Today: No. 21 Notre Dame College, the three seed in the Mountain East Conference Tournament, travels to Charleston, W.Va. for a matchup with the top seed in the MEC, No. 6 University of Charleston, on Nov. 6. The MEC Championship game is scheduled to start 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, 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.
 
After NDC defeated D&E, on Thursday, the one seed Charleston defeated the four seed Wheeling in that semifinal matchup, 3-0.
 
The championship game will be played in Charleston, as the Falcons battle the Golden Eagles.
 
Records: Notre Dame currently has a record of 15-3-2 (12-3-1 MEC), finishing in third place in the Mountain East Conference standings with 37 conference points. Charleston now holds a record of 17-1 (15-1 MEC). They finished the regular season in first place, with 45 points.
 
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 78-30-11, while going 66-20-7 against MEC competition. Daniel Smee is now in his third year on the sideline as the head coach at UC, while he has been on the UC staff for six seasons. Smee currently holds a head coaching record of 46-3-3.
 
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. Charleston is ranked No. 6 in the country and second in the regional rankings. The top 10 teams from the four super regions earn a bid into the NCAA Division II tournament.
 
Series History: Charleston leads the all-time series against Notre Dame with a record of 21-3-3. These two teams first met in 2012 and the Golden Eagles have only dropped one game at home against NDC. UC won both games in the 2022 season series.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame now has 15 wins, the most in a season since 2013. The Falcons' 11 shutouts this season is the third most in program history. Notre Dame will be playing in its fifth MEC Championship game. Each time, the Falcons have played Charleston for the title. NDC is looking for its first bid into the NCAA Division II playoffs since 2018, while also attempting to win the program's first MEC Tournament title.
 
The Falcons will look to ride the momentum after Thursday night's semifinal comeback. NDC went on the road to face Davis & Elkins, the two seed in the MEC Tournament. The Senators scored in the 46th minute and the 53rd minute. They outshot NDC 7-0 in the first half and 7-4 in the second. However, Notre Dame continued to fight and finally got a goal on the scoreboard when a foul was called in the box. Marcus Vinicius Pereira converted on the penalty kick in the 84th minute. Nearly four minutes later, Antonio Bittencourt sent a pass to the middle of the box and placed in front of Ned Dry who angled the ball into the net to tie the game at two. After neither team scored in overtime, the game was decided in penalty kicks, with the Falcons winning 3-2 in the shootout. Pereira, Taylor Dyson and Dry all were successful on their PKs.
 
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 (55), sixth in assists (48), sixth in points (158), sixth in goals per game (2.8), sixth in points per game (7.9), eighth in assists per game (2.4) and ninth in shots on goal per game (8). The Falcons are 11th in corner kicks per game (6.45).
 
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 0.63, and 12th in points per game, at 1.89. He ranks 13th in shots on goal per game (1.95). Simao Coelho is ninth in the country with four game-winning goals and Pedro Alves ranks seventh with eight shutouts.
 
Noting the Golden Eagles: Charleston is in very familiar territory. In the 10-year history of the MEC, the Golden Eagles have won the regular season title eight times. They have won the MEC Tournament nine times, including last season when they upset the top seed Davis & Elkins, 4-1. Charleston has won at least 17 games in a season every year since 2014. Last season, UC was the NCAA Division II runner-up to Cal State Los Angeles.
 
On Thursday, Charleston faced Wheeling in the MEC Semifinals. Wheeling was hanging with Charleston through much of the first half, in fact the shots in the first 45 minutes were almost even, with the Golden Eagles taking six shots and the Cardinals taking five. WU's Richard Afolayanka put the first shot on target of the game, in the 24th minute, but Marc Torrado made the save. Charleston broke through in the 39th minute, as Sam Bethell scored with an assist by Lewis Redding. Two minutes later, Santiago Hoyos scored off a pass from Tristen Rose. UC scored one goal in the second half, when Eduardo Iranzo put one in the back of the net. The Golden Eagles did not allow Wheeling to take a shot in the second half.
 
The MEC released its yearly honors on Tuesday, and Charleston was well represented. Duvan Canchila won Defensive Player of the Year and Daniel Smee was named Coach of the Year. Marc Torrado, Eduardo Barros, Canchila and Mattia Vezzoni earned First Team honors. Felipe Mercado, Luis Maestre and Javier Sanchez all took a spot on the Second Team. Paul Caliari was named honorable mention. On the All-Freshman team, Giorgos Diakos and Sanchez were given those honors.
 
As a team, the Golden Eagles rank in the top five in Division II in several categories. They rank second in assists per game (3.33), third in total assists (60), third in points per game (10.6), fourth in goals (65), fourth in points (190), fourth in goals allowed per game (0.56), fourth in goals per game (3.61), fifth in shots per game (18.2) and fifth in shots on target per game (8.9).
 
Individually, Marc Torrado ranks fifth in Division II in shutouts, with nine, save percentage, at .854, and goals against average, allowing 0.45 goals per game. Eduardo Barros ranks fourth in the MEC in shots (51) and third in shots on goal (23). He also has scored 11 goals, which is third best in the conference. Barros has 26 points, to lead the team. Felipe Mercado leads the squad, and ranks fifth in the MEC, with seven assists.