SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – For the first time since Sept. 19, 2021, Notre Dame College scored at least eight goals in a game. On Wednesday afternoon, the Falcons defeated Wheeling University by a score of 8-0 as six players scored a goal for NDC. On the defensive side, the shutout marked Notre Dame's fifth of the season.
 
"Today, the response to our previous game was great to see," said head coach Carl Nolan. "The players can take full credit for today's performance. It was clinical and pleasing."

NDC had already scored three goals in the first 10 minutes of the game. In the first minute, junior Ailton Fagner Silva dumped off a pass to sophomore Guilherme Wanderley who wasted no time in sending it over to junior Mirai Sato. Sato, who was just inside the box, made a quick move to the right and shot from about 15 yards away into the goal.
 
Six minutes later, senior Evans Armah moved to the middle of the field, tapped the ball over to Wanderley and Wanderley launched a line drive from 25 yards away into the back of the net.
 
A corner kick led to the Falcons' third goal, in the ninth minute. Junior Juan Pineda was uncovered by the Wheeling defense and had an easy header past the goalkeeper, Carlos Molina.
 
Outside of the first ten minutes, NDC took six shots during the rest of the half. The Falcons totaled nine shots in the first half, but Wheeling was not far behind after taking seven shots, with two on target.
 
The second half was much different, as the Notre Dame defense tightened up even more and allowed just two shots in the final 45 minutes. On the other side of the field, the Falcons launched 16, scoring five times.
 
Pineda scored for a second time, in the 49th minute, off of another corner kick. Freshman Higor Xisto launched the corner into the box, which grazed off of junior Connor O'Reilly and Pineda had the opportunity and capitalized on it.
 
Two minutes later, Notre Dame was moving into Wheeling territory, again. After the initial attack was stopped and cleared, the ball landed in front of senior Evans Armah. The striker was just outside of the box and sent a high-arcing shot that sailed over Molina to give NDC a 5-0 lead.
 
Junior Carlos Almeida tried to sneak a low shot in, but Molina slowed it down and a Wheeling defender sent the ball away. However, the running Almeida took possession right back and found Sato on the other side of the goal. Notre Dame had another open shot which became the sixth goal.
 
Sato took four shots throughout the game, scoring twice. He has had two, two-goal games, in the last three contests.
 
The Falcons scored goal number seven when junior Riwai Rangihuna-Stanton had a nice touch pass up the field to sophomore Parker Bolin, who out-sprinted the Cardinal defense, leading to his first career goal.
 
In the 88th minute, freshman Alex Greaves set up for a free kick and bent a shot into the upper 90 left corner for his first career goal.
 
Xisto finished the game with a career-high two assists and Pineda had a career-high two goals. Wanderley recorded his first career assist and his first career game with an assist and a goal. Twenty-six Falcons saw time on the pitch on Wednesday.
 
This season, Notre Dame has allowed just three goals over seven contests.
 
After three game at home, Notre Dame will go back on the road to play Salem University, on Sept. 24. The start time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.