This Week: Notre Dame College men's soccer stays home this week, as Wheeling University comes to town on Sept. 20, for a 4 p.m. start on Mueller Field. On Sept. 24, NDC will be in Bridgeport, W.Va. to play Salem University, at 7:30 p.m.
 
Records: NDC is currently 4-1-1 (2-1-1 MEC) this season. Last week, the Falcons shutout Frostburg State, 3-0, and lost to Charleston, 2-0. Wheeling enters the week 0-4-1 (0-2-1 MEC) after losing to Salem, 1-0, and playing to a 1-1 draw with Concord. Salem has a record of 1-4-1 following a 1-0-1 week, beating Wheeling, 1-0, and tying West Liberty, 1-1.

Coaches Corner: Carl Nolan is in his eighth season as head coach of the Notre Dame program and 19th as a member of the coaching staff. He has an overall coaching record of 83-33-12, while going 67-21-8 against MEC competition. Brandon Regan enters his second season leading the Cardinals. At Wheeling, he has a record of 8-15-2 (7-10-2 MEC). Florin Martin is the head coach at Salem in his 18th season.
 
Rankings: None of these teams are ranked in the United Soccer Coaches (USC) NCAA Division II top 25. Notre Dame is No. 6 in the USC's Atlantic Region Poll.
 
Series History: The Falcons are 18-3-2 when facing Wheeling, a series that dates back to 2005. The Falcons have not lost to WU since 2018 and shut them out, 3-0, in both game last season. NDC has won all three games played against Salem and have not allowed a goal in any of those contests. However, Salem and Notre Dame have not met since 2017.
 
Noting the Falcons: Last week, Notre Dame extended its shutout streak to three with a 3-0 win over Frostburg State. Mirai Sato led the Falcons' charge by scoring in the 14th minute and the 23rd. Guilherme Wanderley scored his first career goal in the 67th minute and Evans Armah recorded his second assist of the day. The Falcons outshot FSU 16-8 in the game. In a 2-0 loss to Charleston, over the weekend, UC put one goal on the board in each half, despite NDC taking 10 shots to Charleston's seven.
 
This season, Mirai Sato leads the team with three goals, while seven players have one goal. However, Ailton Fagner Silva has taken 17 shots, which is six more than anyone else on the team. Silva also leads the conference in shots and shots on goal (11). NDC is tied with West Virginia Wesleyan and Concord for fewest goals allowed in the conference, with three. Danilo Abayo Wilson ranks second in NCAA Division II with four shutouts.

Noting the Cardinals: Wheeling has only scored three goals all season and struggled to find the net last week. Salem's Diego Losada put the Tigers on the scoreboard in the 16th minute, and that was enough to get past WU, 1-0, even though Wheeling took 10 more shots than Salem (20-10). In the second game of the week, neither Wheeling nor Concord scored until the 84th minute. The Mountain Lions struck first and then Wheeling's TJ Cherry tied the game just over a minute later in the 1-1 draw.
 
TJ Cherry leads the team with two goals and Jon-Michael Gordon has the other. Goalkeeper Carlos Molina has started four games and has 15 saves. Austin Aaron started the other game in goal, saving nine shots against Findlay, in an 8-0 loss.

Noting the Tigers: Salem was on the road for both games last week. Diego Losada scored in the 16th minute and the Tigers' defense shutout Wheeling in a 1-0 victory. Goalkeeper Samuel Reyna-Farje saved six shots. West Liberty took 17 shots against SU on Sunday, but the two teams played to a 1-1 draw. Ricardo Gallego Curto scored the only Tiger goal in the 53rd minute and Reyna-Farje stopped five shots on target.
 
This season, four players (Mauricio Aguilar Renovales, Ricardo Gallego Curto, Diego Losada and David Teruel Nuno) have scored one goal for Salem. Samuel Reyna-Farje has played in five games, making four starts and has saved 17 shots. Ryan Schneider has appeared in three games, starting two.