SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The No. 8 Irish kickoff a three-match road swing with an ACC matchup against Virginia Tech at 6 p.m. ET on Friday, Oct. 13 at Thompson Field. The match will air on ACCN.
No. 8 NOTRE DAME vs. VIRGINIA TECH
Location: Blacksburg, Virginia | Thompson Field
TV: ACCN
Live Stats: Click Here
Twitter Updates: @NDMenSoccer
Game Notes: vs. Virginia Tech
THE VIRGINIA TECH SERIES
• The Irish and Hokies will meet on the pitch for the 15th time on Friday evening.
• Notre Dame holds a narrow lead in the series with a record of 7-6-1.
• The Irish claimed a victory in the most recent matchup, winning by a score of 1-0 in South Bend last season on October 21, 2022.
• Paddy Burns converted from the spot in the 59th minute in the match to deliver the Irish the win.
LAST TIME OUT
• Notre Dame won its fourth straight match with a midweek win over Oberlin by a score of 6-0.
• The Irish recorded their sixth clean sheet of the year and held the Yeomen to just one shot on target.
• Notre Dame scored three goals in each half, coming from Michael Rossi, Eno Nto, Matthew McLaughlin, Nicholas Legendre, Alex Salvino and Nate Zimmermann.
TOP OF THE TABLE
• The Irish are off to its best start in ACC play in program history through five games, totaling 13 points with a record of 4-0-1 to lead the league.
• Notre Dame has scored 11 goals in its five matches, which are the most of any team.
• The Irish have a +6 goal differential through five ACC matches, which is the best in the conference.
• Notre Dame has scored three goals in three of five outings.
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 eight of 12 matches in 2023.
• All eight 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 28 occurrences, posting a record of 27-0-1 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 12-1 in second halves this season.
• The lone goal allowed came via a deflected own goal in the win over Virginia.
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 10 of the team’s 25 goals have come via a set piece.
• Notre Dame has scored off three free kicks, three corners, three penalty kicks and a throw in.
DOWD DELIVERS
• Bryan Dowd is back for his senior season after being the team’s primary goalie for each of the last two seasons.
• Dowd leads the ACC in save percentage (.854), clean sheets (5) and saves per game (3.73). He also ranks in the top 10 in the country in both goals against average (.636) and save percentage.
• The shot stopper has 52 career starts while appearing in 53 matches over his previous three seasons in South Bend.
• Dowd has amassed 141 career saves and has recorded 18 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.
DOMINATING DEFENSE
• The Fighting Irish have allowed just seven goals through 12 matches during the 2023 campaign.
• The 0.58 goals against average ranks first in the ACC and seventh in the country.
• Notre Dame has given up just one or no goals in 11 of 12 matches this season.
• After 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.
ROOU’S RUN OF FORM
• Junior Matthew Roou leads the Irish attack through 12 matches this season, producing 17 points off seven goals and two assists.
• 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 18 career goals to go along with nine career assists, totaling 45 career points for the forward.