SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 15 Irish put their unbeaten ACC record on the line with a road test against NC State at 7 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 1 at Dail Soccer Complex. The match will air on ACCNX.
No. 15 NOTRE DAME vs. NC STATE
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina | Dail Soccer Complex
TV: ACCNX
Live Stats: Click Here
Twitter Updates: @NDMenSoccer
Game Notes: vs. NC State
THE NC STATE SERIES
• The Irish and Wolfpack will meet on the pitch for the eighth time on Sunday.
• Notre Dame leads NC State in the series with a mark of 4-2-1.
• The Irish swept the season series in 2021, which is the last time the two sides met.
• Five of the seven matches between the two sides have been decided by one goal or ended in a draw.
• The Irish have recorded a clean sheet in three of the last four matchups in the series.
• Notre Dame defeated NC State in the most recent meeting, which came in the first round of the 2021 ACC Championship at Alumni Stadium. Dawson McCartney scored a second half penalty to deliver the Irish the win.
LAST TIME OUT
• No. 15 Notre Dame came away with a 3-1 win over Virginia last Friday at Alumni Stadium to move to the top of the ACC table with a record of 3-0-1.
• The three goals came from three different players, as Matthew Roou, Wyatt Lewis and Eno Nto each scored a goal.
• Goalkeeper Bryan Dowd made five saves to help seal the Fighting Irish victory.
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 six of nine matches in 2023.
•All six opening goals have come in the first 25 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 26 occurrences, posting a record of 25-0-1 spanning back to the early stages of the 2021 season.
SET-PIECE SUCCESS
• ND has excelled on both ends of the field on set pieces during the 2023 season.
•The Irish defense hasn’t allowed a goal off a set piece all season while in attack six of the team’s 15 goals have come via a set piece.
• Notre Dame has scored off three free kicks, two corners and a penalty kick.
DOWD DELIVERS
• Bryan Dowd is back for his senior season after being the team’s primary goalie for each of the last two seasons.
• The shot stopper has 50 career starts while appearing in 51 matches over his previous three seasons in South Bend.
• Dowd has amassed 134 career saves and has recorded 17 clean sheets over his time in South Bend, including four matches in the 2023 campaign.
•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.
DOMINATING DEFENSE
• The Fighting Irish have allowed just six goals through nine matches during the 2023 campaign.
• The 0.667 goals against average ranks first in the ACC and 16th in the country.
• Notre Dame has given up just one or no goals in eight of nine matches this season.
• Since allowing a goal to No. 2 Indiana in the 28th minute in the season opener, the Irish went 376 minutes without allowing a score before giving up a score to Clemson in the 44th minute.
BALANCED ATTACK
• Seven different players have scored in Notre Dame’s nine matches to open the 2023 season.
• Matthew Roou paces the Irish with six goals.
• Eno Nto has scored three goals and Daniel Russo has added two goals while KK Baffour, Paddy Burns, Bryce Boneau and Wyatt Lewis have each recorded one.
ROOU’S RUN OF FORM
• Junior Matthew Roou leads the Irish attack through nine matches this season, producing 13 points off six goals and an assist.
• 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 17 career goals to go along with eight career assists, totaling 42 career points for the forward.