This Week: No. 21 Notre Dame College, the three seed in the Mountain East Conference, heads to Elkins, W.Va. for a matchup with No. 12 Davis & Elkins College, on Nov. 3. The start of the game is scheduled for 5 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, received a bye in the quarterfinals. Notre Dame advanced in the quarterfinals, defeating the six seed West Liberty, 5-1. The four seed Wheeling defeated the five seed West Virginia Wesleyan, 1-0, in the other quarterfinal matchup.
 
While NDC plays Davis & Elkins at 5 p.m., Wheeling faces the one seed Charleston in the semifinals. That game is scheduled 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 15-3-1 (12-3-1 MEC), finishing in third place in the Mountain East Conference standings with 37 conference points. Davis & Elkins finished the season at 15-2 (14-2 MEC), and took second place in the conference standings. The Senators finished three points behind Charleston.
 
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 78-30-10, while going 66-20-7 against MEC competition. Dean Johnson is in his third season as the head coach of Davis & Elkins. He has put together a record of 40-5-3.
 
Rankings: Both of these team are ranked in the national and regional polls. Notre Dame is 21st in the latest United Soccer Coaches (USC) Division II top 25 poll and No. 7 in Super Region One of the NCAA Division II regional rankings. Davis & Elkins ranks 12th in the USC top 25 poll, and the Senators sit at No. 5 in the region. The top 10 teams from the four super regions earn a bid into the NCAA Division II tournament.
 
Series History: In the short history between these two teams, the Falcons and Senators have had some tough battles. The Falcons won the first four meetings, dating back to 2013, which included three shutouts. The teams are 2-2-1 against each other in the last five matchups. Earlier this season, D&E defeated the Falcons, 4-0, in Elkins, W.Va. Later in the regular season, NDC took down the No. 1 ranked Senators, 4-0, in South Euclid. These two teams also matched up in the MEC semifinals in the spring of 2021, with NDC upsetting the Senators, 2-1.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame now has 15 wins, the most in a season since 2013. After starting the season 2-2-1 in the first five games, NDC won 12 of its final 13 games. The Falcons' 11 shutouts this season is the third most in program history. Notre Dame is looking for its first bid into the NCAA Division II playoffs since 2018 and attempting to win the program's first MEC Tournament title.
 
On Tuesday, Notre Dame took the field to play West Liberty in the MEC quarterfinals. The Falcons won 5-1. Despite missing most of the season Ailton Fagner Silva provided a spark for the NDC offense, scoring twice in the first half and taking five shots. Notre Dame would add on in the second half as Connor O'Reilly, Taylor Dyson and Tapiwa Mushonga all scored once. The Falcons outshot WLU 21-4 and, for the second time this season, scored five goals against the Hilltoppers.
 
Notre Dame had seven players recognized by the conference when the All-MEC teams were announced on Tuesday afternoon. Antonio Bittencourt, Simao Coelho and Taylor Dyson earned First Team Honors, while Coelho was also named to the All-Freshman team. Pedro Alves and Connor O'Reilly were both on the Second Team, while Ned Dry and Leonardo Palmieri took home honorable mention.
 
In the national Division II rankings, the Falcons rank fifth in goal differential (plus-39), sixth in goals (53), sixth in assists (47), sixth in points (153), sixth in goals per game (2.8), sixth in points per game (8.1), seventh in assists per game (2.5), eighth in shots on goal per game (8.2) and eighth in shutout percentage (.579).
 
Individually, Taylor Dyson is fifth in Division II with 12 assists and ranks 20th in the country with 12 goals. He is also sixth in total points, at 36, seventh in assists per game, with 0.67, and 10th in points per game, at two. He ranks 10th in shots on goal per game (2.6). Simao Coelho is ninth in the country with four game-winning goals and Pedro Alves ranks seventh with eight shutouts.
 
Noting the Senators: Davis & Elkins had another stellar season, winning at least 15 games for the second consecutive season. In the fall 2021 campaign, D&E was the one seed in the MEC Tournament, but fell to Charleston in the championship game. The Senators lost to Charleston, again, in the NCAA Tournament, in penalty kicks. This year, D&E is the second seed in the conference tournament, after splitting the season series with both NDC and Charleston.
 
The Senators are currently riding a three-game winning streak and have not played since Sunday, after received a bye in the quarterfinal round. D&E defeated Wheeling, West Liberty and West Virginia Wesleyan, who all made the MEC Tournament, in the final three contests of the regular season.
 
The All-MEC teams were released on Tuesday, and Davis & Elkins had 10 players honored. Christhian Bosquez was named All-MEC First Team and conference Offensive Player of the Year. Haruki Yamazaki, Manuel Castrejon and Davide Materazzi also earned First Team honors. Daniel Cerezo, Kevin Zapata and Okeefe Cunningham are Second Team members and Beltran Fernandez was named honorable mention and All-Freshman.
 
In the national Division II rankings, the Senators lead the country with 78 goals, 66 assists, 222 points, 4.6 goals per game, 13.1 points per game and 3.9 assists per game. They are second in the country with a goal differential of plus-69 and 11.1 shots on goal per game. D&E is sixth in shot accuracy, at .548.
 
Christian Bosquez has 13 goals and 28 points this season, ranking 14th and 21st in the country, respectively. Bosquez is also 15th in goals per game (0.76) and 21st in points per game (1.65). Dominique Castano and Manuel Castrejon both lead the team, and rank 12th in D2, with nine assists. The Senators have three players in the top 20, nationally in assists (Castano, Castrejon and Soshi Fujioka). Freshman goalkeeper Beltran Fernandez is seventh in the country with eight shutouts and ranks eighth with a goals against average of .589.