assists and he is 18th with 23 total points. Dyson and Simao Coelho are tied for 11th in the country with three game-winning goals, each. Goalkeeper Pedro Alves 14th with six shutouts. As a team, the Falcons rank 10th in the country with 36 total goals and 12th in goal differential at plus-23. NDC is also 13th in both total assists (29) and total points (101).
 
Noting the Bobcats: West Virginia Wesleyan dropped a pair of games last week, both at home. They fell to Wheeling, 1-0, and then dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 9 Charleston. At different points this season, WVWC has had a streak of two for each possible decision (win, loss, draw), but has not had three in a row.

In a defensive battle, last Wednesday, Wesleyan and Wheeling were scoreless until the 77th minute, when WU's Richard Afolayanka scored the game-winner. The two teams combined for just 14 shots in the contest, but WVWC did not take a shot on target. On Sunday, despite being outshot 18-4 against nationally-ranked Charleston, the Bobcats battled. Charleston scored in the 12th minute, W.Va. Wesleyan scored two minutes later. Charleston took a 2-1 lead going into the second half, but Wesleyan tied the game at two with a goal right after the halftime break. UC would go on to win 4-2. Over the two games, goalkeeper Bryant Sheffield stopped seven shots.

Sinasi Emre Deniz is tied for second in the conference with nine goals. Sam Newell leads the team with five assists, while also scoring three goals. Bryant Sheffield has started 10 of the 14 games in goal and has a save percentage of 74.5-percent, with three shutouts.