This Week: No. 21 Notre Dame College, the three seed in the Mountain East Conference, will battle West Liberty University, the six seed, in the quarterfinal round of the MEC Tournament. The match is scheduled for Nov. 1, at 3 p.m.
 
MEC Tournament: This season, the MEC Tournament has expanded to six teams. Since the MEC began in 2013, the tournament had been the top four teams in the conference. The top two seeds, Charleston and Davis & Elkins, will get a bye in the quarterfinals. Along with the NDC-West Liberty matchup, the other quarterfinal game will be the five seed, West Virginia Wesleyan, vs. the four seed, Wheeling. That game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
 
The Semifinals will take place on Nov. 3. The winner of the NDC-WLU matchup will travel to meet the two seed, Davis & Elkins, at 5 p.m. The winner of the WVWC-WU game will head to the top seed, Charleston, for a 7 p.m. start.
 
The championship game will be hosted by the highest remaining seed, on Nov. 6.
 
Records: Notre Dame enters the tournament with a record of 14-3-1 (12-3-1 MEC), finishing in third place in the Mountain East Conference standings with 37 conference points. West Liberty is currently 3-10-4 (3-9-4 MEC) with 13 points in the conference, winning a tie-breaker with Frostburg State to grab the sixth spot.
 
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 77-30-10, while going 66-20-7 against MEC competition. Sean Regan is in his fourth season on the sideline at West Liberty. He has a record of 16-40-5, while going 15-36-5 in MEC play.
 
Rankings: Notre Dame is ranked 21st in the latest United Soccer Coaches (USC) Division II top 25 poll. NDC is also No. 5 in Super Region One of the NCAA Division II regional rankings. The top 10 teams from the four super regions earn a bid into the NCAA Division II tournament.
 
Series History: Since the West Liberty program began in 2018, Notre Dame has gone 8-0-1 against the Hilltoppers. This season, the two teams played to a scoreless draw, in the first meeting, before Notre Dame went off for five goals in a 5-0 home victory, later in the year.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame now has 14 total wins, for the first time since 2018, and 11 conference victories, second most in program history. After starting the season 2-2-1 in the first five games, NDC won 12 of its final 13 games. The Falcons have shutout each of their last four opponents and have not given up a goal to six of their last seven opponents. Notre Dame's 11 shutouts this season is the third most in program history.
 
Last week, the Falcons defeated Concord, 3-0, and Alderson Broaddus, 5-0. Simoa Coelho and Taylor Dyson had the goals against Concord. Ailton Fagner Silva, Connor O'Reilly, Ned Dry and Carlos Almeida had the goals against Alderson Broaddus. The MEC awarded the Offensive Player of the Week to Taylor Dyson, after he scored two goals and had two assists. Pedro Alves was named MEC Defensive Player of the Week after being credited with a shutout and a combined shutout, along with saving three shots.
 
In the national Division II rankings, NDC ranks sixth with 2.67 goals per game and a plus-35 goal differential. The Falcons are seventh in points (136), points per game (7.56), goals (48) and shutout percentage (.611). They rank ninth in assists (40), assists per game (2.22) and shots on goal per game (8.11). The defense is allowing 0.72 goals per game, which is 16th best in the country.
 
Individually, Taylor Dyson is fifth in D2 with 11 assists and sixth with 0.65 assists per game. Dyson is also ninth in points per game (1.94), 10th in total points (33) and 13th in shots on goal per game (1.94). Pedro Alves ranks seventh in the country, with eight shutouts, and 21st in goals against average, at .705. Simoa Coelho has four game-winning goals, which is ninth in Division II.
 
Noting the Hilltoppers: West Liberty has clinched the program's first MEC Tournament berth. WLU started the season 1-1-2 in the first four games, which included two shutouts. The team then lost eight straight, before saving the season by grabbing two wins in the final four games.
 
Last week, WLU had a tough matchup by going on the road to face No. 12 ranked Davis & Elkins. The Hilltoppers lost 7-1, on Wednesday. Last Saturday, WLU ended the regular season with a much-needed win to clinch the final spot in the tournament. In a crosstown rivalry, Wheeling and West Liberty were scoreless at halftime and WU scored first in the 66th minute on a penalty kick. But, Oskar Voges tied the game for West Liberty in the 72nd minute and then Joseph Fonagy won it four minutes later.
 
This season, goalkeeper Noah Underwood is second in the conference with 90 saves and averages six saves per game. He is also fourth in the MEC with a save percentage of .726. Joseph Fonagy leads the team with four goals and Vitor Otsuka leads West Liberty with six assists.