This Week: Notre Dame College men's soccer will travel to Wheeling University, on Sept. 14, with a scheduled start time of 7:30 p.m. The Falcons will come back home to battle Frostburg State University, on Sept. 18, at 2 p.m.
Records: This season, NDC has gotten off to a 3-2-1 (2-2-1) start, already playing two nationally-ranked teams (Davis & Elkins and Charleston). Wheeling has a record of 2-2-1, while going 2-1-1 in the MEC. Frostburg State has put together a record of 2-1-2 (1-1-2 MEC).
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 holds an overall coaching record of 66-29-10, while going 55-19-7 against MEC competition. Brandon Regan is in his first season as head coach at Wheeling. Keith Byrnes is in his 21st season at the helm of the Frostburg State program. He has an all-time record of 182-155-36.
Rankings: None of these teams are receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches Division II poll.
Series History: In one of the longest series in NDC's program history, Notre Dame and Wheeling first met in 2005. On Aug. 31, Notre Dame defeated Wheeling 3-0 and the Falcons lead the all-time series 17-3-2. Against Frostburg State, NDC has gone 4-1 since 2019.
Noting the Falcons: Last week, Notre Dame and West Liberty played to a scoreless draw. Although NDC outshot WLU, 11-3, neither team could put the ball in the net. The game represented NDC's third shutout of the season. After being held scoreless in back-to-back games, Notre Dame came out ready to attack against Concord.
Jordan Lewis scored the first goal of the game in the fifth minute and NDC went into the halftime break leading 3-1. NDC added four goals in the second half and scored a season-high seven goals and took 24 shots in a 7-1 win over Concord.
Taylor Dyson was named this week's Mountain East Conference Offensive Player of the Week after he scored a career-high three goals on six shots against the Mountain Lions.
This season, Dyson leads the team with four goals and two assists. He is currently 16th in Division II with a shot accuracy of 71.4-percent and 25th in the country in total goals.
Rafael Baia has started four games in goal and has made eight saves, while
Pedro Alves has started two games as the goalkeeper, also making eight saves.
Noting the Cardinals: Wheeling had a solid week, tying West Virginia Wesleyan, 2-2, and then defeating Frostburg State, 1-0. Diego Buenano scored in both games, including the game winner against FSU. Richard Afolayanka scored a penalty kick goal, the first goal of the game, against W.Va. Wesleyan. Since starting the season by being shut out by both Cedarville and Notre Dame, Wheeling has gone 2-0-1, scoring seven goals in those three games. They have had to travel a lot this season already, and Wednesday's game will be just their second game of the season in Wheeling.
Three goalkeepers (Austin Aaron, Carlos Molina and Flem Sandt) have all started at least one game.
Noting the Bobcats: Frostburg State has had an up-and-down season so far. In conference play, FSU has finished in a draw with Concord and West Liberty, defeated Alderson Broaddus and lost to Wheeling. In their 4-0 win over AB last week, the Bobcats scored one goal in the first half and three in the second. Danny Caparotti scored in the first half, while Carlos Quintero Rivas scored once in the second and Blake Hoskins put two into the back of the net. Frostburg took 15 shots in the second stanza. Brennan Moore played over 72 minutes in goal and made five saves to keep a clean sheet against the Battlers.
Danny Caparotti has two goals and ranks seventh in D2 with two game winners. Caparotti and Kevin Garcia-Torres lead the team with two assists. Brennan Moore has made 21 saves and has faced 67 shots, already.
