This Week: Notre Dame College men's soccer will play their final non-conference game of the season, as they host Seton Hill University, on Sept. 28, at 4 p.m. And then the team will travel to Buckhannon, W.Va., on Oct. 2, for matchup with West Virginia Wesleyan College.
 
Records: Notre Dame enters the week with a record of 7-2-1 (6-2-1 MEC) after winning five in a row. Seton Hill enters the game with a record of 2-6-1 and 1-1-1 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. West Virginia Wesleyan is now 4-2-2, while going 2-2-2 in the 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 has an overall coaching record of 70-29-10, while going 59-19-7 against MEC competition. Dilveer Chaggar enters his first season as head coach of the Seton Hill men's team after being an assistant coach with both the men's and women's teams in 2021. Josh Spencer is also in his first season as head coach.
 
Rankings: None of these teams are receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches (USC) Division II National poll. The Falcons are fifth in the USC Atlantic Region poll, while WVWC moved up one spot to ninth.
 
Series History: Notre Dame has a record of 12-3-3 all-time against West Virginia Wesleyan since 2013. The two teams have not played yet this season, but last year, NDC went 1-0-1 against the Bobcats. The Falcons' first met Seton Hill in 2003, and since then, NDC has gone 5-1-1 against the Griffins. Last season, Notre Dame defeated SHU, 7-0.
 
Noting the Falcons: Notre Dame is on a five-game win streak, the longest win streak since the 2019 season. Last week, NDC defeated Alderson Broaddus by a score of 2-1. The Falcons took 13 shots in the first half, but did not score until the 51st minute. Jose Rivas scored first and then Jack Milford put the ball into the net 70th minute. The Milford goal would be the game-winner because the Battlers scored in the 71st minute, one of their three shots on goal in the game. Against West Liberty, Notre Dame opened up the offense with five goals. Rivas assisted the first goal, scored by Simao Coelho, in the 21st minute. Rivas, who had a goal and an assist last week, was named MEC Offensive Player of the Week. The Falcons took 21 shots in the second half, and 30 total, against West Liberty. The Falcons' defense shutout the Hilltoppers.

In the national Division II rankings, the team ranks fourth in shots on goal per game at 8.6, fifth in corner kicks per game at 7.3, seventh in total goals at 25, 12th in goal differential at plus-15, 19th in scoring offense with 2.5 goals per game and 20th in points per game at 6.9. In individual player rankings, Taylor Dyson is seventh in the country in shots on target per game (2.3) and eighth in shot accuracy (69-7-percent). He leads the team with six goals and four assists.
 
Noting the Griffins: Seton Hill has won two of their last three games after starting the year 0-5-1, however, they did face two teams ranked in the D2 National Poll during that opening six-game stretch. The Griffins are 0-3-1 on the road so far. Last week, the Griffins lost to Mercyhurst, 1-0. MU, who came into the game undefeated, was held scoreless until the 86th minute. Against California (Pa.) last weekend, Seton Hill scored a season-high four goals. They scored three times, on six shots in the first half. Anton Dupont Linden, Wilfred Munn, Fletcher Amos and Sebastian Acuna had the goals.

Amos Fletcher leads the team with four goals. Nathaniel Huff and Bobby White have split the goalkeeping duties this season.
 
Noting the Bobcats: West Virginia Wesleyan now has three wins at home this season, after getting just four wins in Buckhannon last season. WVWC is coming off of a couple of tests last week. The Bobcats lost 2-0 to No. 3 ranked Davis & Elkins. They faced non-conference Cedarville over the weekend and an Adam Gribben goal in the 49th minute was the difference maker for the Bobcats in a 1-0 victory. Cedarville was on the attack in the second half of that game, taking five shots on target, which were all saved by goalkeeper, Bryant Sheffield.

In national NCAA Division II rankings, Sam Newell ranks 10th with five assists and Sinasi Emre Deniz is 11th with seven goals. As a team, WVWC ranks 25th in shot accuracy, at 53-percent. In goal, Logan Nelson (60-percent save percentage) and Bryant Sheffield (71.4 shot percentage) have each started four games.