SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s soccer team travels to Syracuse for an ACC showdown with the Orange at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 5 at the SU Soccer Stadium. The match is slated to air on ACCNX.
No. 5 NOTRE DAME vs. SYRACUSE
Location: Syracuse, N.Y. | SU Soccer Stadium
Live Stream: ACCNX
Live Stats: Click Here
Twitter Updates: @NDMenSoccer
Game Notes: vs. Syracuse
THE SYRACUSE SERIES
• Notre Dame and Syracuse will face each other on Saturday evening for the 22nd time in series history. The Irish are 15-4-2 against the Orange in the all-time series.
• Each of the last six meetings between the two sides have been one-goal affairs, with the Irish going 4-2-0 in those matchups.
• The Irish fell to the Orange in a 1-0 decision in the most recent outing on Sept. 10, 2022 at Syracuse.
• In the series history, the Irish have an impressive mark of 8-1-1 when playing at Syracuse.
ROOU THE IRISH TALISMAN
• Senior forward Matthew Roou leads the Fighting Irish in scoring this season with 10 goals on the year, which is tied for the best mark in the country and leads the ACC.
• Roou is in the best form of his career, scoring nine goals over his last four outings, including back-to-back hat tricks.
• The forward became the first Notre Dame men’s soccer player since Kevin Lovejoy in 1979 to record multiple hat tricks in a season.
• Roou came through in the clutch in Notre Dame’s 2-1 win over Clemson, scoring the winner in the 86th minute to give the Irish the win.
• The senior is one of two players at the men’s DI level to register two hat tricks during the 2024 season, joining Massachusetts’ Alec Hughes.
• Roou scored a goal from the spot in the season opener against Akron.
• The talisman now has 72 career points off 31 goals and 10 assists.
• Roou is currently tied with former Irish standout Jack Lynn for 13th on the ND all-time goal scoring list and is two goals away from tying Pat Szanto for 12th (33).
REGULAR SEASON DOMINANCE
• Dating back to a match on Oct. 18, 2022, Notre Dame has lost just twice in regular season matches entering Saturday’s matchup.
• The Irish have a record of 19-2-8 over the 29-match span.
• During the impressive run, Notre Dame has recorded 10 clean sheets.
• Notre Dame is unbeaten in road games over the stretch with a record of 5-0-5.
BRYCE BONEAU: 2024 CAPTAIN
• Bryce Boneau is the captain for this year’s Fighting Irish team.
• Boneau is a senior midfielder from Texas and was selected to the 2024 ACC Preseason Watch List.
• The skipper is off to a fast start this season, recording a goal and and a team-high seven assists from the midfield.
• The midfielder has already equalled his assist total from last season with seven, which was his career high.
• Boneau’s average of .780 assists per match leads the ACC and is fifth in the country.
• The senior has recorded a goal or assist in seven of the last eight games.
• Boneau scored four goals and added seven assists last season as a center midfielder and has four goals and 14 assists in his Notre Dame career.
• Boneau was selected by Nashville SC in the third round of the 2024 MLS SuperDraft with the 75th overall pick.
BALANCED ATTACK
• Ten different players have found the back of the net for the Irish this season (Roou, Flanagan, Genenbacher, Boneau, J. Bartlett, Spicer, Dunphy, Baffour, Shaul, N. Bartlett).
• Fourteen returning Irish players registered at least one point in their Notre Dame career, as the team returned 85 points from last year.
• Ten players that scored a goal during the 2023 campaign are back on this year’s team.
• Senior Matthew Roou is the top returning goal scorer on the 2024 squad after firing in a career-high 10 goals during his junior campaign.
HERE TO ASSIST
• Notre Dame ranks fourth in the ACC in assists per game, averaging 2.44 on the year.
• Bryce Boneau paces the Irish with seven assists while KK Baffour has dished out four and Sebastian Green has added three.
• All three of Green’s assists came in the win over Chicago State, tying the junior for the national lead for most assists in a game at the men’s DI level.
• The Irish dished out 48 assists last season, ranking sixth in the country for total assists.
STRONG STARTS
• Notre Dame has made a habit of jumping out to an early lead this season, as the Irish have scored the opening goal in seven of nine matches in 2024.
• Four of the seven opening goals came within the first 20 minutes of play.
•The quickest goal to start a match came from Bryce Boneau in the seventh minute in the win over Louisville.
BK THE GK
• Blake Kelly has already made an impact in his freshman season as the goalkeeper of the Fighting Irish.
• Kelly made eight saves in the draw at Indiana, the most of any ACC keeper this season.
• The freshman followed it up with his first career win in the ACC opener against Louisville, making four saves while allowing just one goal.
• The goalie started the season opener, marking the first time a true freshman goalie has started an opener for the Irish in over 30 seasons.
2023 SEASON REWIND
• Notre Dame had one of its most successful seasons in program history last year, finishing with an appearance in the College Cup Final.
• The Irish were dominant in the ACC, claiming the Coastal Division crown and earning the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament after going undefeated in regular season conference play with a record of 6-0-2.
• Notre Dame finished the season with a record of 13-3-6 but two of the draws resulted in the Irish advancing in the NCAA Tournament in shootouts.
• The Fighting Irish defeated Kentucky (2-0) in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament before moving past Western Michigan (0-0) and Indiana (1-1) to make the College Cup.
• Notre Dame then defeated Oregon State (1-0) in the semifinal before falling to Clemson (1-2) in the final.