SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The Irish will hit the road for the first time this season, heading to Tobacco Road for a 7 p.m. showdown with ACC foe North Carolina on Friday, Sept. 15 at Dorrance Field. The match will air on ACCNX.
No. 10 NOTRE DAME vs. UNC
Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina | Dorrance Field
TV: ACCNX
Live Stats: Click Here
Twitter Updates: @NDMenSoccer
Game Notes: vs. UNC
UNC SERIES
• The Irish and Tar Heels will meet on the pitch for the 13th time on Friday evening.
• The Irish trail in the series with a mark of 3-7-2.
• Five of the last seven meetings have been decided by one goal.
LAST TIME OUT
• Notre Dame suffered its first setback of the season in a 1-0 loss to Michigan State in a non-conference matchup.
• The Irish more than doubled the Spartans in shots (11-5) but were unable to find the back of the net for the first time all season.
• Notre Dame also finished with more corners in the contest with a 5-3 advantage.
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 five of six matches in 2023.
•All five opening goals have come in the first 25 minutes of play.
•The quickest goal to start a match came from Eno Nto in the 8th minute in the win over IUPUI.
• The Fighting Irish are unbeaten when scoring the opening goal over the last 25 occurrences, posting a record of 24-0-1 spanning back to the early stages of the 2021 season.
SET-PIECE SUCCESS
• ND has excelled on both ends of the field on free kicks during the 2023 season.
•The Irish defense hasn’t allowed a goal off a set piece all season while in attack four of the team’s 12 goals have come via a set piece.
• Notre Dame has scored off two free kicks, a corner and a penalty kick.
DOMINATING DEFENSE
• The Fighting Irish have allowed just four goals through six matches during the 2023 campaign.
• The 0.67 goals against average ranks third in the ACC and 21st in the country.
• Since allowing a goal to No. 2 Indiana in the 28th minute in the season opener, the Irish went gone 376 minutes without allowing a score before giving up a score to Clemson in the 44th minute.
• Opponents have registered a combined 17 shots on target in 2023.
BALANCED ATTACK
• Six different players have scored in Notre Dame’s six matches to open the 2023 season.
• Matthew Roou paces the Irish with five goals.
• Eno Nto has added two goals while KK Baffour, Paddy Burns, Bryce Boneau and Daniel Russo have each added one.
ROOU’S RUN OF FORM
• Junior Matthew Roou leads the Irish attack through six matches this season, producing 11 points off five goals and an assist.
• All 11 points have come over the last five matches
• 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 16 career goals to go along with eight career assists, totaling 40 career points for the forward.
EXPERIENCE IN GOAL
• 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 47 career starts while appearing in 48 matches over his previous three seasons in South Bend.
• Dowd has amassed 113 career saves and has recorded 16 clean sheets over his time in South Bend, including three in the first six matches of the 2023 campaign.
•The senior made a huge save in the 88th minute of the win over Clemson to keep the 3-2 advantage intact.