This Week: After earning a bid into the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time since 2018, Notre Dame College men's soccer is in Rindge, N.H. at the host site, and No. 1 seed in Super Region One, Franklin Pierce University. The Falcons are the eight seed in the region and will play the nine seed, The College of Saint Rose, on Nov. 10, at 6 p.m.
 
Records: Notre Dame currently has a record of 15-4-2. The Falcons were 12-3-1 in Mountain East Conference play. Saint Rose holds a record of 9-4-4, while going 5-3-3 against Northeast-10 competitors.
 
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 78-31-11. Steve Wieczorek is in his first season on the sideline at Saint Rose.
 
Rankings: Notre Dame was ranked 21st in the latest United Soccer Coaches (USC) Division II top 25 poll. In NCAA Division II Super Region One, NDC is eighth and Saint Rose is ninth. The top ten teams from the four super regions took a spot in the national bracket.
 
Series History: The Falcons have never played the Golden Knights.
 
Noting the Falcons: With a win, Notre Dame will have more than 15 victories in a season for the first time since 2011. The Falcons' 11 shutouts this season is the third most in program history. Since joining the NCAA Division II prior to the 2012 season, the program has now qualified for the national tournament six times.
 
NDC put together an impressive Mountain East Conference Tournament run, last week. The Falcons advanced past West Liberty in the quarterfinals by a score of 5-1. Ailton Fagner Silva, who earned MEC All-Tournament honors, scored two goals in the game. In the semifinals on the road, the Falcons fell behind No. 12 Davis & Elkins by a score of 2-0, early in the second half. NDC did not take a shot in the first 45 minutes and were outshot 16-5 in the game. However, the Falcons stepped up and took advantage of a penalty kick, following a foul that was called on D&E in the 84th minute. Ned Dry would then score in the 87th minute off a pass from Antonio Bittencourt to tie the game at two. Neither team scored in overtime and NDC won in a penalty kick shootout, 3-2, to advance to the MEC championship. After Charleston scored two early goals in the championship match, NDC kept it close as Marcus Vinicius Pereira sent a long pass up the field to Silva, who scored for a third time in the tournament. NDC would fall to UC, 2-1. Along with Silva, Dyson was named to the All-Tournament team after scoring a goal and assisting on another in the quarterfinal win.
 
Notre Dame had seven players recognized by the conference when the All-MEC teams were announced. 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-38), sixth in goals (56), sixth in assists (49), sixth in points (161), sixth in goals per game (2.7), sixth in points per game (7.7), eighth in assists per game (2.3) and 11th in shots on goal per game (7.8).
 
Individually, Taylor Dyson is sixth in Division II with 12 assists and ranks 21st in the country with 12 goals. He is also seventh in total points, at 36, seventh in assists per game, with 0.6, and 15th in points per game, at 1.8. He ranks 15th in shots on goal per game (1.9). Simao Coelho is 10th in the country with four game-winning goals and Pedro Alves ranks eighth with eight shutouts.
 
Noting the Golden Knights: Saint Rose will be playing in its first NCAA Division II Tournament game in program history. Like the MEC, the Northeast-10 was a tough conference in men's soccer this season, with many solid teams. Eight programs in the conference had at least seven wins, overall, and six teams finished with at least five conference victories.
 
The Golden Knights had five players take all-conference honors. Hilmar Halldorsson was the only First Team member and Victor Boje Henriksen took All-NE10 Second Team. Nick Keonig and Josh Elliott took home a Third Team award, while Nils Annborn earned a spot on the All-Rookie squad.
 
By the time these teams take the field on Thursday, it will have been almost two weeks since Saint Rose last competed. The Golden Knights were defeated in the NE10 quarterfinals by Southern New Hampshire in penalty kicks, back on Oct. 29. In that contest, Southern N.H. scored the first goal of the game in the 58th minute. Saint Rose's Andrew Lule then tied the contest, 18 minutes later. After the teams went scoreless in the two overtime periods, the game went to penalty kicks. Between the two squads, only one player missed a PK and Southern New Hampshire advanced past the Golden Knights.
 
Saint Rose averages 1.9 goals per game, while allowing 1.2 per game. Hillmar Halldorsson ranks 27th in the country with 11 goals and he is 23rd in goals per game at 0.69. Josh Elliott and Nick Koenig both have five goals and three assists. Tomas Rozman has started 13 games in goal for the Golden Knights. He has been credited with four shutouts.