SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The top-seeded Irish open up postseason play with a matchup against No. 9 seed Louisville in the quarterfinal round of the ACC Tournament at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, Nov. 5 at Alumni Stadium. The match will air on ACCN.
No. 2 NOTRE DAME vs. LOUISVILLE
Location: South Bend, Indiana | Alumni Stadium
TV: ACCN
Live Stats: Click Here
Twitter Updates: @NDMenSoccer
Game Notes: vs. Louisville
Tickets: Click Here
IRISH IN THE ACC TOURNEY
• Notre Dame has an overall ACC Tournament record of 13-7-3 and has reached at least the quarterfinal round now in 10-of-11 seasons in the league.
• The Irish have won one ACC Tournament title in program history, winning the 2021 championship. Notre Dame didn’t allow a goal over four matches and defeated Duke by a score of 2-0 in the final.
• Notre Dame has reached the semifinal round or beyond in the ACC Championship in six of its 10 seasons as a conference member.
• The Irish have made two appearances in the conference tournament finals.
• The Irish have won at least one match in nine of their 10 previous ACC Championship appearances.
• Notre Dame is 8-1 all-time in the ACC Tournament when playing in South Bend.
• Prior to joining the ACC, Notre Dame won three Big East Tournament titles and three MCC (Midwestern Collegiate Conference) titles.
THE LOUISVILLE SERIES
• The Irish and Cardinals will meet on the pitch for the 25th time on Sunday evening.
• Notre Dame leads Louisville in the all-time series at 13-9-2.
• The Irish and Cardinals played to a 0-0 draw the last time they met in the postseason, the quarterfinals of the 2021 ACC Tournament in Louisville. Notre Dame advanced to the semifinal round on penalties.
• The Irish blanked the Cardinals in penalties, posting a score of 3-0 in just three rounds, as Bryan Dowd made big saves to help the team advance.
• Notre Dame fell to Louisville in a 2-0 defeat last season on Oct. 8 at Alumni Stadium despite outshooting the Cardinals 15-5.
LAST TIME OUT
• Notre Dame closed out the regular season in style, defeating No. 20 Pitt by a score of 6-0 on Friday, Oct. 27 at Alumni Stadium.
• The 6-0 win was Notre Dame’s largest in program history over a ranked team.
• Eno Nto scored a career-high four goals and Matthew Roou and Wyatt Borso each added a goal.
• Bryce Boneau recorded a career-high three assists in the victory.
•The Irish outshot the Panthers 19-5 on the evening, including 12-1 for shots on target.
NTO’S HISTORIC NIGHT
• Eno Nto scored a career-high four goals in the 6-0 victory over No. 20 Pitt in the season finale.
• The four-goal performance represented the most goals from an Irish player in a match since Joseph Lapira scored four against Indiana on Sept. 3, 2006.
• Nto’s four goals are the most any player in the ACC has scored in a match this season and the forward is one of three players at the men’s DI level to score four goals in a game this season.
• Nto was named the ACC Offensive Player of the Week, College Soccer News National Player of the Week and Top Drawer Soccer National Player of the Week after the performance.
• The junior is now tied for the team lead for goals on the season with 10 and has 17 goals in his Notre Dame career.
DOWD DELIVERS
• Bryan Dowd has been masterful in goal this season for the Irish, making a claim as one of the top goalies in the country despite playing some of the best attacking units in the nation.
• The senior ranks third in the country in shutouts (8), fifth in save percentage (.862) and fourth in goals against average (.533).
• The shot stopper has 56 career starts while appearing in 57 matches over his previous three seasons in South Bend.
• Dowd has amassed 150 career saves and has recorded 21 clean sheets over his time in South Bend.
•The senior produced his best performance of his career in the 0-0 draw at Akron, making a career-high 12 saves to keep the clean sheet intact.
• The 12 saves are the most by an ACC goalkeeper this season and the third most of any goalie at the DI level.
TOP OF THE TABLE
• The Irish captured their second ACC Coastal Division title in program history after the draw against No. 3 Wake Forest. The program now has three ACC regular season titles, also winning in 2014 and 2013.
• Notre Dame is coming off its best regular season in ACC play, finishing with its first undefeated year in league action with a record of 6-0-2.
• This marked Notre Dame’s first undefeated regular-season conference record since going 7-0-4 in the Big East in 2011.
• Notre Dame scored 19 goals in regular season ACC play, which were the most of any team in the ACC over the eight matches.
• The Irish posted a +13 goal differential over the eight ACC matches, which ranked first in the conference.
ROOU’S RUN OF FORM
• Junior Matthew Roou is a prominent force in the Irish attack through this season, producing 23 points off 10 goals and three assists.
• The junior ranks second in the ACC in points (23), points per match (1.53) and goals per match (0.67).
• Roou’s hat trick in the win over IUPUI was the first of his career and the first of the season for the Irish.
• The junior forward finished with seven points off three goals and an assist, becoming the first Notre Dame player to record seven or more points in a match since Dave Donohue also had seven points against Marquette on Sept. 11, 2008.
• Roou currently has 21 career goals to go along with 10 career assists, totaling 52 career points for the forward.
STRONG STARTS
• Notre Dame has made it a habit of jumping out to an early lead this season, as the Irish have scored the opening goal in 11 of 16 matches in 2023.
• Ten of the 11 opening goals have come in the first 45 minutes of play.
•The quickest goal to start a match came from Matthew Roou in the 4th minute in the win over Clemson.
• The Fighting Irish are unbeaten when scoring the opening goal over the last 31 occurrences, posting a record of 30-0-1 spanning back to the early stages of the 2021 season.
FIGHT TO THE FINISH
• As good as the Irish have been at the beginning of matches, they have been even better in the final 45 minutes of play.
• Notre Dame has outscored its opponents by a combined score of 20-2 in second halves this season.
• The first goal allowed came via a deflected own goal in the win over Virginia and the second came in a 1-1 draw on the road against No. 3 Wake Forest.
SET-PIECE SUCCESS
• ND has excelled on both ends of the field on set pieces during the 2023 season.
•The Irish defense has allowed just one goal off a set piece all season while in attack 13 of the team’s 36 goals have come via a set piece.
• Notre Dame has scored off four free kicks, four corners, three penalty kicks and two from throw-ins.
DOMINATING DEFENSE
• The Fighting Irish have allowed just eight goals through 16 matches during the 2023 campaign.
• The 0.5 goals against average ranks first in the ACC and second in the country.
• With nine shutouts over 16 matches, the Irish are fifth in the country in shutout percentage with a mark 56.2.
• Notre Dame has given up just one or no goals in 15 of 16 matches this season.
•The nine shutouts are the most the Irish have recorded in a regular season since posting nine during the 2007 season.
• Notre Dame’s eight goals allowed in the regular season are the fewest the Irish have given up since the 2004 season in which they allowed seven goals.