This Week: No. 15 Notre Dame College jumps into conference play this week as they meet up with Davis & Elkins College, on Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. Next Sunday, Sept. 10, the Falcons take on West Liberty University at 1 p.m. Both games will be played on the road.
Records: NDC has gotten off to its first 2-0 start since the 2015 season. Last week, the Falcons took down No. 4 Lake Erie College, 3-0, and then beat Ohio Dominican, 3-1. In a shocking upset in the MEC season opener, West Liberty beat D&E, 4-0, on Saturday. It was West Liberty's first ever win over the Senators and the first time the Hilltoppers put up more than two goals versus D&E.
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 currently has an overall coaching record of 81-32-11, while going 65-20-7 against MEC competition. Meir Lewin is in his first season at the helm of Davis & Elkins. Sean Regan is in year five at WLU, holding a record of 16-41-5.
Rankings: Notre Dame is ranked 15th in the latest United Soccer Coaches (USC) Division II top 25 poll. Davis & Elkins was No. 12 in the preseason poll, but has fallen out after a loss to West Liberty.
Series History: The Falcons hold a record of 6-2-2 all-time against Davis & Elkins, including a 1-1-1 mark last year. On Oct. 5 of last season, the Falcons upset No. 1 ranked D&E, 4-0, and later advanced past the Senators in penalty kicks in the MEC Semifinals. NDC has gone 9-0-1 against West Liberty since 2018.
Noting the Falcons: To start the 2023 season, NDC took down No. 4 Lake Erie College, 3-0, last Thursday. Over the weekend, NDC remained undefeated with a 3-1 victory against Ohio Dominican.
Against LEC,
Ailton Fagner Silva had the assist on the first goal of the game and scored later, in the 52nd minute.
Mirai Sato scored in the 16th minute, while playing in his first game with the Falcons, while
Evans Armah scored his first goal with NDC since his April 21, 2021.
Juan Pineda,
Callum Cleary and
David Kolar all scored for Notre Dame in a win over Ohio Dominican.
For his work in goal,
Danilo Abayo Wilson was given the Mountain East Conference Defensive Player of the Week honor after saving eight shots and allowing just one goal over the two games last week.
Noting the Senators: Last Saturday, Davis & Elkins let up a goal to West Liberty in the 20th minute and then the Hilltoppers went off for three goals in the second half. WLU took 11 shots in the game to Davis & Elkins' five. The Hilltoppers also took eight shots on target, while D&E had three. Ethan Streeter led the team with three shots and two shots on target. Goalkeeper Nicklas Berg-Eriksen saved three shots, but allowed four goals.
Last year, when the Senators won 16 games, Christhian Bosquez (15), Daniel Cerezo (11), Kevin Zapata (10) and Alex Estrada-Avila (8) combined for 44 goals. None of those players returned to the team this year. Beltran Fernandez played 15 games in goal last season, allowing just 11 goals all year, but did not return.
Noting the Hilltoppers: West Liberty started the season 1-0 in Mountain East Conference play for the first time in program history following a 4-0 win over No. 12 Davis & Elkins. The Hilltoppers had never scored over two goals in a game against D&E.
Vitor Otsuka was named MEC Offensive Player of the Week after scoring the first goal of the game in the 20th minute and then assisted on the next two WLU goals. Tim Strickland added a goal and an assist, while Federico Murrau gave the Hilltoppers a goal and Jan Goebel had an assist. Graduate student Noah Underwood saved three shots in the shutout.
